Brunner, OPD to give North Oakland a chance to talk about November crime spike

After a rash of November burglaries and three shootings in North Oakland’s Golden Gate and Bushrod neighborhoods, residents have a chance to voice concerns about safety to the Oakland Police Department and City Council Representative Jane Brunner. The meeting will take place on December 17 at 7 p.m. in the North Oakland Senior Center, located at 5714 Martin Luther King Junior Way.

At the meeting, the second of its kind this year, residents and representatives are expected to talk about ongoing community-police cooperation through the Neighborhood Crime Prevention Councils (NCPCs) and Problem Solving Officers (PSOs) assigned to each police beat. The meeting will likely touch on a shooting on San Pablo Avenue in early November, the double shooting in the Bushrod neighborhood later that same month and the recent string of burglaries in the Golden Gate/Market Street area.

On November 11, a man was shot at the intersection of San Pablo Avenue and 60th Street. Nineteen days later, two young men were shot at 59th Street and Shattuck Avenue. All three victims survived, but the shootings raised concerns among area residents. Shattuck Street NCPC chair Don Link said that one policeman told him the latter incident was thought to be related to a drug robbery, and not to border tensions between South Berkeley and North Oakland gangs.

In mid-November, news of burglaries in the Golden Gate/Market Street area began to circulate on the neighborhoods’ online message boards. In one message, dated November 16, a resident from Golden Gate described calling the police that afternoon to report a break-in and being told that several others had called in from that same street to report similar burglaries.

Golden Gate NCPC chair Larry Benson said there does “indeed seem to be rash of burglaries, even according to OPD’s own website.”

Oakland Police Department’s CrimeWatch website shows 17 separate burglary incidents in the adjacent police beats 10X and 10Y since mid-November. All 17 break-ins happened during daylight hours. OPD’s Captain Anthony Toribio confirmed a cluster of burglaries in the Golden Gate area, but said police have yet to link any suspects to the crimes.

Link said the meeting is an opportunity for community members to report on the crime issues common to their neighborhoods and demand “energetic action to stem these crimes.”