Crime
One month after a homicide forced city leaders and event organizers to question the future of Oakland’s First Friday art festival, the event returned this weekend—smaller and more low-key than past versions, but turnout was strong. The themes of the March 1 were peace and unity. People gave peace signs all night, some wore neon green t-shirts that read “Respect Our City,” and organizers held two moments of silence in honor of Kiante Campell, the 18-year-old who was shot and…
The women sat in a circle, pressing their folding chairs closely together as they laughed, clapped and listened to each other’s stories.
In January, about a month after the massacre that left 27 people dead in Newtown, Connecticut, Vice President Joe Biden met with a group of 12 religious leaders to discuss national strategies to combat gun violence. President Barack Obama, who supports background checks as well as a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazine, had tasked Biden with heading a commission to come up with recommendations on gun policy. One of the leaders present at Biden’s meeting was Pastor…
Oakland residents have a lot to say about the new Oakland Police Department crime consultant group.
On a recent Tuesday afternoon in Fruitvale, a group of people chatted nervously in a stark, white room as they waited for someone to look over their electricity bill or rental agreement in exchange for something many had never had: a clean, new identification card with their name and photo. Oakland began issuing municipal IDs on Feb. 19 to all city residents. The ID, which also has an optional debit function that works like a prepaid MasterCard, will allow undocumented…
William Bratton’s caused a stir in Oakland, and he hasn’t even arrived yet. The former top cop in Los Angeles and New York has been contracted by Strategic Policy Partnership, a law enforcement consulting group based in Massachusetts, to join a group of six policing experts tasked with improving public safety in Oakland.
The California Highway Patrol will stay in Oakland, adding two extra months to their policing presence that started in November 2012. That’s the decision the City Council made Tuesday night, when the approved a memorandum of understanding for $162,000.
In part two of a four-part series that will be published over the course of two weeks on Oakland North, meet the six new police consultants who have just been hired by Oakland to help reduce crime citywide. Each member of the panel has a different task and will be evaluating Oakland for a period of six months and before the panel makes its recommendations to the city. Robert Wasserman Robert Wasserman is a national law enforcement and security expert and the…
City leaders met with First Friday stakeholders again Tuesday night to discuss the future of the city’s most popular art festival, which could lead to several changes next month’s event.