Police

After a rash of burglaries and three shootings in North Oakland’s Golden Gate and Bushrod neighborhoods, residents have a chance to voice concerns.

During the past two months, three Oakland North reporters have interviewed five teens at Castlemont High School on MacArthur Boulevard in East Oakland. This neighborhood is at center of some of the city’s worst violence, and it’s a violence that does not spare young people. During the last three years, one in every two homicide victims in Oakland has been between the ages of 12 and 24. Even amid this tragedy, the five teens that met with Oakland North have,…

Neighbors and parents, some wearing headphones for language interpretation, listened to an Oakland officer explain certain colors, signs, and tattoos–like the numbers 13 and 14–that may be markers of gang activity.

Gangs are a complicated reality in Oakland, a city haunted by violence and the negative reputation that comes with it. But this fall, the nationwide broadcast of “Gang Wars: Oakland” added a new layer of complexity to many viewers’ already complicated feelings about what that violence means and how outsiders perceive it.

“We’re not sure what happened. We still need to interview one of the victims and are trying to speak with some witnesses,” said Anthony Toribio, Patrol Division Captain for Area 1, responsible for North and West Oakland.

Tighter enforcement of parking rules in Oakland has angered the city’s cab drivers, who complain about a lack of taxi stands.