Safety
Nearly two months after the first major confrontation between police and Occupy Oakland protesters, when downtown Oakland was blanketed with tear gas, city officials have commissioned an independent team of law enforcement experts to investigate how police handled their interactions with protesters.
After waiting for more than five hours for their chance to voice their opposition to a resolution intended to prevent another shutdown of the Port of Oakland, a large contingent of Occupy Oakland supporters weren’t going to go away just because the Oakland City Council decided against even hearing the measure.
City officials and bicycle advocates and riders gathered Friday to celebrate the addition of new bike lanes on Webster Street and Franklin Street in downtown Oakland.
This Thursday and Friday, Oakland police volunteers will provide a valuable service to holiday shoppers with cars parked at the West Oakland BART station from 5 pm to 9 pm. They’ll escort people from the station to their vehicles, making the task of trekking through the dark laden with holiday goodies less daunting.
Even though several Port-related unions have declared that they don’t support Monday’s planned Oakland Port blockade, leaders of Occupy groups are going ahead with plans to make Oakland part of a December 12 effort to shut down ports along the length of the West Coast.
The Oakland Police Department welcomed ten new officers Monday morning, for the first time since the 2008 layoffs, after being awarded $10 million dollars in funding from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Since Youth Alive launched its first violence prevention program 20 years, some of the crime and gun violence trends in Oakland have changed, but two things remain consistent: Young people make up a high percentage of Oakland’s homicide victims, and many are killed by someone using a firearm.
The Oakland Police Department released a bulletin Monday evening stating that eight people, including a 1-year-old child, had been injured in a shooting on the 700 block of Willow Street in West Oakland.
“Love, respect, care, responsibility, honor, and peace”—that’s the Warrior’s Code that East Bay youth are being taught at Destiny Arts Center as part of the Growing Peaceful Warriors Program. Instructors teach young people self-defense and conflict management skills to deal with possible real-life dangerous situations through the martial and performing arts.