Safety
On Monday, the Congressional Quarterly (CQ) Press released its annual City Crime Rate Rankings list, which ranks cities from highest number of crimes reported to lowest. Little has changed since last year—the top five remain the same—and Oakland, California, is still one of them. The good news, sort of, is that Oakland has dropped out of third place and is now No. 5.
“You want to opt-out?” the TSA officer asked incredulously. I was standing in a newly implemented Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) machine at the Oakland airport. Passengers are randomly selected as they pass through security to enter the AIT machine, which looks like an oversized metal detector and projects an image of a person’s unclothed body on a screen for TSA officials to review. Those selected have the choice to opt-out of the full-body scan, but must then submit to a thorough pat-down, a procedure that some have called a violation of privacy.
Currently, the OPD has 324 officers assigned as 911 call respondents, five crime reduction teams and two traffic unit teams. But to fulfill Measure BB requirements, Batts announced that OPD is moving officers back into the 75 public safety officer (PSO) positions starting in January.
It’s time to break out the fenders. As last week’s balmy weather changes to winter rain, people who rely on their bikes have to switch gears, sometimes literally, and prepare for drenched roads and clothes.
A Richmond man was shot to death Tuesday in front of a cross outside East Oakland’s Allen Temple Baptist Church, the same day church officials announced that Allen Temple had been awarded two-year grant to combat violence in the city.
The deck was full of motion. Firefighters were readying each turret, the giant revolving guns that shoot water instead of bullets. The Sea-Wolf has four turrets; one on either side of the boat’s deck, one in the front, and the largest located on top of the boat. The fireboat has the capacity to shoot out 8,000 gallons of water per minute.
“Ladies and gentlemen, please put your hands together for … Guns N’ Hoses!” On Sunday, the Oakland Ice Center will host the third annual charity police versus firefighters hockey match between some of Oakland’s finest, titled “Guns N’ Hoses.”
At nighttime along Oakland’s International Boulevard, dozens of teenage girls are working the track—and there’s nothing athletic about it. “The Track” is the street nickname for the epicenter of underage prostitution in Oakland, where girls well under the age of eighteen strut down the street in platform heels and mini dresses while predatory pimps wait in cars around the corner.
Former BART Officer Johannes Mehserle was sentenced Friday to two years in prison, including time served, for the fatal shooting of Oscar Grant III. Protesters in front of City Hall voiced their reactions moments after hearing the news to Oakland North.