City Government

Crime Rates Remain High But Are Falling, Says OPD

Published

12 years ago

April 11, 2014

Highlighting trends that show a decrease in crime since the beginning of the year, the Oakland Police Department (OPD) released a report this week at the city’s Public Safety Committee, highlighting its efforts to implement the Ceasefire program, criminal investigation division and other crime reduction strategies.

< p>< p>The new 2014 report – which covered citywide crime through March 9 of this year – cited a 15 percent decrease in crime including murders, assault with a firearm, rape, robberies and burglaries.

The report also focused on area crime trends that, for the most part, showed a decrease in the number of assaults with a firearm.

However, according to a recent evaluation conducted by Resource Development Associates and UC Berkeley School of Law, “Violent crime in Oakland has remained consistently high over the past 25 years.”

As of April 7, the total number of murders reported at 24, compared to 23 murders during the same period last year.

Aggravated assault was reported at 790 versus 892 last year. Burglaries fell to 2,828 versus 3,261 last year. The numbers of robberies showed a sharp decline of 35 percent, dropping to 846 versus 1,323 last year.

Area Captains give credit to impact of community input on identifying and arresting crime suspects. They said they are focusing on rescuing underage victims of human trafficking, expressing a need for social services and counseling for the young victims.

“We surround them with services, talk to them, try to break the cycle and basically gain their trust, especially the teenagers,” said Officer Ricardo Orozco at Tuesday’s meeting. He is captain of Area, which includes International Boulevard and Central Oakland.

“It’s tough because their whole lives have been where they’ve grown up in battered environments. We try to get them to see that there is more out there. We work closely with … social service agencies … to talk to the women first before [we] do,” Orozco said.

Reports of prostitution have increased 134 percent as of April 7, with numbers at 152 versus 65 last year. At present most of these arrests have primarily been of prostitutes, not pimps or johns.

Although the department was praised for its implementation of Ceasefire, neighborhood patrolling, and community engagement, Police Chief Sean Whent pointed out that there is still much work to do.

“We look at these numbers to help us gauge if strategies that we’re using are working,” said Chief Whent, “but at the end of the day, there are real people behind every one of these [numbers.] We understand that.”

“We recognize there is a lot of work to do and we absolutely are committed to making this a safe city,” he said.

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Oakland Post: Week of July 1 – 7, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of July 1 – 7, 2026

Published

3 days ago

July 5, 2026

Oakland Post

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Inaugural Juneteenth Awards Ceremony Celebrates the Fillmore’s Black History, Leadership and Resilience

Addressing more than 100 Black and Asian attendees, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie stated “San Francisco is reliant on the Black community, and we must invest in this community.”

Published

2 weeks ago

June 26, 2026

Oakland Post

District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, Rev. Dr. Amos Brown, Pastor Emeritus of Third Baptist Church, SF Mayor Daniel Lurie. Photo by Linda Parker Pennington.

By Linda Parker Pennington

The Fillmore Community Ambassadors held its first annual Juneteenth Wesley Johnson White Horse Awards ceremony on June 19 inside the newly reopened Fillmore Heritage Center.

The event featured awards for former San Francisco mayors London Breed and Willie Brown, along with Third Baptist Church Pastor Emeritus, Rev. Dr. Amos Brown.

The Koret Heritage lobby at the newly reopened center at 1330 Fillmore St. held a standing-room-only, culturally diverse and multi-generational audience while the art gallery featured photos of Fillmore community members in action, red Japanese lanterns, art and calligraphy, and Chinese artwork, giving the space a multicultural feel.

Addressing more than 100 Black and Asian attendees, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie stated “San Francisco is reliant on the Black community, and we must invest in this community.”

District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood acknowledged that “the Fillmore community has had a difficult history. Thanks to Rev. Amos Brown’s continuous focus on accountability and resistance, you hold us accountable and continue to inspire us.”

Mahmoud is referring to the Fillmore’s Japanese residents who were forced from their homes and sent to concentration camps during World War II. Black people occupied those homes until the return of their Japanese neighbors and then gave them back, while homes that had been unoccupied were lost. The presence of the Asian community on Juneteenth is a testament to that shared history.

In receiving his honor, Amos Brown elicited a powerful spontaneous call-and-response, where members of San Francisco’s many Black churches proudly shouted out the names: “Bethel AME! Providence Baptist! Jones Memorial! Glide!”

Awards program Master of Ceremonies Shawn Richards of Brothers Against Guns warmly introduced Breed, highlighting her many accomplishments, particularly on “March 16, 2020, when she became the first mayor to shut down a major U.S. city due to COVID-19, saving thousands of lives.”

The audience was captivated by Breed’s emotional speech touching on past traumas, present conditions, and future hopes for the neighborhood where she grew up.

She recalled another trauma of the neighborhood during the City’s redevelopment era in the 1960s, where Black residents were forced to move with a promise of being able to return that was largely unfulfilled.

“We remember when this land was just a field because they bulldozed hundreds of Victorian homes that Black people owned. They built the Fillmore Center, where most Black people can’t afford to live or start their own business. But we are still here.”