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Volume 6
Issue 37
11/25 - 12/1/2009

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Oakland mayor responds to CQ Press crime rankings

From the Globe News Desk

Earlier this week, CQ Press released its crime rankings of U.S. cities, placing Oakland at No. 3.

Following the publishing of the stats — which also showed Richmond at No. 14 — Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums responded to what some are calling “controversial national crime rankings.”

“While the FBI has questioned the validity of these rankings and the U.S. Conference of Mayors says this report is both ‘misleading and a disservice to the public,’ Oakland’s own data says that our city is making progress in bringing peace to our streets.

“During my State of the City address last January, I challenged Oakland to reduce crime by 10 percent. I’m proud to say Oakland has answered the call and implemented a comprehensive strategy that has seen a 17 percent drop in homicides and a 13 percent drop in overall crime — versus a drop of only 4 percent nationwide. While I understand we have a long way to go until our goals are realized, I am proud of the work our city has done and am encouraged by our collaborative efforts.”

Dellums and the city have released some of the components that make up the strategy known as PIES — prevention, intervention, enforcement, sustainability. They include:

Deploying more police officers on Oakland streets;
Dividing Oakland into three public safety districts to bolster accountability and provide a more effective command structure;
Deploying street outreach workers to address street-level violence by connecting high-risk individuals with opportunities to get off the street;
Fully staffing every problem solving officer position. This has never been done before and is a huge step toward community policing, because it means that every beat has an officer specifically working on preventive policing;
Helping the formerly incarcerated to re-build their lives by entering the workforce. The city has hired a re-entry specialist, banned-the-box on city applications and is partnering with state and local partners to expand efforts;
Giving support to mentoring programs, which provide intense adult contact for those youngsters who are most in need of support and guidance;
Deploying the police force in a manner that the city believes to be more efficient and effective. This includes enhancing weekend and evening enforcement;
Continuing the implementation of valuable Measure Y programs, including: after-school programs, school-based prevention, Safe Passages, sexually exploited minors programs, Project Choice, Oakland Community Response and Support Network and others; and
Bringing on a new police chief. In Anthony Batts, the city says they believe they have a chief who is comfortable in his own shoes, supports the comprehensive PIES strategy and has a history of significantly driving down crime rates in a city similar to Oakland.