How to Stop Takeover Holdups in Oakland

A wave of merchant takeover robberies has struck Oakland in one commercial district after another, with the rare exception, so far, of the Temescal neighborhood. It is the result of two big problems in our city, problems allowed to rot and swell for years.

First, though, let's realize that this crisis is unique to Oakland. In the Bay Area, the takeovers have nearly all been in Oakland, although they now seem to be inspiring a few similar incidents elsewhere. Nationally, we have not heard of a wave of takeover holdups.

Do not point, therefore, to the worsening national economy. Do not point to the gap between rich and poor, wider than ever before in U.S. history. These situations might indeed have stressed Oakland along with the rest of the country. It is true that the United States could eradicate poverty, and if it did, crime would drop by a huge amount. So go do it. Still, Oakland has a poverty rate typical of midsize to large American cities, but a unique crisis of public safety. Additional factors specific to Oakland have resulted in thugs robbing restaurants and other businesses with impunity.

Oakland: typical poverty rate but unique public safety crisis.

Two problems unique to Oakland are at the heart of the current crisis.

One is the severe understaffing of the police department. Oakland has half a police force compared to most major cities. Do Atlanta, Boston, St. Louis and so on have twice the number of police they need? Of course not. Oakland simply does not have enough officers.

• Not enough walking police for the commercial districts.

• Not enough patrol officers to deter by their visibility and to be nearby when quick response is needed.

• Not enough investigators to identify and apprehend criminals so that their imitators see they might get caught.

• Not enough problem-solving officers to get to know the bad guys in the neighborhoods and keep tabs on what is happening.

Oakland needs 1,100 police at a minimum. Today the department has 780 officers. City officials stress that this count is an all-time high. Indeed, the count was 692 as recently as February 2007, and councilmembers Quan and others whined that it was nearly impossible to recruit more. The increase is welcome, but it is not nearly enough.

The other severe problem in Oakland is official tolerance for the culture of disrespect, a culture that feeds and protects outright thuggery on the streets.

Just two weeks before the recent wave of takeover robberies, City Hall partnered with a drug rapper for National Night Out, supposedly an event of quiet protest against the culture of disrespect.

When voters passed the city council's Measure Y in 2004, the most notable immediate use of money was a guarantee of $1.5 million over three years to Youth UpRising, an agency whose executives embrace rappers, promoters, and businessmen engaged in marketing hyphy, sideshows, and other expressions of the culture of disrespect. In fact, the agency got the city grant with no competitive bid, with a three-year guarantee, and with no milestones or specified targets in the contract.

The mayor allowed gutter rappers to participate in the roster of events for his lavish inaugural, attending one of the events in fellowship with them.

The nephew of city administrator Deborah Edgerly simultaneously holds a City job and participates in gun deals with the Acorn gang. Edgerly's downfall came when she got too involved in protecting him from police one Friday evening. The mayor never did a thing about this aspect of her criminal behavior, never took a stand on it.

We cannot think of another major city in the country crippled by this pair of problems: a seriously understaffed police department plus official tolerance and even partnership with practitioners of the culture of disrespect.

Is it really a surprise that Oakland is suffering its second wave of takeover robberies? (The first was less than a year ago, reaching a peak in December 2007).

Moreover, the takeover holdups are only one expression of Oakland's plight. There are the sideshows that have resulted in death, destruction, and disruption week after week for years now. Oakland lost two annual events, the Festival by the Lake and Carijama, to fringe mobs that the City was unable to deal with.

The homicide rate is about five times the rate of New York City. Oakland is ranked the fourth most dangerous city in the country.

The solution is clear. Remedy the understaffing of our half a police department, and break with the official tolerance for the culture of disrespect.

The current budget crisis would be an opportunity for a real mayor, an opportunity to take apart the operations of the City, cut out the luxury (like department heads congratulating each other with bouquets of flowers on City charge cards), punish and expel the corrupt, and give fiscal priority to basic services.

Instead, mayor Dellums submitted Measure NN for the November ballot, a Son of Measure Y proposal to tax homeowners another $276 a year. The number of officers proposed is too few, it is not part of a commitment and plan to get to at least 1,100 police, and it comes with a phony guarantee of the kind that Measure Y made famous.

It will take several years to get the police force up to adequate staffing. What about the restaurant takeover holdups going on right now?

A real mayor would use this crisis to smash official tolerance for the culture of disrespect. For example, he would go on patrols at night with citizens who want to join him, not with candles but with adequate backup. The mayor would announce that he and they will pop into restaurants around town at closing time, signaling to the thugs that the stakes are higher than they realized.

Imagine the hope and the snowball of help that could swell from this move, done with conviction and sincerity. When a city is at risk of falling apart as Oakland is now, wouldn't a mayor who really cares do this?

Ron Dellums is not such a mayor. Since he demanded a salary hike from $115,372 annually to $183,395 at the beginning of his term, Dellums has proved day after day that he does not understand the meaning of "public service."

In addition, the known aspirants to succeed Dellums have for years refused to stare Oakland's police shortage in the face, putting petty sectional interests above the good of Oakland.

We know the two things that need to be done. They give us a standard by which we can measure and discard evasive pseudo-solutions. But it seems that Oakland must go through this takeover crisis and more such outrages. Somewhere along the line, enough people and enough interest groups will realize that if we do not save the city, there won't be any goodies for anyone to grab.