Hello Chief Batts
[Nov. 16, 2009]

                Hello Chief Batts, welcome to Oakland.  What you accomplish at OPD in the upcoming years can unlock the door to Oakland’s future.

               Your introductions at neighborhood meetings, with OPD personnel, and at various activities and events have been heartwarming.  You have the personality of a charmer and your intellect is readily apparent.  You are the man of the hour, the person in charge, and the one we all wish only the best. 

                Why you would come to Oakland, when as you’ve described you have had other more status and safer opportunities, is a question on most people’s minds.  It doesn’t matter why.  It only matters that you’re here.  This is our home, the place of our dreams and aspirations.  Something has gone terribly wrong in recent years, and we know from your experience that you will get a grasp of the realities, your resources, and your limitations, as you make your moves.

                In a sampling of six other relevant cities, Oakland is in dire shape.  Notice the chart below.  Unfortunately, Oakland has been included in the top five most violent US cities in the past several years.  We have vied with Detroit and St. Louis for this notoriety, and it’s no wonder because for the last four years (2005 – 2008) we’ve escalated in horror with violent crimes.  In 2000, Oakland suffered 5,038 violent crimes, and it remained relatively steady for about five years (5,150 in 2004) years.  In 2008, compared with 2008, runaway violence spiraled by 57% to 7,905 Part 1 Violent Crimes.

                You came from Long Beach where the violent crimes were reduced -2% in the same time period (2002 – 2008).  San Jose enjoyed a reduction of -26%.  Odd thing, cities all over the country noted reductions over this period.  Los Angeles dropped -64% in violent crimes.  New York’s violent crimes fell -36%.  Even our notorious competition for first place with cities of extreme violence found some recovery from violence during this time period.  Detroit citizens saw their violent crimes drop -21% and St. Louis noted -7%.

                For those who want to commiserate with our neighbor, Richmond, let it be known that their violent crimes dropped -9% from 2008 compared with 2000.  Believe it… Oakland’s level of violence is +83% greater than in Richmond [19.7 per capita vs. 10.7]!

                On November 12, the most recent OPD Daily Crime Analysis Report indicated that violent crimes in Oakland dropped by about -7%.  However, our level of violence is already at 6,545 such crimes reported!  This is an increase of + 30% over the benchmark of 2000 and we have over a month and a half to go.  By year end we can expect about 7,400 violent crimes to have occurred in Oakland?  Almost 500 violent murders will have occurred in the past five years.

                There is no acceptable reason for Oakland’s violent demise.  Our parolees have not gone rampant.  Our gang problems are nothing compared with San Jose and Los Angeles.  Our demographics relative to crime prone population groups have shifted favorably over the past ten years.  IN other words, we should have expected a dramatic reduction in the crime rates.  We have nowhere near the numbers of unemployed or poverty victims as San Jose, and yet with a population over a million people San Jose reported only 3,643 violent crimes in 2008 compared with our 7,905. 

            The realities are compelling for a bright person with organizational skills to do what is obviously needed to provide public safety improvement in Oakland. 

ronoz