Sep 11 2008

Beyond the Restaurant Robberies

Oakland’s public safety issues won’t disappear with a few high-profile arrests. It will take bigger thinking and interagency cooperation to make a sustainable difference.

by Jayson Landeza (BayPress-Oakland Tribune)

Oakland breathed a long-overdue sigh of relief recently with the arrest of two suspects in connection to the city’s rash of take-over style robberies. Catching the alleged criminals is a good step, but it does little to address the deeper problems that continue to plague Oakland’s crime prevention efforts.

There has been no shortage of ideas on how to curtail the violence and ensure greater safety on the city’s streets. But in spite of all the input, the city of Oakland has yet to implement a coordinated, effective strategy to combat the problem. And, no, the Mayor can’t be serious if he thinks the Guardian Angels are a part of an official strategy.

The discussion in Oakland often revolves around the number of police officers, or sworn personnel, that the department has available, particularly for its patrol function. It is generally agreed that OPD has fewer officers as compared to other U.S. cities of comparable size. Oakland is expected to have 803 sworn officers by the end of the year, and there is a ballot measure for the November election that proposes to increase that authorized strength to more than 900. There is general agreement that increasing the number of patrol officers in Oakland is a good thing.

Luckily, we have a pool of 1,000 trained, prepared law enforcement officers waiting in the wings to lend a hand.

By tradition, the top law enforcement officer in Alameda County is the Sheriff, a post currently held by Gregory Ahern. He has more than 1,000 sworn law enforcement personnel at his disposal, staffing and providing services at myriad locations throughout the county, and particularly in Oakland. Some of those Oakland functions include: the Consolidated Superior Courts; Coroner’s Bureau; crime lab; operating Glenn Dyer Jail (formerly North County Jail); Laney and Merritt College Security; the Oakland Coliseum; Oakland International Airport; Highland Hospital; AC Transit; county social service offices; and the Port of Oakland (the marine/water/bay portion). The sheriff is also the Director of Emergency Services for the county in times of disaster.

Nevertheless, as the restaurant robberies increased in number and frequency, ordinary residents and public officials began talking about bringing into Oakland the National Guard, CHP, FBI, the Green Berets, the French Foreign Legion and a full battle regiment of Nepali Gurkas. No one, however, has publicly suggested that the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office and its 1,000+ deputies – sworn, professional, academy-trained, CALEA certified, law enforcement personnel – could be called upon to augment the patrol section of OPD while OPD struggles to get to its authorized strength.

Deploying ACSO deputies to enhance OPD patrol capability would be a sound move to help Oakland in its current crisis. It is a strategy that has worked before. Immediately following 9/11, ACSO took over security at Oakland Airport, responding to an obvious need at the time, and acutely aware the OPD – even then – lacked the numbers to adequately provide such services. Nearly 400 deputies serve at the county’s jails – some of these deputies could surely be deployed within Oakland.

Some will undoubtedly argue that Oakland will become an occupied territory run by thugs in uniform. Yet the prevailing impression today is that Oakland’s streets are run by lawless thugs now, and that things are indeed out of control.

Perhaps the biggest obstacle to all of this is the inter-agency rivalry that exists between the two departments. OPD rank and file may resent that their Chief, Wayne Tucker – who was formerly the Undersheriff of Alameda County and an outsider to the OPD culture – would “admit defeat” and bring deputies from his old agency into Oakland. It doesn’t help that Chief Wayne Tucker is unpopular among some at OPD.

The OPD and ACSO need to suppress their historic frictions and semi-friendly rivalries to work together for the good of Oakland.

In a few weeks, the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department will be sponsoring its annual “Urban Shield” (www.urbanshield.org) exercise, an event that tests various agencies and their abilities to respond to regional disasters and large-scale incidents, including terrorist attacks.

According the Urban Shield website, participating agencies will compete and test their tactical skills in a series of “real-life” scenarios. Well, we have some “real-life” scenarios right here in Oakland’s streets.

The Urban Shield exercise is meant to provide an opportunity for participants to use their issued equipment under simulated “real-world” conditions. How about using some of that issued equipment to prevent or stop a “real-world” robbery or murder from taking place in Oakland?

If these ACSO deputies and officers from other law enforcement agencies (including Oakland) can be spared for such an exercise, why could they not be deployed to Oakland’s hotspots, helping to decrease the robbery, homicide and overall rate of violence?

With Oakland’s current budgetary shortfall, the economics of this plan are bound to be questioned.

But we are all paying the price by constantly wondering whether we have the courage to eat out or walk down certain streets in Oakland. We pay the price when we have to replace the drivers’ licenses and credit cards that were taken during a robbery. We pay the price when Oakland citizens uproot and move because they are afraid that next time it will be them.

OPD is going to spend the money on overtime for its own personnel, which are already strained under the weight of 12-hour patrol shifts. Oakland should bring in the fresh energy that the ACSO can provide. Under every deputy sheriff’s badge lies the heart of a beat cop willing, waiting and wanting to bust the bad guys and make Oakland a safer place.