The Oakland Police Department had a very busy Sunday morning, responding to multiple sideshows, shootings and a crowd of people looting a gas station.
This is because the city wants to reduce the police force and balance the budget.
“It happens all the time, you hear gunshots,” complained Oakland resident Debra Harper, who was not surprised by Sunday’s incidents. “This is every weekend. Every weekend they make donuts and fight here.’
Harper said it has become lawless and dangerous. She carries a can of mace to smoke a cigarette outside her San Pablo Avenue apartment.
“I wear it for safety, and I’ve had to use it once,” Harper said.
She has learned to sleep outside her unit during side programs because it happens so often. The sideshow that took place near her on Sunday morning at San Pablo Avenue and 17th Street didn’t even wake her. And she said she wasn’t surprised someone set a white BMW sedan on fire while police were breaking up the sideshow.
“It makes me feel like I have to leave Oakland,” Harper said. ‘Unfortunately, I’m trying to get out of here. I wish I could live here comfortably and feel safe, but I can’t.’
It was one of many sideshows taking place in Oakland early Sunday morning. At an intersection next to Bishop O’Dowd High School. A driver, spinning donuts, hit a spectator and threw him into the air. The spectator got up and ran to safety.
“All night we were chasing trying to deal with it. At one point a police vehicle was damaged in the process. There were also two gunshot victims who were struck by gunfire from the sideshow,” said Sgt. Timothy Dolan, vice president of the Oakland Police Officers’ Association.
Sergeant Dolan said the two gunshot victims were in stable condition.
At 2:30 a.m., a mob of about 50 people broke in and looted the Coliseum Shell gas station on Hegenberger Road. The gas station owner, Sanjiv Patel, said the clerk who was working alone feared for his life.
“He reached into the toilet, locked himself in the toilet and turned off the lights,” Patel said.
Patel believed the robbers were probably the same people doing the sideshows. The police are still investigating this possible connection. Patel said the mob took all the money, cigarettes, scratch cards and most of the merchandise.
He estimated the loss and damage at approximately $50,000.
“It really begs the question of whether Oakland is a third world country, because it’s worse than that,” Patel said.
Due to a large budget deficit, the city plans to cut police funding and eliminate two academies. That would reduce the already understaffed police force to 600 officers. According to the police union, OPD currently has approximately 675 officers. The police are not alone; all city departments will likely see significant cuts to avoid bankruptcies.
“It’s very difficult to monitor with the numbers going down. We have to figure out what calls are doing, we have to first see which calls are going to sit for four or five days. I’ve been to people’s homes and I apologize it takes four days to to record their stolen vehicle report. It’s embarrassing to me,” said Sgt.
Harper said residents and businesses are the ones getting hurt.
“You have to keep the police officers, the fire department, and cut elsewhere,” Harper said.
But city officials said that would be easier said than done. Police and fire departments make up 75% of the general fund.
City leaders will hold a special council meeting at City Hall on Monday to discuss where to make cuts. Residents are encouraged to attend.
