Oakland leaders tout crime drop at public safety meeting

Oakland Mayor and Police Chief field questions on crime at Town Hall

The public safety focused forum was held at Montclair’s Saint John’s Episcopal Church in Oakland, the second of five scheduled in the City this month.

OAKLAND, Calif. - Jerald Sumler has lived in Oakland since the 1950s, has seen crime increase over the years and wants to see more police on patrol to stop sideshows.

"It's very unsafe," Sumler said Monday night outside a public safety meeting at St. John's Episcopal church in Montclair held by the mayor and police chief. "It makes us all feel like, what's going to happen to us?"

Mayor Sheng Thao tried to assuage community members to hear by touting her safety plan, saying that the city has been making progress, and in fact, crime is down 33 percent from last year.

Thao credited the Ceasefire program for much of that success, explaining that there are about 350 repeat offenders who have been targeted as part of this effort.

"A lot of the time, the same group of people are committing these crimes," she told the audience.

And according to Oakland Police Chief Floyd Mitchell, violent crimes are down 15 percent, including homicide, aggravated assault, sexual assault and robberies.

"We are seeing reductions in crime throughout the city," he said, adding that Oakland police officers are working with federal agencies to crack down on sex trafficking.

Thao also credited the police department’s crime reduction teams – officers on foot patrol in business corridors – and traffic patrol, for the drop in these crimes.

Still, there are challenges ahead. The mayor acknowledged that improvements to the 911 system are a priority.

"This is not going to get fixed overnight," she said.

And according to Mitchell, there are now over 690 officers on the force – with dozens more in the academy-- to replace retiring officers.

"We don't have enough officers out there," he said.