Crime

Crime-tracking data poorly traced, report says

WAVE NEWSPAPERS — The LAPD uses a number of predictive programs to focus crime-fighting efforts in certain neighborhoods and on specific chronic offenders by analyzing data,

Published

6 years ago

March 19, 2019

Oakland Post

By Wave Newspapers

LOS ANGELES — Some Los Angeles Police Department programs that analyze data to predict where crimes may occur and identify “chronic offenders” need more oversight and have been inconsistently implemented, according to a report presented to the Police Commission March 12.

The LAPD uses a number of predictive programs to focus crime-fighting efforts in certain neighborhoods and on specific chronic offenders by analyzing data, including the LASER program and PrepPol. Both programs began in 2011 and have been criticized by some civil-rights advocates who claim they can lead to discrimination against minority groups.

In his report to the commission, LAPD Inspector General Mark Smith found that despite the fact the programs are data-driven, the information was sometimes poorly tracked and documented.

Smith said the primary finding of the report “unfortunately is that these programs lack some consistency in how they are being used throughout the department, how data was being tracked across the department.”

As to the Chronic Offender program, Smith’s report said “the format of the available data made it difficult, in some cases, to determine which activities were being conducted as the result of the program, and to assess the program’s overall impact.”

The commission did not take any direct action on the report, pending a two-week public comment period.

LASER is designed to inform officers where crimes are likely to occur and tracks ex-convicts and people they believe are most likely to commit crimes through technology, including cell phone trackers and license plate scanners.

By using data, including whether a person is a parolee or has ever been arrested, the LASER program generates a Chronic Offender Bulletin, which lists people the data says are most likely to commit a crime, even though they are not suspected in any specific crime.

The PredPol — short for “predictive policing” — program analyzes data about when and where crimes have occurred to identify “hot spots” in the city where certain types of crimes are more likely to be committed on a given day.

The Chronic Offender portion of the LASER program was suspended in August 2018, along with the use of the associated tracking database, according to the report. That same month, the commission held a public hearing on the programs and invited some of its harshest critics to give formal presentations on their opposition to them.

Although the LAPD has said race is not used directly in the data, members of the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition argued at the August meeting and again this week that certain information such as parolee data and gang member identification allows the LAPD to racially profile using “proxy” data, because Latinos and blacks represent a high percentage of those tracked groups.

The end result, the groups argue, is the justification of using data to discriminate against minority groups. Smith’s report found that the overall racial makeup of individuals labeled in the chronic offender program are comparable to the demographics of those arrested for violent crimes in the city.

“What we are talking about is a language that reduces people to data-driven policing,” Hamid Khan of the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition told the commission. “It goes back to plantation capitalism, and remains plantation capitalism. People are numbers, people are statistics.”

The meeting came less than a year after LAPD Chief Michel Moore was sworn into office. During his career, Moore has been considered one of the department’s top experts on using data and analyzing crime statistics, but he said he welcomed the recommendations in the report.

“I’m thankful that this report has come today. Fundamentally, I believe that data-driven strategies improve policing, and that improves community safety,” Moore said. “What’s critical in that is that we recognize that the systems have to be thoughtful and they have to recognize that there’s a limit to what data can do.”

Moore said the department suspended the Chronic Offender program due to the public criticism, and in his view, there were “too many inconsistencies and raising too many concerns relative to civil rights advocates and members of the community that to let that continue unabated was counter to public trust.”

The report found that the majority of people identified as chronic offenders had few, if any, actual contacts with the police, who often reported that they attempted to locate the designated person but could not find them.

As to the predictive policing programs on locations and communities, the report found in most cases the amount of time spent in these areas appeared to be “relatively limited.” The report did note “a small proportion of events involving long durations or repeated visits. Based on the available information, it was generally not clear whether these visits were driven by the underlying program, or whether they were the result of other department activities or strategies.”

If the department were to again use a person-based strategy like the Chronic Offender program, “more rigorous parameters about the selection of people, as well as the tracking of data, should allow for a better assessment of these issues,” the report said.

For the location-based strategies, among the recommendations in the report is that the LAPD establish formal written guidelines that specify how areas are identified in the programs, when to conduct assessments of the zones, and what strategies and activities are to be taken at the locations.

The report also recommended that the LAPD develop a system for regular reporting of basic usage and outcome data on the programs to the commission and the public, look for opportunities to obtain independent evaluations and consider seeking community and commission input prior to the implementation of any new data-driven policing strategies or any significant revisions to the current data-driven programs.

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Bay Area

Alameda County Judge Blasts Defendants Over Delay in West Oakland Fire Trial

Judge Kimberly Lowell excoriated the RadiusRecycling/SchnitzerSteel defendants in court for causing delays in prosecuting this case. Since the defendants first appeared in court on July 23, they have obtained three extensions of the arraignment date.

Published

23 hours ago

November 4, 2024

Oakland Post

Criminal charges announced this week are related to the August 2023 scrap metal fire at Radius Recycling Inc., formerly Schnitzer Steel. Photo courtesy of Oaklandside.

Special to The Post

District Attorney Pamela Price announced that a hearing was held on October 30 in the criminal prosecution of the Radius Recycling/Schnitzer Steel involving a fire at the West Oakland facility on Aug. 9-10, 2023.

The Alameda County criminal Grand Jury indicted radius Recycling and two of its corporate managers in June 2024.

The court clarified that the defendants will not receive more extensions on their arraignment and plea.

Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price agreed with the court that defendants should not get preferential treatment. Price and her team appreciated the court for clarifying that future delays by Radius will not be tolerated.

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District’s (BAAQMD) public data shows that during and after the fire, the smoke plume traveled across Alameda County with high levels of PM 2.5 (Particulate Matter less than 2.5 microns in diameter) detected around Laney College in Oakland, Livermore, Pleasanton, and West Oakland.

PM2.5 is particularly harmful to infants and children, the elderly, and people with asthma or heart disease.

“This fire posed a great health hazard to the people of Alameda County,” said Price. “High, short-term exposures to a toxic smoke plume have been shown to cause significant danger to human health.

“Additionally, in this case, Oakland firefighters battled the blaze under extremely dangerous conditions for 15 hours with assistance from a San Francisco Fire Department fireboat and a fireboat from the City of Alameda Fire Department,” Price observed.

The team prosecuting the case from the DA’s Consumer Justice Bureau looks forward to resolving any future motions and having the defendants arraigned in court on Dec. 9.

The media relations office of the Alameda County District Attorney’s office is the source of this report.

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Alameda County

D.A. Price Charges Coliseum Flea Market Vendors in Organized Retail Theft Case

The charges against Octavio Ambriz Valle, 52, Devora Ambriz Valle, 49, and Felipe Del Toro Trejo, 54, include multiple felony counts of possessing stolen property and organized retail theft in concert. It is alleged that the trio of vendors possessed stolen property valued at $348,466 from nine different retailers, including Kohl’s, Macy’s, PetSmart, Sephora, Sunglass Hut, TJX, Target, Walgreens, and Walmart.

Published

24 hours ago

November 4, 2024

Oakland Post

Alameda County courthouse. Courtesy photo.

Alameda County Courthouse File photo.

Special to The Post

Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price announced today that her office charged three people in connection with multiple organized retail theft crimes stemming from a sophisticated criminal enterprise operating at the Oakland Coliseum Flea Market from March 26, 2023, through April 17, 2024.

It is alleged that the trio of vendors possessed stolen property valued at $348,466 from nine different retailers, including Kohl’s, Macy’s, PetSmart, Sephora, Sunglass Hut, TJX, Target, Walgreens, and Walmart.

Last year, the District Attorney’s Office successfully competed and received a $2 million grant from the California Department of Justice to combat organized retail theft. Price added another $2 million to bolster the Organized Retail Crime Alameda (ORCA) unit which is fully operational and collaborating with numerous law enforcement agencies.

“For over a year, this enterprise supported criminal networks by requesting and buying specific products from brazen boosters who repeatedly terrorized retailers,” said Price. “I want to acknowledge our Organized Retail Crime Alameda (ORCA) Vertical Prosecution Unit for its great work and the role they played in this multi-jurisdiction investigation, which included the California Highway Patrol Golden Gate Division Organized Retail Crime Task Force, the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office, and San Ramon Police Department.”

If convicted and sentenced on all charges, Octavio Ambriz Valle faces a maximum sentence of nine years in County jail; Devora Ambriz Valle faces a maximum sentence of five years in County jail; and Felipe Del Toro Trejo faces a maximum sentence of three years and eight months in County jail.

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Activism

Fights Narrowly Break Out at Business Strike Press Conference at Oakland City Hall

Recall supporters called for a one-day business strike for the second year in a row to demand that the city do more to ensure public safety is a priority and that business owners are not plagued by the ongoing retail crime. Less than five minutes into the press conference, opponents of the recall began yelling at the recall supporters. This caused many recall volunteers to become upset with the “hecklers.”

Published

24 hours ago

November 4, 2024

Oakland Post

Supporters of the recalls against Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price, along with local political candidates and business owners, at a press conference outside Oakland City Hall. Speakers called for a city-wide, one-day business strike to protest against threats to public safety. Photo by Magaly Muñoz.

By Magaly Muñoz

What was intended to be a press conference for a planned city-wide business strike turned into two separate altercations between supporters and opponents of the recall of Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and Alameda District Attorney Pamela Price in front of Oakland City Hall.

Less than five minutes into the press conference, opponents of the recall began yelling at the recall supporters. This caused many recall volunteers to become upset with the “hecklers.”

One recall volunteer confronted the Thao supporters and attempted to physically intimidate them while also screaming obscenities in their faces. After several moments, the volunteer was pulled away from the Thao supporters and returned to the conference.

Soon after that incident, Ray Bobbitt, founder of the African American Sports and Entertainment Group (AASEG) that now owns the Oakland Coliseum, walked up to the rally and attempted to take the microphone from Seneca Scott, leader of the Thao recall efforts. The situation soon escalated as Scott pushed Bobbitt away.

Scott has made several comments at press conferences and on social media that the Coliseum sale deal is a fraud and that AASEG will not provide the city with the promised multi-million dollar funds. Bobbitt told the Post that he is tired of Scott “being a bully” and only wanted to talk through whatever issues Scott had with AASEG.

When Bobbitt asked Scott to talk privately, Scott responded with a threatening remark. Bobbitt soon left the scene after several people talked him down.

“We really need to abandon the toxicity. I’m here to bring our community together, not divide it,” Bobbitt told the Post.

Back with the recall group and business owners, speakers said that businesses are scared to file police reports because Oakland officers “don’t care anymore” and are scared that their insurance rates will increase.

“We’re here today because the last blood of our city is leaking out with no tourniquet. Cities run on commerce. The only reason for a city is commerce. Failure to protect commerce leads to a dying city,” Scott said.

Several businesses in the last year have closed down, such as In-N-Out Burger and Denny’s on the Hegenberger corridor, citing public safety concerns. Local businesses have also left because of break-ins, homelessness, and overall lack of security.

At the time of last year’s business strike, crime was up 26% from the year before, according to Oakland police data. Rumors of a Thao recall were also building around this event.

Crime today is down 37%, according to the same data. This point has been used heavily in Thao’s attempt to rally support against the recall against her.

Speakers at the Tuesday press conference said some owners were sleeping at their businesses for fear of people breaking in to steal from them or vandalize their locations.

“The only things that are not locked up in the stores are criminals,” one speaker said.

Rally organizers claimed that over 200 businesses were participating in the strike. But when the Post asked recall organizers if they could provide a list of all the participants, the request was denied.

“This is an example of the sort of chaos the recall campaign seeks to create in Oakland. This is the last minute last ditch stunt of a coal investor funded campaign that has realized that Oakland residents are going to say NO to the $10 million price tag, the chaos and the division their campaign represents,” a Thao supporter spokesperson said ahead of the business strike.