Crime

OP-ED: When one’s house is burning, the first course of action is to extinguish the fire

Published

10 years ago

April 12, 2015

Although it has been 35 years since I last suited up for the Oakland Police Department, even so, when it comes to the subject of public safety in the City of Oakland, I feel I still possess a certain bonafide expertise.

In response to Publisher Paul Cobb’s challenge, I will attempt to proffer what I think is the problem (not rocket science), and what solutions exist to bring about a substantive change in the crime rate of Oakland (also not rocket science).

I was born in Berkeley and raised in east Oakland where I attended elementary, junior high, and high school from 1956 to 1969. I have fond memories of an idyllic time when the milkman, in full white regalia, delivered milk to the family doorstep. This was an unremarkable time when I could ride my bike to the store and lay it down, untethered and unlocked, on the sidewalk.

Gun violence in my neighborhood was a scene played out on the silver screen at the local theater. Indeed, the ultimate conflict arbiter resided in our fists where the scrapes, bumps, and bruises of a fight would, more often than not, lead to a new friendship. Such was Oakland of the past which is altogether elusive and wanting today

Gregory Taylor in uniform

The Oakland Police Department, once the bellwether of policing, has now been reduced to an agency so hamstrung that it can’t, with any consistency, carry out many of its designed duties–or get out of its own way. In 1972, at the age of 21, I joined the department which at that time was a bastion of technological prowess that stood head and shoulders above all other California Police Agencies–and that included the famously touted LAPD.

Although they are unexceptional today, in the early 1970s OPD was one of three police agencies in the entire country that had in-vehicle Computers called Digital Computers, AKA, Digicom—Albany, N.Y. and Kansas City, MO., were the other two. Argus, our helicopter, was so indispensable to the beat officer that exhausting foot chases often turned into a couple of fence hops followed by the capture or surrender of a befuddled suspect.

We were always on the cutting edge of technology. I remember patrolling in a newly minted police vehicle loaded with all the bells and whistles of its time thinking I was piloting a state-of-the-art fighter jet or a NASA space capsule. The array of buttons on the overhead console, paired with a touch-sensitive digital map mounted above the computer, had us all beaming with pride to be part of such a forward-thinking, highly-trained, superbly equipped police organization in all of America.

OPD was so respected and well-thought-of that most of the surrounding agencies like Hayward, San Leandro, Alameda, and Fremont paid to put their recruits through Oakland’s Academy which ran nonstop three classes at a time.

Now, sadly, and with a bit of embarrassment, I hear reports of the Highway Patrol and the Alameda Co. Sheriff’s Office (ACSO) taking calls for service in Oakland. How could this be?

In my day, the deepest a CHP officer ventured into Oakland was to find a place to eat off a nearby freeway ramp, and an ACSO officer might occasionally be seen, if one didn’t blink, serving a subpoena or an eviction notice. As it is today, the homicide rate was ascending the charts establishing high water marks for the record books; all the same, there was a high clearance and conviction rate to keep pace with the murder rate. The number of sworn personnel, as best I can remember, never exceeded 715–if it ever got that high.

So, where did the train run off the track? How can the department, thus, the city be returned to the previous years of competent and effective crime-fighting when Oakland is in perpetual-fiscal decline? A shrinking tax base caused by fleeing businesses due to persistent crime stifles new development and home ownership.

This vicious circle of reciprocating cause and effect can NOT be hidden by a mulligan stew of tax increases, fines, fees, infrastructure neglect, service charges, or grants & subsidies; nor can creative accounting, that would make a wall street derivative broker blush, put off the inevitable collapse (bankruptcy). How long can the city fathers continue to rob Peter to pay Paul before the lights are turned off? Until Oakland’s checkbook is brought into balance the fate of Detroit looms large in its future?

Oakland will forever be chasing its tail, while crime, and its perception, remains the reputation of the city. There must be the will, the know-how, and most of all, the persuasive personality to coalesce disparate views into an effective plan of attack to do what must be done. Name one city where crime is an issue and the people are prosperous. You want your tax base and your educated class back in numbers that matter? Only when it is SAFE to return.

Gregory Taylor has a bachelor’s degree in International Studies with a minor in Asian Studies and a bachelor’s degree in Chinese. He has traveled extensively concentrating the past 18 years in Asia, where he has lived an aggregate of 4 years.

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Bo Tefu

California Assembly Passes Bill to Strengthen Penalties for Soliciting Minors

The revised version of Assembly Bill 379, authored by Assemblymember Maggy Krell (D-Sacramento), now allows prosecutors to file felony charges against adults who solicit sex from a 16 or 17-year-old, provided the accused is three or more years older than the minor. If the offender is within three years of the minor, the charge would remain a misdemeanor.

Published

6 days ago

May 19, 2025

Oakland Post

iStock.

By Bo Tefu, California Black Media

The California State Assembly has agreed to amend a controversial bill that would increase penalties for adults who solicit sex from minors ages 16 or 17, following a wave of criticism from Republicans and concerns raised by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

“From a prosecutor’s standpoint, this bill strengthens California law and gives us the felony hammer to prosecute the creeps that are preying on teenagers,” Krell said in a statement supporting the amended bill.

The new amendments also include provisions for a state grant program aimed at improving the prosecution of human trafficking and sex trafficking cases, as well as a support fund for survivors partially funded by increased fines on businesses that enable or fail to address human trafficking.

The bill faced significant opposition last week after the Assembly removed a provision that would have treated solicitation of 16 and 17-year-olds as a felony for all offenders.

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Activism

BOOK REVIEW: The Afterlife of Malcolm X

Betty Shabazz didn’t like to go to her husband’s speeches, but on that February night in 1965, he asked her to come with their daughters to the Audubon Ballroom in New York. Did Malcolm X sense that something bad would happen on that night? Surely. He was fully aware of the possibility, knowing that he’d been “a marked man” for months because of his very public break with the Nation of Islam.

Published

6 days ago

May 18, 2025

Oakland Post

Book Cover of the Afterlife of Malcolm X. Courtesy of Simon & Schuster.

By Terri Schlichenmeyer

Author: by Mark Whitaker, c.2025, Simon & Schuster, $30.99, 448 pages

Who will remember you in fifty years’ time?

A handful of friends – at least those who are still around – might recall you. Your offspring, grandkids, and greats, maybe people who stumble upon your tombstone. Think about it: who will remember you in 2075? And then read “The Afterlife of Malcolm X” by Mark Whitaker and learn about a legacy that still resonates a half-century later.

As the news of his murder spread around New York and around the world, his followers and admirers reacted in many ways. His friend, journalist Peter Goldman, was “hardly shocked” because he also knew that Malcolm’s life was in danger, but the arrest of three men accused of the crime didn’t add up. It ultimately became Goldman’s “obsession.”

Malcolm’s co-writer for The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Alex Haley, quietly finished the book he started with Malcolm, and a small upstart publishing house snatched it up. A diverse group of magazines got in line to run articles about Malcolm X’s life, finally sensing that White America “’needed his voice even more than Blacks did.’”

But though Malcolm X was gone, he continued to leave an impact.

He didn’t live long enough to see the official founding of the Black Panther Party, but he was influential on its beginning. He never knew of the first Kwanzaa, or the triumphs of a convert named Muhammad Ali.

Malcolm left his mark on music. He influenced at least three major athletes.

He was a “touchstone” for a president …

While it’s true that “The Afterlife of Malcolm X” is an eye-opening book, one that works as a great companion to the autobiography, it’s also a fact that it’s somewhat scattered. Is it a look at Malcolm’s life, his legacy, or is it a “murder mystery”?

Turns out, it’s all three, but the storylines are not smooth. There are twists and tangents and that may take some getting used-to. Just when you’re immersed, even absorbed in this book, to the point where you forget about your surroundings, author Mark Whitaker abruptly moves to a different part of the story. It may be jarring.

And yet, it’s a big part of this book, and it’s essential for readers to know the investigation’s outcome and what we know today. It doesn’t change Malcolm X’s legacy, but it adds another frame around it.

If you’ve read the autobiography, if you haven’t thought about Malcolm X in a while, or if you think you know all there is to know, then you owe it to yourself to find “The Afterlife of Malcolm X.”

For you, this is a book you won’t easily forget.

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Bay Area

Grand Jury: Richmond Police Short-staffed Amid Budget Cuts, Council Inaction

In recent years, RPD was described as severely understaffed in two independent reports, one by Raftelis Financial Consulting (2024) and another by Matrix Consulting Group (2023). Raftelis recommended the hiring of 27 more officers and Matrix recommended hiring 30. Despite these findings, “neither report has been fully discussed by the City Council in a public meeting,” the Grand Jury report notes.

Published

6 days ago

May 18, 2025

Oakland Post

RPD headquarters. Courtesy image.

The Richmond Standard

A newly released Contra Costa County Civil Grand Jury report raised concerns about public safety in Richmond caused by an understaffed police department.

The Grand Jury ultimately recommended that the Richmond City Council reverse its actions to defund the Richmond Police Department, which remains below the approved level of 146 sworn officers with a current vacancy of 23 officers, according to the report.

In 2014, when the RPD under Chief Chris Magnus gained national recognition for implementing a community policing model that drove down crime, the department boasted 196 sworn officers.

Meanwhile, crime is on the rise. While homicides were down from 18 in 2021 to 11 in 2024, violent crimes overall jumped 22.6% in that time. Robbery and aggravated assault both increased by nearly 20%, with sexual assaults up 21%, according to the grand jury report’s findings.

Those numbers are likely higher since RPD’s limited staffing means police are unable to respond to all calls for service, according to RPD authorities.

The Grand Jury report noted a pivotal moment for the police department occurred in the wake of George Floyd’s murder by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020.

Jumping aboard a national trend to defund police, the City Council, led by the Richmond Progressive Alliance (RPA), reallocated $3 million away from the RPD budget, leading to downsizing or elimination of RPD’s specialized investigative units.

The funds were redirected to support the YouthWORKS Program, unhoused services, the Office of Neighborhood Safety (ONS), and a new alternative non-police community response team.

The latter strategy, known as the Community Crisis Response Program (CCRP), aims to reduce the number of calls to dispatch that require a law enforcement response. But the program has yet to be fully implemented and is being challenged by the RPD’s union, which takes issue with CCRP employees becoming members of SEIU Local 1021, a separate city union that routinely helps to elect RPA members to the City Council.

The Grand Jury recommends that the city use a portion of the $550 million Chevron settlement funds to hire and retain more officers. The City Council recently expressed interest in using those funds to address the city’s unfunded pension liabilities. To read the full, 10-page Grand Jury report, go to https://www.cc-courts.org/civil/docs/grandjury/2024-2025/2503/2503-DiminishingFundsandFewerOfficers.pdf?fbclid=IwY2xjawKR1AVleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFxeW1vUTFXNWNWazZCZmxIAR6FJYmFEfK098FXFhC4lvSCMSbHr5aEVno_sZqukzhZKI9iEvsu8kr_KoKX6g_aem_Xp15VG4_irpJqDWBcAI7-g