our recent crime wave…and debating with my councilmember

Friday, Jul 22. 2005  –  Category: Musings

my neighbourhood has been hit by a recent crime wave that’s getting really out of hand. some of the recent problems:

  • 100+ cars had their windows shot out by 3 idiots with BB guns, and way too much time on their hands
  • two neighbours robbed at gunpoint, one of them in front of her own house
  • countless cars stolen (i recall at least 6)
  • people shooting guns

a bunch of us have been petitioning our councilmember, Jean Quan to do something. if you read the Oakland Tribune article above, you can see her quote:

“It doesn’t appear to be a crime wave statistically,” she said. “I just think awareness is up.”

oh. my mistake. our awareness is just up. that’s all. does this mean that this crime is not any different from previous crime. was i just unaware of the last time 100 cars in my neighbourhood were shot up? was i just oblivious the last time my neighbours were held up at gunpoint?

this is getting ridiculous and out of hand. in an email exchange i had with the councilmember asking to get more frequent police patrols in the neighbourhood temporarily, her answer was:

we will begin to get new officers out of the academy in the fall and through the next two years the number of police will increase.

uh. great. that does NOTHING for me now. i’ll be sure to politely ask all the thieves holding my neighbours up at gunpoint, shooting guns on my street, stealing cars, and damaging our neighbourhood’s property to please come back again in the fall, or better yet… in 2 years time.

4 Responses to “our recent crime wave…and debating with my councilmember”

  1. Geoff Arnold Says:
    July 22nd, 2005 at 09:54

    You could try the British approach - install a few dozen security cameras.

    Or reintroduce the stocks….

    Geoff

    (By the way, your CAPTCHA is extraordinarily hard to read. Of the 8 characters, I’m literally guessing at 4 of them, and my first few attempts were rejected.

  2. Geoff Arnold Says:
    July 22nd, 2005 at 09:57

    Also, after I finally got my comment accepted, Safari threw a hissy fit because it said that it couldn’t open a “(null)” page.

    This time, I have a much shorter and easier CAPTCHA. I wonder if I’ll get he same “(null)” page error.

  3. Kevin Says:
    March 11th, 2006 at 02:02

    Good post - I’m new to blogging - but hope it’s OK if I quoted a few lines of this post over at my blog - http://armoakland.blogspot.com/

    My solution is simple. I now have a 12 gauge shotgun, and a semi-automatic rifle. They are both loaded at all times. I also have two big dogs who have both decided that they don’t like strangers.

    I think once some of these criminal idiots start getting capped by decent citizens, there will be a decrease in attacks on folks like you and me.

    If you get a chance, you should read the law on the use of force against people who trespass your home. There’s a presumption that the use of deadly force is reasonable, if the intrusion was forcible.

  4. ds Says:
    August 1st, 2006 at 16:15

    …at night, it used to be like a ghost town, now apparently it’s turing into a place for regular mini-riots…and murder. > If you care about your car, if you care about your life STFO of this area at night; even the cops are affraid, The cop who admitted this to me seemed pretty shaken. > > http://www.ktvu.com/news/9598456/detail.html?rss=fran&psp=news > > My tow truck driver told me that there were over twenty of these hood stomping, windshield bashings in one night at Macarthur bart. It’s some sort of stupid-savage-pointless trend. I’ve not heard anything in the media about the vandalism. I had to experience it first hand. > > http://danseneres.com/windshields.html >

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