March 9th, 2005

Dear Friends and Residents of the Oakland Hills,

On December 22nd at our Town Hall Meeting, I promised to take action and respond to neighborhood complaints regarding crime and police functions in the Oakland Hills within 90 days. During the meeting there were significant requests for increased patrolling of the area, as well as the need for increased police cooperation with citizen groups providing crime information.

I am happy to report that as a direct result of that meeting OPD is now implementing a continuous presence in the hills and will cease the practice of pulling officers from the hills to fill other beats that are open. This is a new policy and we expect results. An additional measure will include keeping at least one officer permanently on the beat (beat 13) who will not come off the beat except in rare emergencies. This officer is always there. If someone reports a serious crime, he or she will be able to respond.

In addition to putting police focus on the area, Lt. Meeks has improved the detective function there by directing more police resources and attention to property crimes in the hills. He has addressed problems of communication by making changes to the processing of information provided by citizens in order to track that information. He has created regular team meetings with problem solving officers to ensure better communication between detectives and other OPD units.

Deputy Chief Holland has overseen two meetings with the Oakland Hills neighborhood and is planning another in March to further the process and review the creation of an online crime reporting mechanism to be used by the public. Deputy Chief Holland can be reached at 510-238-3076

Lt. Kozicki has agreed to seriously target the ongoing problems of speeding and racing and expects results in the next month, now that the necessary speed survey (required by law every 5 years in order to ticket) has just been completed. Lt. Kozicki has agreed to target, in particular, the stretch between the Claremont Hotel and Grizzly Peak as well as all those folks who congregate at the wall and want to use Grizzly Peak as a raceway.

Answers to specific concerns raised by citizens at the December 22nd Town Hall Meeting

1. Residential burglary calls are going unanswered by OPD. OPD responds to all home burglaries. People have complained they have trouble getting through to police to make a report which often means they do not wait for a dispatcher to answer the phone once a tape-recorded message ends.
2. When will new cops be hired for Measure Y? I expect that new officers, those that need to go through a complete training regimen, will start hitting the streets by August. Experienced police officers recruited from other areas to work in Oakland may be ready sooner than this.
3. Reckless speeding in the hills and on Grizzly Peak Motorcycle cops have not been able to write tickets effectively in the hills because the streets had not been speed surveyed. It is a matter of law that speed surveys have to be done every 5 years or else tickets are thrown out of court. I directed the Department of Public Works to complete the speed survey ASAP. The survey has just been completed as of this week and is being sent to OPD immediately. We should see a major impact.
4. Lack of accountability in OPD without a chief Interim Chief Wayne Tucker has been assigned the job. Chief Tucker has set high goals for the department, including reducing the murder rate by an additional 15-20% in the next year. The problem of police accountability has been addressed and is the current focus of senior officers and commanders who understand that a new culture of accountability needs to be put in place in Oakland OPD. We are already seeing the results. A great part of the focus on this has been on training and re-training officers.
5. The need for an organizational audit of OPD An overtime audit of OPD has been ordered by the City Council. The audit is currently underway and will be completed by April, when the results of the audit will be reported to the City Council.
6. Lack of parking enforcement in the hills, especially for narrow streets that might impede fire trucks. Parking enforcement is not an OPD priority and is primarily the responsibility of City Parking enforcement. We have talked to City Parking enforcement about the ticketing in the Oakland Hills. They can be reached at 510-238-3099 and will respond to legitimate complaints by sending someone to issue a ticket. Call them. It is important to mention patterns of parking violation so that they can target specific areas and streets with more regular patrols.
7. Neighborhood watch / home alert as a crime deterrent The City is investigating how it might support the efforts of citizens who are creating home alert systems. They will make recommendations to the Public Safety Committee on April 26th. For information call Claudia Albano 510-238-6372.

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