2 posts tagged “oakland crime”
OAKLAND — A shortage of police Special Victims Unit investigators has resulted in almost
1,800 open sexual assault cases involving children and adults dating back five years.
The cases include rapes, molestations, oral copulations and
sodomies. Marcia Blackstock, executive director of Bay Area Women
Against Rape, or BAWAR, called such offenses, "the most detrimental of
crimes that can happen to a living survivor."
In some cases, victims have not been contacted by an
investigator in at least a year, and Blackstock said some of the
victims she has talked to are so upset they are not willing to
cooperate with police. "They don't want to relive that (again)," she
said. The case backlog is just one example of the challenges posed
by understaffing in the Oakland Police Department, though police
officials claim the problems in the Special Victims Unit, or SVU, can
be traced to city leaders' focus on patrol and problem-solving efforts
rather than investigations. Police said the number of open sexual assault cases involving
juveniles as of this week was 1,186. Adults were the victims in another
593 open cases. Besides those 1,779 cases, another 1,516 cases involving
other offenses investigated by the Special Victims Unit remain open,
officials said. Those include abuse cases, monitoring registered sex
offenders and other investigations. Blackstock said her organization and victims in the open cases are angry and frustrated.
Lt. Kevin Wiley, commander
of the unit, understands their frustration. The situation "is
terrible," he said. "If this was a family member of mine, I'd be
furious. These people have a right to service." Wiley said police are aware of the emotional toll on a sexual assault victim.
"Without a doubt, with the emotions they're feeling, we know
the closure portion is critical to the victim. They want to move on
with their lives, and they can't." An open case is one where no arrest has beenmade or one where
a case has not been taken to the district attorney's office for a
decision on whether a prosecution is warranted. The Special Victims Unit is supposed to have 10 investigators
but has not had that many since 2006. As of this week, there were five
full-time and one part-time investigator. The unit shrunk in size because of promotions, retirements and transfers to other units.
According to Deputy Chief Jeff Israel, the main reason the
positions have been left vacant is because city officials have focused
on filling the 57 problem-solving officer positions mandated by Measure
Y — the 2004 public-safety ballot measure. Currently, there are about
15 problem-solving officer vacancies. SOURCE OF THIS STORY
Jane Armbruster Says It's Not Fair To Blame Ron Dellums For Crime - SFGate Letter
Jane Armbruster of Oakland wrote this letter to the editors of The SF Chronicle:
Editor - Regarding Chip Johnson's Feb. 15 column, "Oakland mayor politicks as people are killed:" Does anyone really believe that the presence of Mayor Ron Dellums or any elected official would have prevented the tragic loss of life in Oakland that weekend? Could Mayor Ron Dellums, Sen. Don Perata, Council President Ignacio De La Fuente and Attorney General Jerry Brown have donned Superman outfits and put themselves in the paths of bullets?
I worked to elect Ron Dellums because he understands that Oakland, and other cities, need more resources to address the deep-seated problems that produce murder in the streets. I would do so again because was in Washington, D.C., lobbying for resources. Unless he and other officials obtain more resources to address urban problems, governing cities is nothing more than administering scarcity. Administering scarcity means denying funds for filling some potholes, and policing some neighborhoods; means robbing Peter to pay Paul one year, and Paul to pay Peter the next; it cannot solve problems more complex than running for office.
Why hasn't Perata used his leadership position in the Legislature to at least begin to address the budget problems Proposition 13 has created for state and local governments over the past 30 years? Perhaps, had he done so, the current Oakland mayor could have stayed home that weekend.
