New Killing in WO; Plus, Car Thefts in Temescal/Rump Rockridge

Oakland's 31st murder happened yesterday -- on a Sunday afternoon. If you thought that "whipping out a tittie on a Sunday afternoon" was crazy (two superbowls ago) well this is just darn worse! Inexusable behavior.

Has OPD figured out what the common thread is in most of the murders?
Economic status of shooter, victim?
Race of both?
Common motive?
Common opportunity?
Common circumstances?

* * *

Moving on to actual crimes in North Oakland proper -- the Temescal/Rockridge brady bunch where the "legally" earned and taxed money's at...

we have muggings aplenty
we still have a good burglary burn rate
we lose at least five steel cages propelled by liquid explosive per week (stolen cars)

Who are the victims?

Choose from our three mutually exclusive specie of Temescaler/ Rockridger:
1 - mid 20s youngsters/artists/grungy or tatted out art students (35%)
2 - mid 30s young, urban professional yuppies who slave at corporate, inc. in SF (35%)
3 - mid 50s+ older people who lucked out and bought houses decades back (25%)

Note on car theft: see map below. City of Oakland had 106 officially reported car thefts in the last ten days. In the North Oakland area, 27 cars or 25% of the total.

Click for larger image-


Takeaway: we must all be making it too easy for them!
Correct me if I'm wrong, but "Vehicle Theft" to me means whole cars taken, not mere "Theft" of car parts of crap on your passenger seat.

Tips:
-close windows completely
-lock your doors
-use a steering wheel lock - masterlock works better than "the CLUB" - get one at Reed Bros on 45th
-use your alarm
-park with your wheels turned into the curb
-leave NOTHING in your car for thieves to steal: coins, phone, CDs, cameras, laptops, blah blah blah
-don't tint your windows
-always remove radio faceplate

You can't prevent guys from hotwiring your accord or civic once they're in, but you can keep them out by using the steps above.

Check out this handy list of the easiest cars to steal.

Lots of useful, common sense tips, too.

Including, etching your VIN into every window:

"VIN etching is so effective that many insurers offer discounts from 3% to 15% on comprehensive premiums for cars with etched windows. Cars that have been VIN etched have a 64% lower theft rate than non-etched cars. And, a VIN etched car has a more than an 85% chance of recovery if it is stolen."

Perata update #2

The stolen gold camaro was later found in East Oakland. What was insightful is Lt. Green's admission that one carjacking a day occurs in Oakland.

Everyone is kicking OPD around lately for lackluster performance -- reporters (Chip Johnson, Charles Pine), politicians passing the buck (Councilwomen Brunner, Quan), the public (see any forum or mailing list) ... but is our crime epidemic all OPD's fault?

Who's to blame for an inefficient, incapable OPD? Who put a hiring freeze in place on the department in the earlier part of the decade? Was it the Chief of Police, or was it Oakland's city council? Are the politicians not admitting the larger problems? Of an extractive, concentrating economic system that rewards a few and punishes the majority?

To expand on the economics at play: private, corporate prisons; gasoline expenditures that leave our local economies; eating low quality food from McDonald's and Safeway and giving our money to these corporations who don't reinvest in Oakland...

If you've never been to East O, it's definitely colorful and fun to play in. Fruitvale district has lots of good Mexican and SouthEast Asian eats. Take a culinary trip through Fruitvale. Up off the flatlands a bit toward the hills of 580, you can drop "the real" East O, home of Youth Uprising, a place where people promote the validity of opposition to the mainstream through spoken word, song, dance, playing XBox video games and graffiti art. YU features a cafe run by students.

This neighborhood also features Islamic houses of worship (or at least gathering on the sidewalk outside) and is close to a giant strip mall. The thing I found most depressing about this area is that one needs a car to get anywhere. The residents would be much better served by improved public transportation to decently-paying jobs. To complement this strategy however, the area would be much better off with more jobs sited in the general area. Finally, dedicating less pavement to through car traffic would greatly aid everyone's safety when walking about, and even promote sidewalk cafes and other businesses.