OAKLAND, Calif. (CN) — California Highway Patrol officers are targeting the Oakland area to “crack down on crime,” including vehicle and retail thefts, state officials announced Tuesday.
Governor Gavin Newsom said 120 California Highway Patrol officers are headed to Oakland and the surrounding Alameda County to partner with local law enforcement agencies in a “targeted crackdown” on criminal activity.
With the patrol surge — a nearly 900% increase in personnel within Alameda County — officers will target vehicle, cargo and retail theft, as well as violent crime, and work to improve traffic law enforcement. The patrol officers will be aided by license plate reader technology to help identify and recover stolen vehicles, K9s and air support.
“What’s happening in this beautiful city and surrounding area is alarming and unacceptable,” Newsom said. “I’m sending the California Highway Patrol to assist local efforts to restore a sense of safety that the hardworking people of Oakland and the East Bay demand and deserve.”
While crime rates in California are decreasing, Oakland’s trend is the opposite, the governor said: In 2023, violent crime in the city rose 21%, robbery increased 38% and vehicle theft increased 45%.
But the most recent citywide data paints a more complex picture. Oakland Police Department’s new raw data for Jan. 29 through Feb. 4 shows that crime overall is down 37% compared to the same period in 2023, with reductions in many categories such as burglaries, aggravated assault, rape and shootings. Robberies, which are up 44%, saw the greatest increase from the same period last year.
Oakland’s mayor Sheng Thao called current rates of crime and violence “completely unacceptable."
“The city of Oakland is hard at work turning the tide — increasing law enforcement investigations, increasing police recruitment, and investing in community and violence intervention efforts,” Thao said in a statement. “As we work to improve public safety, I’m grateful for Governor Newsom for providing these critical law enforcement resources that are a game-changer in helping us hold more criminals accountable and make Oakland safer.”
In August 2023, Newsom announced he would partner with the city to deploy highway patrol officers and loan up to $1.2 million toward public safety. He said since then, California Highway Patrol has made 100 arrests and recovered 193 stolen vehicles. The state did not say how many of those arrests led to charges being filed.
The state has also focused its attention on legislation to expand criminal penalties for theft, eyeing retail theft in particular with an annual 310% increase in operations across the state.
Thao has been pressured by local business owners to address robberies and hire a new police chief. She faced demands for a recall, after having been in office for only a year, for firing a police chief who oversaw a gradual increase in homicides due to internal corruption under investigation at Oakland Police Department.
Meanwhile, other Oaklanders have told city leaders they want more funding for community programs like Operation Ceasefire, geared toward people in neighborhoods at high risk of gun violence, rather than an increase of police in disproportionately low-income neighborhoods.
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