100 blocks in Oakland to see fewer police

Friends and family gather to remember Shonte Maurice-Cory Daniels Jr. ,15 years old, Sunday April 22, 2012, in front of his home in Oakland, Calif. Daniels was shot down while walking home from a house party Saturday morning. less Friends and family gather to remember Shonte Maurice-Cory Daniels Jr. ,15 years old, Sunday April 22, 2012, in front of his home in Oakland, Calif. Daniels was shot down while walking home from a house party ... more Photo: Lacy Atkins, The Chronicle Photo: Lacy Atkins, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 8 Caption Close 100 blocks in Oakland to see fewer police 1 / 8 Back to Gallery

Six months after Oakland Mayor Jean Quan vowed to shower what she called the most violent blocks of Oakland with extra police and social services, the Police Department says it will reduce the number of officers in those areas.

The move comes weeks after residents in the Oakland hills criticized Quan's crime plan, known as the 100-block plan, saying it had resulted in a decrease in officers in their wealthier neighborhoods, which were seeing an uptick in burglaries.

It also comes as police reveal that the crime rate for the city's most serious crimes - including homicides, robberies and burglaries - is up 21 percent compared with this same time last year.

Last year, Oakland reassigned 22 police officers from their community policing beats, including several from hills neighborhoods, to crime-reduction teams working on violence reduction. Much of that violence reduction work took place in the areas of East and West Oakland designated under Quan's 100-block program, which she unveiled in October as her solution to the city's violent crime problem.

But those officers are now going to be sent back to their community policing beats, said Sgt. Christopher Bolton, chief of staff to Police Chief Howard Jordan.

The move will "better serve the community at large," said Bolton.

Bolton and Interim Deputy Chief Darren Allison said last year's reassignment of the officers had been intended as temporary, to see how it worked.

Hills and North Oakland residents had been upset and have been demanding the return of these officers to deal with the rash of burglaries.

In response to concern from hills residents about the increased burglaries, police stepped up patrols, analyzed patterns to catch burglars and increased investigations. On Friday, police announced the arrest of four people in connection with a slew of burglaries and robberies.

The move to restore the community policing officers comes as the department prepares to discuss its policing strategy, which includes Quan's 100-block plan, before the City Council's public safety committee Tuesday.

How police are distributed is always a contentious issue in Oakland, a city of 390,000 residents that has had a chronically understaffed department. Currently, the city has 653 officers.

Quan, in an interview on Monday, said the use of the 22 community policing officers on crime reduction teams was never part of her 100-block plan. She said extra officers in her 100-block plan come from two sources.

Extra officers

One is a $10.7 million federal grant announced in September, which pays for 25 officers for three years. Those officers - who will work on issues of youth violence, human trafficking, and juvenile delinquency around four middle schools - will join the force this summer.

Quan said the other source of extra officers resulted from union negotiations in 2011that saved the city money and enabled it to hire 34 officers. Those officers went to the 100-block areas, Quan said.

"That's where they went," she said. "They will stay there."

Police, however, say that information is not correct.

"No," said Officer Johnna Watson, the department spokeswoman. "I wouldn't say they went there. We folded them back into patrol."

Although Quan has repeatedly touted her 100-block plan as being a comprehensive solution to the city's public safety problem, the Police Department says little about the effort and at times contradicts what Quan says about her plan.

Crime data specifically tied to the 100 blocks is not included in the report, and Bolton said the department does not break down its data that way.

Displaced crime

Police said that even though shootings have gone down in certain areas, other crimes have risen - such as burglaries in North Oakland and parts of the hills.

"The most noticeable effect of our activity is that crime is displaced," said Bolton. "We don't consider that a complete success, obviously, because we're considering crime citywide."

Beyond law enforcement, Quan says her plan has changed how other city departments operate. Previously, she says, public safety was solely up to the Police Department. Now every department head is accountable.

"We're asking them, 'What can you do differently that will help the 100 blocks?' " she said.

However, the city is not tracking whether requests for other city services like graffiti removal have increased or decreased in the 100 blocks.

Despite all the talk from City Hall, down on Auseon Avenue in East Oakland, some residents say they haven't noticed much help from police or the city.

Police drive by dealers who hang out on corners, said Carissa Martinez, 32, a mother of four who has lived there for 18 years. She has not seen any increase in city services.

"We don't feel any safer today than we would any other day," she said.