Fewer police, more burglaries in Oakland

Police block of the intersection along High Street after a high speed chase, in pursuit of four burglary suspects with a pistol and a shotgun, Thursday March 15, 2012, in Oakland, Calif. Three weeks before a federal judge will hear arguments to decide whether Oakland should hand over its Police Department to federal authorities, attorneys for one of the parties filed a searing critique against the embattled law enforcement agency. less Police block of the intersection along High Street after a high speed chase, in pursuit of four burglary suspects with a pistol and a shotgun, Thursday March 15, 2012, in Oakland, Calif. Three weeks before a ... more Photo: Lacy Atkins, The Chronicle Photo: Lacy Atkins, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close Fewer police, more burglaries in Oakland 1 / 5 Back to Gallery

Oakland's over-the-top homicide rate is only the most obvious problem when it comes to the city's explosion in crime.

Although killings are tragic and make the news - and Oakland has already exceeded its total for all of last year - many more residents are falling victim to auto and home burglaries. Those are up a stunning 43 percent from last year.

Police Department figures show that as of Sunday, 11,081 homes, cars or businesses had been reported broken into so far this year. That translates to about 33 burglaries a day, or about one every 43 minutes.

The most popular targets are cars. A total of 5,743 have been broken into so far this year - 2,511 more than during the same period last year.

"It's horrendous," said City Councilwoman Pat Kernighan, who chairs the council's Public Safety Committee.

She suspects there's a direct correlation between the crime spike and the city's steady loss of police officers in recent years. "That's the issue we all should be focusing on," Kernighan said.

If the problem is a shortage of patrol cops, things are going to get worse.

According to police, Oakland will be down to 605 cops by February - 200 fewer than the city had in 2008. Another 40 will graduate from the Police Academy soon thereafter, but they'll be raw rookies.

"We are hiring officers as fast as we can, but that takes years," said Councilwoman Libby Schaaf. "We need to start contracting with outside agencies like the Alameda County Sheriff's Department to get more cops out on patrol now."

Mayor Jean Quan is on a trip to China, but her office issued a statement saying she supported the call for more officers. It said she hopes to have a plan with the Sheriff's Department worked out "very soon."

Considering the numbers, the sooner the better.

On the money: When it comes to pay, the real winner in the annual Dream House raffle for the nonprofit Yerba Buena Center for the Arts is the raffle's director, Neal Martin-Zeavy, who made $542,385 last year.

"What? The only thing I've ever gotten a bottle of wine - and a cheap one at that," said Chronicle columnist and former Mayor Willie Brown, one of the main pitchmen for the raffle, which nets about $1 million a year. The grand prize is a $3 million house, or $1.5 million in cash.

By comparison, the California State Lottery, which sells $3 billion in tickets each year, pays its director $147,900.

"It does look a little screwy, but do you know how hard it is for an organization like ours to raise $1 million? It ain't easy," said Yerba Buena's development director, Charles Ward.

Ward said the nonprofit arts center - which receives a $3 million annual city subsidy - is really paying for the software Martin-Zeavy developed to operate the raffle. And he's no longer listed on staff, but is an outside vendor.

"We had a compensation study done, and his compensation is deemed to be reasonable," Ward said.

Hot seat: Oakland officials have been meeting with attorneys seeking an outside overseer of the city's embattled Police Department - and so far, it's a stalemate.

U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson, who has scheduled a hearing for Dec. 13 on whether to appoint a receiver to implement civil-rights and other reforms in the department, has ordered both sides to keep their lips locked on the talks.

From what we hear, however, the biggest issue is whether the outside monitor would have the power to fire the police chief if the reforms are not put in place in a timely manner.

Adding to the tension: Chief Howard Jordan is in the room while all the talk of his possibly being fired is going on.

Black coffee Friday: East Bay shoppers who lined up early for the Thanksgiving night sales dash got an unexpected gift from their new congressman-elect.

Eric Swalwell, the Dublin city councilman who bucked the political establishment and unseated fellow Democrat Pete Stark, made the rounds to Target and Toys R Us stores in Dublin and Hayward and handed out cups of Starbucks coffee.

"People were a little stand-offish at first, but once they saw the campaign signs, they went for it," Swalwell said. "From the looks of things, I'll be doing it for the next two years as well."