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Chip JohnsonArchive | E-mail | RSSOakland's new tactics on crime appear to helpChip JohnsonFriday, March 13, 2009Print E-mail deliciousdel.icio.usdiggDiggtechnoratiTechnoratiredditRedditfacebookFacebook slashdotSlashdotfarkFarknewsvineNewsvinegoogleGoogle BookmarksShare Comments (78) Georgia (default)VerdanaTimes New RomanArialFont | Size: The sun seems to be shining a bit brighter than usual on Oakland's often-violent streets.Major crimes - particularly killings - have subsided so far this year just as more officers and new outreach workers have been deployed in the city at the urging of Mayor Ron Dellums.ImagesOfficer Gerardo Melero (left) and other Oakland police of...David Flores (right) is questioned about an assault case ...Oakland police officers investigate the car of three peop... View Larger ImagesChip Johnson * Oakland's new tactics on crime appear to help 03.13.09 * Proposed hotel tax a positive step for Oakland 03.06.09 * Auditor seeks residents' pressure on nepotism 03.03.09 * Dysfunction persists at Oakland City Hall 02.27.09More Chip Johnson »The QuestionMajor crimes in Oakland decrease 23 percent: New policing tactics pay off Just a fluke How about it, San Francisco?View ResultsDisclaimerAbout This PollSF Gate polls are strictly surveys of those who choose to participate and are therefore not valid statistical samples.Our poll software uses a variety of methods to ensure that only votes determined to be valid are tabulated. When this determination cannot be made, we may not process your vote.No actions are taken by SF Gate as a result of the polls.CloseMore Polls »And while nobody knows how long the trend will hold, even a short-lived respite is a welcome change.Since Jan. 1, felony crimes against people and property have dropped 23 percent, according to the Oakland Police Department.Homicides alone decreased by 50 percent, to 14 slayings from 29 over the same period a year ago. Robberies fell by 16 percent during the same period, while auto theft dropped by one-third.All this is enough to make Grand Avenue furniture store owner Corella Ford smile. The return of a beat cop on her street a few months ago made all the difference, she said."We had homeless people sleeping in our doorways, people wandering up and down the block, but when he came, that all vanished," said Ford, 68. "I would say about four out of six days a week, he will stick his head inside the door and say hi. It's been a great relief."If there is a downside to the trend, the city still averages more than 200 gun assaults and street robberies a month, police say."Crime was down at the beginning of last year, too, and then spiked upward," cautioned Capt. Anthony Toribio, who oversees an area from downtown to the Berkeley border and the West Oakland shoreline. "We are trying to be as innovative as possible and changing our strategies to adapt to the crime."New deployment tacticsSince early February, the department has changed its deployment tactics to schedule more officers on Thursday-through-Saturday shifts, when crime occurs with greater frequency, Toribio said.The combination of a fully staffed police department of about 830 officers and changing strategies seems to be making a difference.The city's program using intervention workers to reach out to people hanging out in neighborhoods where drug dealing and violence are common also has begun to yield results, officials said.Toribio said outreach workers paid for through the city's Measure Y program have established a "strong working relationship" with some street toughs. The workers regularly target areas with patterns of violence."We send them in when we've determined there may be trouble brewing, and they work to try and let calmer heads prevail," Toribio said."Most of these guys (outreach workers) grew up in some of these neighborhoods. They recognize guys from the street," he said. "Some of them have been to prison and battled their demons, and they have a lot of credibility on the street."Toribio says half a dozen people he has encountered on the street say the outreach workers have persuaded them to leave the life of crime.Teams head off feudsOutreach workers have made contact with members of a Hispanic gang feuding with another group in the city's Lower Bottom neighborhood on the western edge of the city.In one case, a worker stopped a young man just released from the hospital for a gunshot wound from getting even with the man who shot him.While the intervention teams work with police, they aren't agents of the police and don't share information."We tell them where we need them to go and they go in and do their thing," Toribio added. "We're beginning to see the fruits of our efforts."Acting Police Chief Howard Jordan is cautiously optimistic about the recent drop in crime and thinks the department's efforts to strengthen ties in communities most affected by crime could be paying off."We're making progress, small steps, in areas where we've had problems organizing residents," Jordan said, "and there is still a lot of work to be done in the African American community."Criminals' new targetsEven as crime has slowed in middle-class neighborhoods such as Rockridge, China Hill near Lake Merritt and the Grand-Lakeshore Avenue community, shootings are on the rise in East Oakland and working illegal immigrants, who often don't report crimes to police, have become the favored targets of street robbers.While Oakland makes strides dealing with a plague that has seemed intractable, other problems persist.Home burglaries, for example, have increased by 1 percent compared with a year ago. And victims of that crime can't help but feel vulnerable.Just ask Oakland Vice Mayor Ignacio De La Fuente, whose home in the Fruitvale District was burglarized Thursday afternoon.Chip Johnson's column appears in the Chronicle on Tuesdays and Fridays. E-mail him at chjohnson@sfchronicle.com.Print E-mail deliciousdel.icio.usdiggDiggtechnoratiTechnoratiredditRedditfacebookFacebook slashdotSlashdotfarkFarknewsvineNewsvinegoogleGoogle BookmarksShare Comments(78)View Comments »Share your thoughts on this story.Add Your CommentYou must be signed in to add a comment. Sign In | Register Post this comment to Facebook too [?]Characters left: Learn how to share your comments on Facebook.Add Your CommentMost Recommended Comments gointelpro3/12/2009 10:17:15 PMI give credit to Ron Dellums for employing real outreach workers from the hood. Ignacio tried to sabotage the program by hiring his political cronies and hacks. I'm glad to read violent crimes have gone down but the tremendous numbers of shootings have been really alarming in East Oakland. I think it's early though given the economic Depression to tell whether this trend will last. But the city should keep plugging away with this strategy. Other cities are currently turning more and more to outreach workers who are ex-cons or from the hood themselves including LA and Portland.Recommend: (77)(17)[Report Abuse] SFBullMoose3/12/2009 10:24:45 PMStart enforcing the laws and have the community start REALLY demanding that their community is safe. Not that complicated ....Recommend: (66)(17)[Report Abuse] mpmurph3/12/2009 10:17:24 PMAnd the related story 3 shot in Oakland 1 deadRecommend: (45)(26)[Report Abuse]Report item as: (required) XComment: (optional)View Comments (78)Inside SFGateSkins Game At the Doral, Henrik Stenson strips before his mud shot. 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Oakland's new tactics on crime appear to help

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