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Security ambassadors making dent in Oakland crime - San Jose Mercury News : “OAKLAND, Calif.—Oakland officials are crediting the use of so-called "security ambassadors" with helping to clean things up a bit in the city's downtown. Since the eleven ambassadors hit the streets in early February, officials say they've booted out a drug dealer, helped police arrest a purse snatcher and are discouraging youths from hanging around the downtown area. Oakland Deputy Police Chief Dave Kozicki acknowledges the ambassadors are beginning to make a dent in low-level crimes.” -- I've never seen this presence in downtown Oakland. Where are they? And just 11 of them? I'm really in favor of helping people downtown get to know each other. That's the best deterent.

I was in Guatemala last summer for a wedding. A friend of mine from high school was getting married to a Guatemalan woman. Her family is fairly well-off. They are also not as dark-complected as your average Guatemalan - an observation that is, of course, less uncomfortable for me to make than for my friend's wife. Driving around Guatemala City, I had noticed that the fashion and cosmetic ads on billboards usually showed women who were also lighter-complected than most of the people walking around the city, as is often the case in the global South. One day my friend was busy, but his just-betrothed had to go to the mall. I offered to drive her. On the way there I pointed to one of the billboards: "Juana," I asked, "who are all these white people on the billboards?" "There are light-complected Guatemalans, you know," she retorted. "Yeah," I said, "and all two hundred of 'em were at your wedding." In some ways I feel...

More at Inside Bay Area : “OAKLAND — The family of Jerry Amaro III, who died a month after suffering broken ribs from an alleged police beating in 2000, filed a $10 million civil-rights lawsuit against the city in federal court Tuesday. The lawsuit follows revelations last month that the FBI is conducting an investigation of the incident, including the role played by then-Lt. Edward Poulson, who was later promoted to captain and became head of the department's Internal Affairs Division in 2008. Poulson was placed on paid leave Jan. 22. Attorneys John Burris and Jim Chanin said Amaro was the victim of excessive police force, but also said that a number of officers conspired to cover up the facts surrounding his death, and to conceal information from Amaro's family and the public.”

A well-placed source reported to me that BART Shooting victim Oscar Grant was found to have Crack Cocaine in his body, and planted through his buttocks. My source also accuses KTVU TV (Oakland, CA) News of delaying video release. My source is a long-time law enforcement official who has seen cases like this more often than not -- but this case given the video evidence, is different.  My source originally tipped me off to the extense of a third KTVU video of the Oscar Grant shooting by BART Police Officer Johannes Mesherle.   He said that  the video showed that another BART officer was clearly on Grant and beating him.  The source said that KTVU was withholding the video because they did not want to start a race-riot. The second tip regards the Crack Cocaine matter.  He claims that the autopsy, which is to be completed by March according, shows that the drugs were stuffed in his body via his buttocks.   My source holds that this is why -- he co...

More at SF Gate : “(02-06) 16:48 PST DUBLIN -- Johannes Mehserle, the former BART police officer accused of murder in the Jan. 1 shooting death of an unarmed man on the Fruitvale Station platform in Oakland, was released this afternoon on $3 million bail, authorities said. Mehserle, 27, posted bail at 3:45 p.m. and was released from Santa Rita Jail without incident, the Alameda County Sheriff's Department said.”

More at Inside Bay Area : “OAKLAND — The trial of Devaughndre Broussard, charged with murder in the August 2007 killing of journalist Chauncey Bailey, is unlikely to begin until late March, it was decided Friday. Broussard's attorney, LeRue Grim, said during a brief appearance in Alameda County Superior Court that he was not yet prepared for trial and asked for a postponement. Judge Joseph Hurley set another hearing for Jan. 30. "Hopefully, we set a trial date at that time," Hurley said. Prosecutor Christopher Lamiero did not object. Broussard, who was working as handyman at the now defunct Your Black Muslim Bakery, stands accused of gunning down Bailey on Aug. 2, 2007. He recanted a confession he now says was false to protect bakery leader Yusuf Bey IV. Broussard is the only person charged in the Bailey case. Bey IV is jailed awaiting trial in an unrelated kidnapping and torture case for which he and three co-defendants face life sentences if convicted. They are also exp...

More at Inside Bay Area : “RICHMOND — News this week of arrests in the Dec. 13 gang rape of a lesbian brought relief to many in the community, some of whom were so outraged that they led police to breaks in the case. But even as the resolution is lauded, gay-rights advocates and local and national crime statistics portray a gloomy truth about hate crimes against people based on their sexual orientation. Until the root causes of bias toward lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are addressed, "we'll continue to have hate perpetrated against us," said Shawna Virago, a program director for the San Francisco-based advocacy group Community United Against Violence. The group reported 304 crimes against Bay Area gays in 2007, the latest year for which complete statistics were available. That amounted to an approximate 6 percent increase from 2006.” -- What I want to know is who's doing this and why? What's the deal?

More in SFGate : “(12-20) 23:34 PST RICHMOND -- Police are offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of four men who allegedly kidnapped and gang-raped for nearly an hour a 28-year-old Richmond woman, who was left naked when they fled in her car.”

Body found - Inside Bay Area : “BERKELEY — A wooden coffin containing human bones, found entombed behind a false wall in a Berkeley apartment building, was hauled out this morning by police and firefighters during a follow-up investigation of a suicide earlier this week, authorities said. The remains are apparently a man's, according to police, but no other information has been released about a possible identity, age or how long the coffin may have been there. Wearing hazardous material suits and oxygen masks, firefighters were going into the Ashby Avenue complex with shovels today and hauling out red trash bags full of unknown materials and huge pieces of wood, including a 6-foot box that looked like a homemade coffin.”

Delayed raid likely cost Chauncey Bailey his life - Inside Bay Area : “OAKLAND — The August 2007 raid on Your Black Muslim Bakery was postponed 48 hours to accommodate the vacation schedules of two senior SWAT commanders, a delay that likely cost journalist Chauncey Bailey his life, according to police sources and a lawyer representing an officer deeply involved in planning the raid. During the delay between the first scheduled date, Aug. 1, and the raid Aug. 3, a masked gunman killed Bailey — a slaying in which authorities believe bakery leader Yusuf Bey IV was involved. Officers familiar with the raid's planning and execution say Bailey's killing could have been prevented if not for the delay. While police did not know Bailey was being targeted, they strongly suspected bakery members had begun a killing spree that had resulted in two July 2007 deaths and described the need for the raid as paramount. Police have for 15 months denied delaying the raid. "I was never given a...

Lead investigator in Bailey case being transferred - Inside Bay Area : “OAKLAND — Homicide Sgt. Derwin Longmire, whose investigation of journalist Chauncey Bailey's 2007 killing is itself the subject of investigation, is being reassigned to the patrol division in February in what commanders said Friday was a move based solely on department transfer policies. Calling Longmire a good investigator, Assistant Chief Howard Jordan said Friday the transfer was not for disciplinary reasons or because of his handling of the Bailey case. Jordan said Longmire is "termed out" in how long he could stay in the Criminal Investigation Division, of which homicide is a part. Jordan said if the department "makes an exception for (Longmire), we have to make exceptions for other people," which can't be done. The Chauncey Bailey Project reported in October that Longmire failed to document in his case notes on the Bailey killing evidence that pointed to a conspiracy to kill the jo...

Oakland internal affairs wants state to take over Bailey probe - Inside Bay Area : “OAKLAND — Police internal affairs detectives investigating the handling of journalist Chauncey Bailey's slaying will have state investigators present when they interview members of their department's command staff. Investigators from the attorney general's office will be there to monitor the interviews, according to a letter the Department of Justice sent to Mayor Ron Dellums in November. But the Justice Department won't take over the whole investigation — which is apparently what Oakland internal affairs investigators wanted, the letter stated. "We do not believe, as has been suggested by the Police Department's Internal Affairs investigator, that the Police Department investigation be halted or postponed pending our review," George B. Anderson, Director of the Division of Law Enforcement, wrote to Dellums on Nov. 26. While urging the mayor to order police to keep probing ...

Palo Alto Police Chief Resigns Amid Accusations of Racial Profiling : Indybay : “On November 20, the City of Palo Alto announced that its controversial police chief will retire on December 19. Chief Lynne Johnson sparked protests and a November 9 march on the city when she stated that she had instructed officers on her force to make "consensual contact" with African American men to counter a crime spike in Palo Alto. 

Her remarks were quoted in news reports worldwide and the topic of racial profiling became a much discussed issue at subsequent city council meetings. Some city officials took the opportunity to acknowledge that racial profiling exists and must be combatted, while others took the stance that the police chief "merely misspoke". Although the police chief made several attempts at apologizing, many residents of the city and surrounding communities were left wondering why she directed her officers to look for African Americans with do-rags when victims of ...

New piece of Bailey slaying puzzle surfaces : “The leader of Your Black Muslim Bakery expressed satisfaction on the morning Chauncey Bailey was killed, saying the journalist got what he deserved for taking on the troubled organization in his reporting, a bakery member told Oakland police in a recently discovered account given the day after the slaying. Bakery leader Yusuf Bey IV summoned the woman to watch a TV news story about three hours after Bailey, 57, was gunned down on his way to work on Aug. 2, 2007, she told homicide investigators. As they watched the report on the Oakland Post editor's slaying, Bey told her, "That will teach 'em to f- with me," she said. The woman worked at the bakery headquarters on San Pablo Avenue in Oakland and stayed in Bey's room there the night before Bailey was killed, she said. The Chronicle obtained a tape of her account and police notes of her interview, but is not naming her at the request of authorities who say her safety co...

El Sobrante man who terrorized ex-girlfriend is convicted of murder

I found this story on the Oakland. It's maddening and makes me sick. I really hope they catch these guys. Reward doubled in Oakland beating of woman, 80 By Kelly Rayburn Oakland Tribune Updated: 11/24/2008 10:38:49 PM PST OAKLAND — Mayor Ron Dellums and the Oakland Police Department on Monday increased to $10,000 the reward the city will offer for information leading to the arrest of three people suspected of attacking an 80-year-old woman. The woman, whom police have not identified, was beaten unconscious Thursday by three men in the 2700 block of Grande Vista Avenue. The men stood over her laughing after the attack, police said. The woman was fighting for her life Friday but was upgraded to critical but stable condition during the weekend. She suffered swelling of the brain, bleeding from the brain and an orbital fracture near one of her eyes. "I offer my heartfelt condolences to this woman and her family," Dellums said in a statement. "This was a senseless act o...

Looks like there is more violence this week in Oakland. One killed, seven wounded in Oakland shootings Article Last Updated: 08/23/2008 10:27:12 AM PDT FROM STAFF REPORTS OAKLAND — A woman was shot to death and seven other people wounded by gunfire in different incidents in a three-hour period early today in East Oakland, police said. Police said it was too early to say if any of the incidents were related, but early indications were that they were not. In the fatal shooting, a woman was found about 3:51 a.m. today lying on the sidewalk in the 2200 block of 90th Avenue at Dowling Street. She was taken to Highland Hospital where she died at 4:25 a.m. Police believe the victim is 52 and lives in the area. But she had not been positively identified this morning. Sgt. George Phillips said police have no witnesses, motive or suspects in the killing. The slaying was Oakland's 90th homicide of the year. Last year at this time there were 87 homicides. Details about the non-fatal shooti...

The Guardian Angels established an Oakland, California chapter in 2007 to help fight crime. Now, they need more Oaklanders to help them. Here's more on the program and you can call 510-459-9566.

From SFGate.com today (10-24) 08:50 PDT OAKLAND -- Law enforcement officials raided numerous locations in Oakland today as part of a multi-agency investigation into heroin trafficking, authorities said. The citywide busts occurred at 6 a.m. and involved Oakland police officers, Alameda County sheriff's deputies and agents with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration and the FBI. San Francisco police and Internal Revenue Service agents also were involved, said Officer Roland Holmgren, an Oakland police spokesman. The raids focused on a tar heroin trafficking organization based in the Central Valley with distribution cells in Oakland and elsewhere in the Bay Area, Holmgren said. The group had the capacity to distribute between to 50 and 100 pounds of tar heroin a month, police said. Officials plan to release more details at a news conference this afternoon. That's all the information provided.

I walked into a local restaurant off Piedmont Avenue and got both a great meal and a great conversation with two Oakland School teachers. Unfortunately, I learned that one of them was just mugged at gunpoint on Palm Avenue last week. That's the same street I live on. The pattern's becoming all too familar: white women being the target of someone Black or Latino in their teens or maybe 20 at best. I stopped writing for a while here because I was sick to my stomach of reporting crime. I still am.