Oakland (Calif.) citizens policing own streets

[DocM]

Oakland is right across the bay from San Francisco.

The folks in Detroit, Baltimore etc. know exactly how they feel.

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2013/02/26/arcadia-park-residents-policing-their-streets-as-they-lose-faith-in-opd/

Oakland Neighbors Policing Their Own Streets As They Lose Faith In Cops

OAKLAND (KPIX 5) ? Oakland?s crime problems have gotten so bad that some people aren?t even bothering to call the cops anymore; instead, they?re trying to solve and prevent crimes themselves.

KPIX 5 cameras caught up with a half dozen neighbors in East Oakland?s Arcadia Park neighborhood Monday as they walked the streets on the lookout for crime. The vigilance has never seemed more necessary than now; 25 homes in the neighborhood have been burglarized over the last two months alone.

In a neighborhood that has started to feel like the wild west, people have even started posting ?wanted? signs.

?You have to walk around in your house with a gun to feel safe here,? said Alaska Tarvins of the Arcadia Park Board of Directors.

Over the weekend, one home was burglarized twice in a 24 hour period, once while a resident?s nephew was inside.

?He was on with 911 when those men tried to kick into his room. That was very frightening,? said the woman, identified only as Inca.

Now, Arcadia park neighbors are taking the detective work into their own hands.

KPIX 5 found a woman who identified herself as L.E. patrolling her neighborhood by car. She said she recently chased down a couple of robbers herself.

?There was an armed robbery in progress and the owner yelled ?help me? and I ended up going after them,? L.E. recalled.

The people who live in the area are nothing if not gutsy, but they need help. A plan to gate their community has been stalled. With the police force stretched painfully thin, they may be forced to follow other Oakland neighborhoods and hire private guards.

?We don?t have a choice. Either die or we hire some security ourselves, because we can?t depend on the police department,? said Tarvins.

[Hum]

I hope they have some assault rifles to handle those roving gangs. :laugh:

[theyarecomingforyou]

The solution is to raise taxes to pay for adequate education (to prevent the social issues that lead to crime), police patrols (to deter crime) and detectives (to catch criminals). That means people have to stop voting for politicians who promise unsustainable tax cuts and to instead start voting for those willing to take the tough steps necessary to address the problem. The last thing the US needs is more cities becoming gangland slums like Detroit.

Vigilantism is not the answer.

[threetonesun]

Oakland is right across the bay from San Francisco.

You say that like it just recently moved there. :laugh:

[matt4pack]

The solution is to raise taxes to pay for adequate education (to prevent the social issues that lead to crime), police patrols (to deter crime) and detectives (to catch criminals). That means people have to stop voting for politicians who promise unsustainable tax cuts and to instead start voting for those willing to take the tough steps necessary to address the problem. The last thing the US needs is more cities becoming gangland slums like Detroit.

Vigilantism is not the answer.

California has some of the highest taxes already and throwing more money at education hasn't done much. It's the culture that looks down on education which needs to change for there to be any effect.

[theyarecomingforyou]

California has some of the highest taxes already and throwing more money at education hasn't done much. It's the culture that looks down on education which needs to change for there to be any effect.

I'd be interested to find out how high taxes there are in relation to other countries. According to this Oakland has a sales tax rate of 9% but I don't know how that compares to VAT in the EU, which is typically around 20%. Is it just a like-for-like comparison (9% vs 20%) or are there other factors that I'm unaware of? California might have high taxes compared to other states but as far as I'm aware they're still relatively low in comparison to European countries.

[Hum]

Vigilantism is not the answer.

Hey, it worked for Charles Bronson. :huh:

[pes2013]

Im surprised at this being news. A lot of neighborhoods are now like this.

[DocM]

Im surprised at this being news. A lot of neighborhoods are now like this.

Tell me about it.

When I was younger the farm community I grew up in had an organized citizens patrol. Cops only worked 6AM to 10PMish, and the nearest State Police post was 15 miles. & only had 2 cars to patrol the southern half of the county all the way to Ohio.

Gangs from Detroit etc. figured the country folks would be easy pickings. Wrong! Cops & SP told us to do what we had to do & they'd mop up the mess.

[Growled Member]

That's the American way, anyway. If you want something done right, do it yourself.

[Hum]

^ I thought the 'American way' was to sue everybody. :p

[HSoft]

I'd be interested to find out how high taxes there are in relation to other countries. According to this Oakland has a sales tax rate of 9% but I don't know how that compares to VAT in the EU, which is typically around 20%. Is it just a like-for-like comparison (9% vs 20%) or are there other factors that I'm unaware of? California might have high taxes compared to other states but as far as I'm aware they're still relatively low in comparison to European countries.

That's just sales tax you are quoting. That doesn't include taxes taken out of peoples pay cheques and a whole host of other taxes. Also that doesn't include the corporate tax rate, of which America has the highest :-

Today, the combined U.S. corporate tax rate stands at 39.3 percent. That means America now has the highest statutory corporate income tax rate in the world?even higher than socialist Sweden and welfare-states Germany and France...

[theyarecomingforyou]

That's just sales tax you are quoting. That doesn't include taxes taken out of peoples pay cheques and a whole host of other taxes. Also that doesn't include the corporate tax rate, of which America has the highest

While the US has one of the highest corporate tax rates on paper the amount paid is actually less than other countries due to various deductions and accounting practices. As for the other taxes, most of them are lower also. So again, while California may have higher taxes in comparison to the rest of the US they're still low in relation to other developed countries.

[Growled Member]

^ I thought the 'American way' was to sue everybody. :p

That's the bad American Way. :D

[Hum]

DocM, on Yesterday, 00:44, said:

Oakland is right across the bay from San Francisco.

You say that like it just recently moved there. :laugh:

I think he's assuming that we all flunked geography. :laugh: