Oakland California is the robbery capital of the nation

[G.O.A.T Squad Spokesman]

MetroPCS store on Oakland's MacArthur Boulevard. 7:45 p.m. Thursday. Store owner Abdullah Qasem is behind the counter when two men in hoodies burst in through the back door.
The men cover their faces with their hands, and one suggests he has a gun.
This is Qasem's first time being robbed, but he knows the drill.

"I put my hands up, and they told me, 'Come down, come down,' I was on the floor doing this," Qasem says, showing how he became spread-eagled on the floor. "One held my head and said, 'Don't look, don't look.' "
The men jerk open the cash register and, in less than a minute, slip into the shadows behind the store.

Police arrive a few minutes later, but the robbers have picked their target well.
"The freeway on-ramp is right around the corner. They're probably halfway to San Francisco right now," Sgt. Jim Rullamas says as police officers look for clues.
Another night in the robbery capital of America.

No city had more robberies per capita than Oakland in 2012. According to new federal statistics, Oakland had 10.9 robberies per 1,000 residents. And 2013 is shaping up to be even worse.

The trend defies easy explanation. So far this year, crime, as a whole in Oakland is stagnant. Shootings are down. Homicide has dropped by 13 percent.
But robberies are up. A lot.
There have been more than 3,800 robberies in the city in 2013, a 24 percent jump compared with this time last year. If the rate continues, robberies will have jumped 82 percent from 2010 to 2013.

Reasons behind surge
The reasons robbery is so high vary, said police, city leaders and crime experts.
-- More people in Oakland carry smartphones, which can be wiped and sold on the black market for $100 to $200.
-- Gangs and criminal groups in Oakland have mostly stopped slinging drugs on the corner and make money through robberies and break-ins.
-- Many Oakland neighborhoods are gentrifying, bringing young professionals into areas of the city that are still in the midst of transformation.
-- There are not enough police officers patrolling Oakland's streets or investigating robberies.
Eight detectives are assigned to investigate robberies, and the city on average has 14 robbery reports a day. One robbery investigator is assigned to each of the city's five police districts, and three more monitor the entire city.
A May report by police consultant Bill Bratton found that Oakland police were "slow to respond to robberies and interview victims, losing momentum on the investigation of pattern robberies."
Few robberies get the attention they deserve, police acknowledge.
"From an enforcement perspective you have to see the staffing challenges that we have in the Police Department - not only having a sufficient number of officers in the field, you also have a shortage in the capacity to do follow up investigations," said Capt. Anthony Toribio, who has overseen North Oakland since the police created district commands in June.
That staffing challenges quickly become apparent to crime victims when they contact the police.
Peter Prato, a 34-year-old photographer, was walking with friends in July on the south side of Lake Merritt when his group was suddenly surrounded by six men. One of the robbers pointed a gun, and the others collected backpacks, laptops and a bike.

'A force overwhelmed'
No one was harmed, but Prato was shaken.
"It was so disappointing," said Prato, who has been robbed three times since moving to Oakland from San Francisco in 2005. "We had just gotten done with a conversation about robberies, and the other state of things."
When Prato later gave police his report, he could hear the chatter on their radios.
"They seemed completely like a force overwhelmed with the evening," Prato recalled. "We could hear other robberies reported over the radio as we were giving our statements."
At the same time that police face staffing challenges, many of the city's neighborhoods are gentrifying, attracting new iPad-toting residents into areas that were devastated during the recession.


http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Oakland-robberies-surge-as-investigations-sputter-4855014.php

 

[FaTaL]

i watched special about this on ktvu, motherfukers are so bold there shattering peoples car windows during sunlight

they need more cops, i dont know where there gonna get the money but they need more.

 

[G.O.A.T Squad Spokesman]

i watched special about this on ktvu, motherfukers are so bold there shattering peoples car windows during sunlight

they need more cops, i dont know where there gonna get the money but they need more.

East Oakland is depressing as fukk. That shyt is like a ghost town right now, nobody is hanging out because they don't want to be a victim. The streets just look miserable, dopefiends everywhere and hella mattresses on the streets. nikkas is dumping shyt everywhere all over the city.Trash everywhere, I never thought I would city the day when I wasn't comfortable in my own city.

 

[G.O.A.T Squad Spokesman]

Any of you nikkas from the Bay ever been robbed in Oakland?

 

[BrothaZay]

East Oakland is depressing as fukk. That shyt is like a ghost town right now, nobody is hanging out because they don't want to be a victim. The streets just look miserable, dopefiends everywhere and hella mattresses on the streets. nikkas is dumping shyt everywhere all over the city.Trash everywhere, I never thought I would city the day when I wasn't comfortable in my own city.

nikka u sound like a bytch shut up

 

[FaTaL]

East Oakland is depressing as fukk. That shyt is like a ghost town right now, nobody is hanging out because they don't want to be a victim. The streets just look miserable, dopefiends everywhere and hella mattresses on the streets. nikkas is dumping shyt everywhere all over the city.Trash everywhere, I never thought I would city the day when I wasn't comfortable in my own city.

oakland is turning into a detroit

i stay away

 

[G.O.A.T Squad Spokesman]

nikka u sound like a bytch shut up

We can fight if you want to prove I'm a bytch you fakkit.

 

[How Sway?]

@observe

 

[Black]

Congrats?

 

[G.O.A.T Squad Spokesman]

oakland is turning into a detroit

i stay away

If I didn't have relatives there I would too. Detroit is a perfect example of what Oakland has become. A fukking depressing ass dump.

 

[Wild self]

Congrats?

Hate when nikkas treat they own backyards like shyt and prove tot he world that they gangsta cause they live in a high crime neighborhood.

 

[G.O.A.T Squad Spokesman]

Hate when nikkas treat they own backyards like shyt and prove tot he world that they gangsta cause they live in a high crime neighborhood.

Who did that?

 

[observe]

This dude @Blackthoughts doesn't know wtf he's talmbout..more ducktales about Oakland being depressing and it looks like a ghost town,,nikka,.gtfoh..Oaklands economy is booming right now..bytch ass nikka never been in Oakland ..talking that yin yang...peace to my nikka @BrothaZay for calling this fukk boi out

 

[G.O.A.T Squad Spokesman]

This dude @Blackthoughts doesn't know wtf he's talmbout..more ducktales about Oakland being depressing and it looks like a ghost town,,nikka,.gtfoh..Oaklands economy is booming right now..bytch ass nikka never been in Oakland ..talking that yin yang...peace to my nikka @BrothaZay for calling this fukk boi out

Find me 1 nikka that would say Oakland's economy is booming. From 73rd and International all way to 102nd it's filled with nothing but fukked up buildings and dopefiends and out of business stores. It's a few liquor stores functioning but that's it. The rest is all fukked up. No thriving Businesses from Foothill Square all the way past Seminary. East Oakland is a fukking dump once you pass the Lake Merritt area. Anybody that deny this haven't been to Oakland in years. Jack London Square and Lake Merritt don't count bytch boy.

 

[Poitier]

Oh, the hermaphrodite started another thread that bombed. Change your avy, he-she, and maybe we'll take your srsly