by Rick Moran, PJ Media:
I’ve got good news and bad news about crime in American cities.
Overall, crime has gone down, though violent crime is still not back down to levels seen before the pandemic. Whether this is due to an increased police presence is unclear, but many cities that briefly flirted with the “no police” idiocy pushed by Black Lives Matter have abandoned it.
TRUTH LIVES on at https://sgtreport.tv/
The bad news is, if you live in Oakland, you are SOL.
Oakland has always been a mess. Now, with lax drug enforcement and socially conscious politicians, the crime wave that’s engulfing the city is almost beyond belief.
Robberies grew 38% last year in Oakland, according to police data. Burglaries increased 23%. Motor vehicle theft jumped 44%. Roughly one of every 30 Oakland residents had a car stolen last year, according to a San Francisco Chronicle analysis.
On Tuesday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom decided to lend a hand to Oakland’s beleaguered police force and is sending 120 highway patrol officers to help. “What’s happening in this beautiful city and surrounding area is alarming and unacceptable,” Newsom said in a statement.
Nigel Jones isn’t giving up on Oakland, even after Kingston 11, his community food center for low-income families, was vandalized and its glass doors smashed.
Jones immigrated to the United States from Jamaica when he was 16 and made his home in Oakland. The chef and restauranter currently owns two Jamaican restaurants, Calabash and Kingston 11. He says he is passionate about helping Oakland’s disadvantaged families.
But “residents and businesses have pulled back from the city,” due to a rise in crime and public safety concerns, he said.
In September, Jones and other downtown Oakland business owners walked off the job for a day to urge city and state leaders to improve safety in the area.
