OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) - There have been 34-homicides in Oakland -- Police investigators have classified 33 of those deaths as murders.
Some are now calling this a public health issue.
The Oakland city council president says preventing violent crime is the council's top priority.
A list shows the address-locations of the 33 people murdered in the first three months of 2021 in the city of Oakland.
The list contains the ages of the victims as well, the oldest, a 75-year-old Asian American man out for a morning walk on Jayne Avenue near Lake Merritt and the youngest, a 2-year-old boy who was found not breathing at his home on 83rd Avenue in East Oakland.
"These homicides are devastating. This is an alarming rate of violence in our city,” Nikki Fortunato Bas said.
The Oakland City Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas says the council will have the opportunity to address violent crime in the city's upcoming budget by funding police services that were cut due to the pandemic
"The council has been really clear, we want to focus on violent crime. That's our priority. That's what our sworn officers are best trained to do,” Bas said.
"I don't have the total this year from my district yet. I know that there definitely have been a number of them,” she said in response to how many homicides have occurred in her district.
She says the budget will include resources to interrupt violence through OPD's Ceasefire Program.
"As well as life coaches, violence interrupters. People who are out in our neighborhoods connecting with people,” Bas said.
One of those Oakland-violence interrupters is John Jones of the Coalition for Police Accountability.
“Former drug dealer. I grew up on a small block on 92nd and Holly. Half of us, myself included, have murder convictions. So I am speaking through first-hand experience,” Jones said.
Here is a look at the total of homicides each month since the beginning of the year: 15 in January, 9 in February, and that same number through three-quarters of March.
Jones says he believes Oakland city leaders and the activist community have all been too silent on the issue of murders in Oakland.
“When you see that silence when it relates to gun violence, it sends a signal that the people in our community that their lives don't matter and, I believe also that young people feel that message when they are daily dealing with dodging bullets. This is a public health issue and it requires all hands on deck,” Jones said.
All hands but not more police, says the city council president.
"I really want us to do more effective work with the resources we have,” Jones said.
from KRON4 https://ift.tt/31xBbBX
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