Aug 7, 2008 11:53 pm US/Pacific
Dellums Blames Restaurant Robberies On Bad Economy
OAKLAND (CBS 5 / KCBS / BCN) ―
Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums late Thursday afternoon publicly addressed the recent crime wave in Oakland after the city's third takeover robbery of a restaurant this week, calling the incidents a sign of "desperation" and blaming the poor economy.
"When you think about the desperation and the daring of these types of kinds of crimes, it speaks to the broader issue of where we are in terms of this economy. When people become this desperate, they take desperate acts and then you realize that times are really troubled," stated Dellums. "We have to do everything we can to get to the root causes of crime and violence."
Eight robberies have occurred in Oakland in the last 12 days, with the most recent taking place Wednesday night at the King of King restaurant on East 12th Street at 11th Avenue.
All of the robberies have been at restaurants or bars and most have been takeover-style. None of them resulted in injuries and police have not made any arrests in connection with the incidents.
Police planned to release more video surveillance images and robbery suspect descriptions on Friday.
Dellums also said he and the Police Department were working together on a comprehensive response that he hoped to announce in the coming days.
"These takeover robberies have struck at the very heart of our community, because it affects the desire of people to be able to go out at night, to go to restaurants and to go shopping," Dellums said. "This has to end and we are being very aggressive in how we deal with this issue."
The mayor said the city had the highest total of police officers on the streets in 20 years and he hoped that number would increase to over 800 by January.
"We are looking at the development of our police, whether or not we engage these business corridors by bringing on private security, or whether we bring in voluntary organizations like the Guardian Angels," Dellums explained. "As I've said before, failure is not an option."
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