Features

If approved by voters
100 officers would be
added to force of 750 

OAKLAND — Oakland voters will decide in November whether or not they are ready to pay more taxes to put more police officers on the city’s troubled streets. 

The city council voted 7-1 Tuesday in favor of Mayor Jerry Brown’s proposal to raise taxes by $63.5 million over five years to add 100 officers to Oakland’s force of 750. 

“This a big win for the people of Oakland and the fact that only one councilperson dissented shows how unanimous the feeling is in city hall that people ought to have this choice,” Brown said after the council approved his proposal. 

Oakland had its 65th murder Tuesday and is one of many American cities grappling with a bounce in homicides not seen since the 1990s, as unemployment among young black men has risen with the rollercoaster economy. 

The measure, if approved by voters, would raise taxes from 7.5 to 8 percent on hotel stays, parking, and utilities including electricity, gas and alternate fuels, as well as telephone and cable television. 

Some council members outwardly expressed concern that the plan had not been scrutinized enough, but at the same time said they felt they had to support some effort that might bring the crime rate down. 

Oakland’s murders rose 5 percent in 2001, to 84. That was still its fourth-lowest total in 30 years, and better than many other mid-sized cities. Nationwide, murders increased 9 percent last year in cities with populations between 250,000 to 499,999. 

In Oakland, population 406,000, most of the victims and suspects have been black men, shot in neighborhoods where gangs and weapons are plentiful. 

This year’s pace harkens back to the years of 1986 to 1995, when Oakland averaged 138 murders a year. At the current pace, the city could see more than 100 murders by year’s end for the first time since 1995. 

Jervis Muwwakkil, 65, of Oakland was part of the overflow crowd that gathered for Tuesday’s meeting. He’s seen firsthand the personal sorrow that street violence can bring. 

“I’ve lost two sons to the streets of Oakland. I don’t think that just hiring more police is the solution and if it is let’s bring 2,000 officers and put one on every corner,” Muwwakkil said. 

Aleta Cannon, of West Oakland, fully supports a move that would have her pay more for additional officer on the streets. 

“I don’t mind paying more taxes. We need this,” Cannon said. 

Criminologists, who generally avoid declaring such numbers a trend until they continue for three years, say the same old factors are to blame — a lack of jobs in poor minority communities that have left too many young men with little hope in their futures. 

“What’s key here is to get young males off the streets,” said Michael Rustigan, a criminology professor at San Francisco State University. “If you have a surplus of young males with no stake in the system, you’re going to have violence. There’s no question about it.” 

In Oakland, police have sent more beat officers into hot spots, dedicated two officers to monitoring people on probation or parole and offered rewards for tips on gun crimes. The money Brown wants would not only pay for more officers, but expand violence prevention programs to reach more of the 600 or so youths believed to be responsible for most of the crimes. 

Unemployment was 10.2 percent in 1992, when 165 homicides were the most in city history. By 1999, unemployment had dropped to 5.5 percent, the lowest of the decade, and homicides fell to 60. Now, the dot-com boom is bust, and overall unemployment is back at 10.2 percent, much higher for young black men, Rustigan said.