Features

Bateman Neighbors Say Crime Is on the Rise

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday June 29, 2007

Residents of Berkeley’s Bateman neighborhood are spending a lot of time looking over their shoulders these days. 

It’s not your average car theft they’re worried about. It’s armed robbery, and in broad daylight. Three robberies in the last two months—one armed—have sent shockwaves through the neighborhood. 

On June 11, at around 2 p.m., an area resident was walking her baby in a stroller when she was robbed at gunpoint on Woolsey at Bateman. Her husband, who did not want to be named, said she was approached from behind by man with a semi-automatic gun. 

“He demanded her purse,” he said. “He had dark skin, with a chipped front tooth, or some kind of a dental tissue in his front teeth, and was wearing a gray camouflage jacket. He spoke strangely, somewhat ‘robot like,’ perhaps with a strange accent.” 

Passers-by in the area chased the assailant but lost him when he jumped into a waiting car and escaped. 

“What’s propelling this?” asked a shaken Laurie Doyle who has lived on Bateman for 12 years. “This used to be a safe neighborhood, a walker-friendly one. These crimes are occurring in broad daylight. They are occurring to women who are walking with their babies or their friends. It’s a very disturbing development.” 

Bordered by College Avenue on the east, Telegraph Avenue on the west, Ashby Avenue on the north and Woolsey Street on the South, Bateman has never had a history of violent crime. 

“Crime has definitely gone up,” said Marcy McGaugh, neighborhood liaison to the Berkeley Police Department and former president of the Berkeley Safe Neighborhoods Committee, the umbrella group for Neighborhood Watch throughout the city. 

“The last time we had an armed robbery was in 1991. The most we get around here is car break-ins and car thefts. People bashing into windows. But armed robbery is different. I have stopped carrying a purse when I go out in the neighborhood.” 

McGaugh, with her degree in criminology and knowledge about the prison system (she served as a probation officer at once), organized the Bateman Neighborhood Watch Groups from 1986 to 1991. 

“Every block had at least one block captain, sometimes two co-captains,” she told the Planet in a phone interview Wednesday. 

“That system stayed in place until a few years ago. My job as coordinator of the Bateman Neighborhood Watch Coalition was to communicate with block captains’ information.” 

Alarmed by the June 11 attack, 80 area residents got together at neighbor Linda Foy’s house last week for a discussion with city officials. Safety tips were exchanged, emergency phone numbers were handed out and every one went to bed feeling safer. But not for long. 

On June 23 Sarita Berry and her friend Xanthe were walking on Woolsey at around 11 a.m. when they saw two women being robbed by two men. 

“We ran into a nearby house where Xanthe called 911 and told them what was going on,” Berry’s email to the community said. “By the time the police arrived, two other witnesses had chased the muggers and managed to hold one of them. The other got away.” 

Berkeley police officer Stephen Burcham, area coordinator for the Bateman neighborhood, said that the person arrested on Saturday could be responsible for the other robberies as well. 

“We haven’t connected the dots yet,” he said. “But we are working with the Oakland Police Department to close some arrests. Oakland police also arrested two people in Berkeley last week for a robbery. It’s been a while since an armed robbery happened in this part of the town. We are asking people to be more aware. It’s an unfortunate upturn but I don’t think it stands above other areas of the city.” 

Lt. Wesley Hester, Berkeley police spokesperson, said that drug usage was one of the main reasons for the current increase. 

“People need quick money for drugs,” he said. “The weather’s nice so they drive around and take advantage of people they see walking about.” 

Jim Hynes, assistant to the city manager said that the rise in crime in the Bateman neighborhood was probably seasonal. 

“School’s out and a lot of people are not focused on anything,” he said. “We generally see an up-spike at this time of the year. There is a lot of transient population in the 18 to 30 age group who throng Telegraph during the summer. The strategy is to work with the police department. It’s important to have adequate lighting in front of the house and clear overgrown vegetation so that perpetrators don’t have a place to hide. It’s really important that the neighbors are organized. Some years back Bateman was better organized.” 

Lt. Hester told the Planet that crime was up over the entire Bay Area.  

“It’s not just Bateman. It’s not just Berkeley,” he said. “It’s all over the country. We are hoping that the arrests made last week will stop the recent robberies in Bateman.” 

Foy said that she would continue to go to sleep with her porch light on. 

“I still don’t see a visible police presence in the area,” said Doyle. “We need increased police protection. We need cops on bicycles.”