Crime in Oakland, California

[3] Crime continued to escalate during the 1980s and 1990s,[4] and during the first decade of the 21st century Oakland has consistently been listed as one of the most dangerous large cities in the United States.

[21] A 2012 article in the East Bay Times attributed the low clearance rate in part due to understaffing of the police department and in part to the management dysfunction at the police department, and stated that "In a city where police officers consume more than 40 percent of the municipal budget, are among the city's highest-paid employees, and have exerted an outsized influence on Oakland politics, the department's ability to perform its core missions — solve violent crime, catch criminals, and keep the public safe — is highly questionable.

Some truck vendors responded by hiring armed security guards, citing continual robberies and ineffective police response times.

[27] In 2013, Oakland implemented a gang violence reduction plan used previously in other cities, Operation Ceasefire, based on the research and strategies of author David M.

Planning started in 2009 as part of a nationwide initiative to secure ports by connecting motion sensors and cameras in and around the shipping facilities.

[29] By including gunshot detection and license plate readers the DAC would allow police to faster investigate suspects (which does not exactly equal the alleged shift from "reactive to proactive" crime treatment).

[34] The Chauncey Bailey Project wrote in 2008 that detective caseload for OPD was more than any other major city in California, except Fresno,[35] and that, in that year, the Police Department had the lowest homicide clearance rate among California's large cities because the department is understaffed and the detective work in certain instances is not as thorough because there are simply not enough officers.