Comments on: An Oakland school’s back-to-back burglaries

By: carmen

carmen — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 19:53:35 +0000

I went to brookfield 2 yrs ago and its a great school but the problem is all of the gangs all around the school and the 2 liquore stores on the corner of the 98th and i would say thats the worst because a bunch of elder people sit around and are on drugs and drunk.

By: Nancy

Nancy — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 03:22:53 +0000

What is out-of-the-ordinary for me is how a school could be repeatedly burglarized 25 times and nothing has been done to stop it. There are ways to stop this like high level security cameras installed at Oakland Tech. How much does one cost? What is further disturbing is why high technology equipement isn’t locked down with wire that cannot be cut? Who is managing the public property there anyways?

By: Nextset

Nextset — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 23:17:00 +0000

You are going to be experiencing “Mad Max” conditions in urban jungles such as Oakland in the near future. No, the “community” is not going to police itself and control the gangs and individual criminals. They (gangs and criminals) are going to get stronger and more bold.

Just plan accordingly.

As we speak the state is planning mass release of “non violent” criminals (car thieves, commercial burglars & drug dealers to keep them hopped up). The state has just announced the cessation of parole for “non-violent” criminals (car thieves, commercial burglars drug dealers and stolen property fences). For the first time in modern history there is NO parole for these people when they are kicked out of the prisons. Now they can live where they want, report to no one, and go about their way as if they were just plain folks.

They will tear our cities apart.

My suggestion for low cost response of the people: ballot initiatives posting all rap sheets on the internet – perhaps for a small fee, and allow/encourage the use of deadly force in defense of property.

Then the “community” can try to take care of the problems.

In any event, some people are more equal than others and you can bet that certain people are going to be less bothered by these thieves than others. I don’t hear about these problems in Piedmont.

Brave New World.

By: TheTruthHurts

TheTruthHurts — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 20:16:38 +0000

Police can’t stop crime. Communities can. As soon as Oaklanders realize this and step up, they’ll have a fighting chance. If the community cares about the school, they’ll stop relying on an outmanned, outgunned, outconnected police force and get personally involved. Until then, oh well.

This is sad, but predictable.

By: Lacy Asbill

Lacy Asbill — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 19:24:21 +0000

How do we hold OPD accountable for the clearing of the call for support at Brookfield? This is criminal! Why do we pay for security that is ineffective due to human error?

By: Real Talk USA

Real Talk USA — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 13:50:18 +0000

The burglaries have all the earmarks of someone with unlimited access during off hours. Review/check custodial staff. Review/check relationships between teachers and custodial staff as well as students and custodial staff. It’s unlikely but not out of the ordinary that a teacher might be involved.

Because the thefts constitute grand larceny the penalties are substantial. Try to see if the school can partner with a local security company to install and maintain monitors in exchange, perhaps, for the school’s athletic teams purchasing and wearing T-shirts that advertise and promote the company’s name and services.

If they can secure high quality video/audio of suspicious persons and complete with date/timestamps this barrage of thefts will cease. Burglary is a crime of opportunity. Obviously the thieves believe they have easy, unfettered access to the school because of lax or non existent security measures.

Brookfield Elementary has to move past the victim position. Right now the school is a sitting duck and that must change not just for the protection of property but also the staff and students.

Have someone contact the feds and also the Bill Gates organization to see if there is money available both for security and a break-in-proof computer lab.

Somebody “out there” is able and probably willing to help in this situation. Get on Facebook and Twitter seeking help. And, remember that “… A closed mouth never gets fed. …”