Oakland nonprofit co-founder calls for street closures to curb crime after storefront burglarized
OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- Upsetting news as thieves target an Oakland nonprofit trying to help better the community. They broke into a retail business incubator Sunday and stole thousands of dollars worth of items.
The shirts at the nonprofit's office say "Invest in Oakland." They seem to be doing that, but have now become the target of thieves.
"They were able to basically kind of wedge the door and bust the glass and find a way to open the lock by reaching in," Mike Dotson, Micro Market Spaces co-founcer said.
Miles Dotson is describing how a thief or thieves broke into his Micro Market Spaces location in Oakland. It's a nonprofit business incubator to help artists and merchants learn how to generate their own sustainable income.
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Sunday though, Dotson started to receive notifications of a login attempt for a device that was inside. He arrived to a broken and unlocked door.
"When I got here, this was all strung out on the floor. Items from this backspace have been thrown into this position and moved. Because we're a nonprofit and serving a demographic that is often not resourced by banks and other providers to be able to do what they do, an interruption of as small as $500 can send us off of our path of doing the work that we're doing continuously," said Dotson.
In this case, nearly $5,000 worth of electronic devices and audio equipment are now gone.
The nonprofit is located on Broadway in Oakland. Businesses in the area have been victimized as well. Going forward, Dotson would like the city to take a close look at traffic and blocking escape routes where these crimes are being committed.
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"It's like if 'Grand Theft Auto' is a real game, people are playing this game in real life and having the opportunity to kind of have their way with anything they want to do," Dotson said.
Over the years, closing streets and changing light patterns to disrupt traffic and reduce crime has been used in cities across the country. The U.S. Department of Justice reports that results are varied and were different depending on the city. Still though, Dotson believes more needs to be done and this could have an immediate impact.
"It's something I think we should consider and something that should be on the table for finding ways to disrupt their ability to tear down Oakland," Dotson said.
Miles tells us they are still deciding if they will file a police report. He says nearby businesses have done that and then lost their insurance - something he doesn't want to happen.
