"We're not happy about the response time and we're very, very concerned about this," spokeswoman Officer Holly Joshi said.
She said an 8-year-old girl was standing in front of the ERES Academy charter school at 1936 Courtland Ave. at about noon Friday waiting for her mother to pick her up when a man pulled up in a black van and attempted to drag her inside.
Joshi said the girl suffered some scratches on her arm but was able to break free and run home.
Her mother wasn't there, so the girl stayed at a neighbor's house until her mother arrived, she said.
The mother has complained to reporters that it took Oakland police two hours to come to her house to follow up on the incident, according to Joshi.
Joshi said police records indicate that an officer actually arrived one hour after the incident, but she said "that's still unacceptable."
"Kids are extremely important to us and we're outraged that this was able to happen," she said.
Joshi said the problem is with the department's procedures for prioritizing calls for service.
She said, "We acknowledge the mistake" and that the department will try to ensure that it doesn't happen again.
