Oakland councilmember calls for more help from FBI during public safety meeting
OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- On Tuesday, Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao will give her first State of the City address.
It comes after three more people were killed in homicide cases this past weekend and as robbery and burglary crimes are soaring. Those numbers are well above last year's numbers.
"I'm sure if we all put our minds together we can come up with something," said Oakland resident Damian Law.
A hope.
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"If we come together as a community, we believe that change can and will take place," said Antoine Shyne, a senior pastor at Beebe Memorial Cathedral in Oakland.
From a community wanting and demanding a safer Oakland.
"Things have truly changed. The stealing, all the businesses that have closed down, all the empty buildings we have is just ridiculous," says Lisa Reynolds who lives in Oakland.
"Backed into our driveway, took five packages, and actually washed his car, that's how brazen they are," said Michael Colebruno who lives in Oakland. His car has now been broken into five times.
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On the eve of Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao's first State of the City address, a community meeting was held at Beebe Memorial Cathedral.
Not just complaining, but those in attendance advocating for change, after a weekend where we saw three more killings bringing the yearly homicide total in Oakland to above 100.
"We need professional security teams or policemen to guard the blocks either walking or just have a presence as a deterrent," said Cathy Adams who heads the Oakland African American Chamber of Commerce.
Several people at Monday's meeting would also like to see some police officers on bicycles going forward. Burglaries, robberies, and vehicle thefts are all up. Someone even stole a taco truck last weekend.
VIDEO: Thieves steal taco truck in Oakland as owner faces $45K loss
Colebruno says he has surveillance pictures and video of the man who committed crimes at his home but couldn't get that to police.
"The police department doesn't allow you to upload images when you file a crime report which I think would be a simple solution to a lot of these problems," said Colebruno.
Councilmember Dan Kalb is calling for license plate readers to be installed on all freeway on-ramps and asking for more help from the feds.
"We are now formally going to ask the federal government and we're going to ask for Barbara Lee's help here, a member of Congress to double the number of investigators the FBI sends to Oakland to help with investigations," says Kalb.
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