Why Robbers Like Rockridge: Report from the North Oakland Crime Meeting

Some 200 people crowded into an auditorium at the College Preparatory School last week to hear Oakland Police Captain Anthony Toribio and City Councilmember Dan Kalb talk about increased crime — especially robberies — in Rockridge, Temescal, the North Hills and the Piedmont Avenue area.

Toribio heads the Oakland Police Department's Area 2, which also includes North Oakland, the Grand Lake business area, Adams Point and the Oakland hills east to Lincoln Avenue.

Toribio told the crowd that:

—Robberies are up 30 percent over last year at this time for Area 2 as a whole.

—The hardest hit neighborhoods this year have been Adams Point and an area between the MacArthur Freeway and 22nd Street. Recently Rockridge and Temescal — especially the 40th Street corridor — have joined the list.

—Most robberies are committed between 8 p.m. and 2 a.m., with a recent increase in street robberies after midnight. Some of those early-morning muggings have targeted people leaving bars.

—Tuesdays are a peak day for robberies.

—Most street robberies in the area are committed by one to three people targeting one, two or three victims who are on foot or walking to their cars.

—Robbers favor "target rich" neighborhoods where people are often talking on cell phones as they walk. The thieves also like areas with easy in-and-out access, including freeways and 40th Street.

Police think that two or three groups of individuals may be responsible for a large number of the area's robberies and have tentatively identified some suspects, Toribio said.

He said auto break-ins have increased this year, compared to the same period in 2012. Many of the auto burglaries happen during the day and laptop computers are a common target for the thieves, he said.

Residential burglaries, though, have dropped by about 20 percent compared to this time last year, he said.

Toribio said he's trying some varied approaches to crime prevention in the area, although resources are limited — at any given time, only seven or eight officers are on patrol in Area 2. 

That should improve on the next month or two, when a crime response team will be assigned to the area, Toribio said. That team will do follow-up crime investigation, freeing up beat officers for more patrolling.

People attending the meeting peppered Toribio and Kalb with questions and comments that included a plea for more streetlights, fear and anger about violent crimes near their homes and — from a group of Piedmont Avenue area residents — outrage that more hasn't been done to control disturbances outside Egbert Souse's, a bar at the corner of Piedmont Avenue and MacArthur Boulevard.

For more information about Area 2, including contact information for Toribio, the area's problem-solving officers and neighborhood service coordinators, see the Oakland Police Department website.

You can follow Toribio on Twitter @area2opd.

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