Despite some neighborhood spikes, violent crime in Oakland declined in '22
OAKLAND -- The latest statistics released by the Oakland police department showed the city recorded a reduction in violent crime this year.
From Jan. 1 to Dec. 4 2022, OPD had 113 homicides. In the same period in 2021, Oakland saw 129 homicides, a 12 percent year-over-year reduction.
The police department said that shootings overall declined by 23 percent. As of Dec. 4, officers recorded 2,464 shootings compared to 3,201 in the same period last year.
Investigators said roughly 30 percent of this year's homicides are linked to group and gang conflicts.
They also blamed the high rate of shootings on the number of guns in the streets. According to a recent press release, officers confiscated 1,318 guns this year but they said that's just the tip of the iceberg.
Since late September, the police department has been saturating east and west Oakland as well as downtown with more officers to curb the violence.
They picked those locations because east Oakland has the most shootings and killings and the west Oakland and downtown areas regressed and saw a big jump in homicides this year.
With a staffing shortage -- now at only 699 officers -- one officer told KPIX the increased patrols are made possible using mandatory overtime and pulling officers from other assignments to focus on gang suppression and gun violence.
While things are trending in the right direction, Oakland remains the most violent city in the region.
It has recorded more homicides than San Francisco and San Jose combined. From Jan. 1 to Dec. 4 this year, San Francisco recorded 51 homicides and San Jose reported 35 homicides and those cities have much higher populations.
Oakland police also reported robbery was down 2 percent while burglary was up 13 percent year over year.
The department releases updated crime numbers every week at their crime statistic website.
WEBLINK: Oakland Crime Incident Data Reports
