Oakland police's inaccurate crime reporting raises questions about what's going on in the city

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) — In 2023, Oakland police reported to the California Department of Justice that only 3 percent of their violent crimes in 2023 resulted in an arrest. For property crimes, the figure was 0.1 percent.

“Their clearance rate was abysmal, now it's basically nothing, they just don't solve crimes,” said Mike Males of the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice.

But this data is not correct.

MORE: Has crime overall declined in Oakland? Here's a look at the data

While the Oakland PD's clearance numbers – d.

“The 2023 stats are simple, they are just off the charts, there is no way these could be accurate, yes it is the Oakland Police Department that is the problem here,” Males said.

When asked, they admitted: “The anomaly was due to human error.” When asked about the correct numbers, they replied: “These statistics are not currently available.”

Oakland PD has a data problem. They don't even seem to know how many crimes are being committed in the city. The numbers they report publicly are different than what they report to the California Department of Justice. According to the inaccurate statistics they provided to the state, violent crimes have more than doubled, aggravated assaults have more than tripled, and car thefts have more than doubled.

Oakland police declined ABC7 News' interview request.

The Oakland Police Officers Association also declined our request for comment.

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Whether mistake or not, community members say the numbers show Oakland police are failing to deter criminals.

Tenisch Hollins is with Californians for Safety and Justice, a public safety advocacy group.

“The police have a job to do. Hearing that crimes go unsolved is worrying but familiar. When you talk to people whose cars have been broken into or whose property has been stolen, you hear that they don't even care.” “If they call the police because they think they won't show up, that's their responsibility the police report back to them,” Hollins said.

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Lyanne: What are we talking about when we talk about clearance rates?
Captain Ravinder Singh: “So clearance rate, the way we report it to the DOJ is through an arrest. Any time a crime is committed and we make an arrest in connection with that case, it is considered clear.”

San Francisco and San Jose reported that 28 percent and 35 percent of their violent crimes, respectively, resulted in an arrest. For property crimes, authorities reported numbers that were slightly higher than the clearance rate reported in Oakland, at 5 percent for San Francisco and 7 percent for San Jose.

San Pablo police, also in the East Bay and with a similar racial makeup to Oakland, had a much better clearance rate in 2023. 53 percent of all violent crimes there were solved after a person was arrested and 23 percent of property crimes were solved.

“We have 100 degrees of gunshot detection coverage in our city, over 290 situational awareness cameras and over 85 license plate readers, allowing our officers to solve crimes more effectively through the use of technology,” Hauptmann said. Singh.

Oakland, on the other hand, is currently installing the 290 approved cameras on county roads and 190 are being added to state roads throughout the East Bay.

The Oakland City Council also decided to continue funding its gunshot detection system.

“We want policing to be done effectively, equitably and fairly, and not in a way that overly punishes our community, but it is also not enough to not do your job at all,” Hollins said.

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