Detailed, SPECIFIC needs for Lake Merritt and Lakeside Park:
• A series of internet linked video cameras on the light poles in and around the park, especially at the entrance / exit, and at key buildings. Police could view these live at any time.
• Establishment of a security station / coffee-snack shack in the existing, small building between the Garden Center and Bandstand beach. Snacks were sold there years ago.
o This would be a place where people could report crime, where ambassadors / police could park their security car, and stop in and meet people (coffee with a cop), where you could buy coffee etc., and even where a drone could be launched to track ongoing crime. There could perhaps be a hotline to police dispatch. Include a lost and found.
• An attractive fence around the Boating Center. There is precedent; fences now exist around the Garden Center, Cameron Stanford House, and Fairyland. You can't steal something if you can't get it past the fence while on camera and when a light is on you.
• Motion sensor lighting (with nearby, multiple cameras) that turn on by sensing motion. To be active only at night when the park is closed, and in places where people should not be at night.
o A sudden bright light could deter crime before it happens. Protect these by installation in areas out of reach, and/or with shielding. The lights would go off after a set time. Seeing a light where it should not be will also attract attention.
• Multiple, prominent (LED) signs in Lakeside Park advising of active crime prevention actions in place such as bait cars, recording cameras, gps locators, and use of other surveillance equipment.
o Note: San Francisco is using bait cars, and gps locators. The LM Institute has such a programmable sign.
• Deployment of "Torch" fire detectors to protect existing buildings in Lakeside Park. Inexpensive ($299) insurance compared to the loss of a building.
o When activated by a smoke, visible or infrared sensor, they send a notice by wireless transmission, allowing rapid response. Each can cover 10 acres. The size of a large fist, they can be securely mounted out of sight, high up in a tree, high on a building, or on a light pole to prevent theft.
• A $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of persons committing a crime in Lakeside Park.
"Oakland has the fewest officers per crime in the country", I'm curious, Where did you get this statistic? Conventionally, police manning levels are measured in the number of "officers per 10K population". One problem with the "officers per crime" metric is that it could award a inefficient or ineffective police department with more officers when in fact structural/organizational changes are in order. For example, Oakland has had the highest violent crime rate of any of the sixty largest California cities over the last twenty years. The OPD is still under federal court order oversight from the 2003 Riders debacle. Do you think that adding more officers to this mix will improve the situation?
Detailed, SPECIFIC needs for Lake Merritt and Lakeside Park:
• A series of internet linked video cameras on the light poles in and around the park, especially at the entrance / exit, and at key buildings. Police could view these live at any time.
• Establishment of a security station / coffee-snack shack in the existing, small building between the Garden Center and Bandstand beach. Snacks were sold there years ago.
o This would be a place where people could report crime, where ambassadors / police could park their security car, and stop in and meet people (coffee with a cop), where you could buy coffee etc., and even where a drone could be launched to track ongoing crime. There could perhaps be a hotline to police dispatch. Include a lost and found.
• An attractive fence around the Boating Center. There is precedent; fences now exist around the Garden Center, Cameron Stanford House, and Fairyland. You can't steal something if you can't get it past the fence while on camera and when a light is on you.
• Motion sensor lighting (with nearby, multiple cameras) that turn on by sensing motion. To be active only at night when the park is closed, and in places where people should not be at night.
o A sudden bright light could deter crime before it happens. Protect these by installation in areas out of reach, and/or with shielding. The lights would go off after a set time. Seeing a light where it should not be will also attract attention.
• Multiple, prominent (LED) signs in Lakeside Park advising of active crime prevention actions in place such as bait cars, recording cameras, gps locators, and use of other surveillance equipment.
o Note: San Francisco is using bait cars, and gps locators. The LM Institute has such a programmable sign.
• Deployment of "Torch" fire detectors to protect existing buildings in Lakeside Park. Inexpensive ($299) insurance compared to the loss of a building.
o When activated by a smoke, visible or infrared sensor, they send a notice by wireless transmission, allowing rapid response. Each can cover 10 acres. The size of a large fist, they can be securely mounted out of sight, high up in a tree, high on a building, or on a light pole to prevent theft.
• A $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of persons committing a crime in Lakeside Park.
"Oakland has the fewest officers per crime in the country", I'm curious, Where did you get this statistic? Conventionally, police manning levels are measured in the number of "officers per 10K population". One problem with the "officers per crime" metric is that it could award a inefficient or ineffective police department with more officers when in fact structural/organizational changes are in order. For example, Oakland has had the highest violent crime rate of any of the sixty largest California cities over the last twenty years. The OPD is still under federal court order oversight from the 2003 Riders debacle. Do you think that adding more officers to this mix will improve the situation?
Where is your data supporting the supposed removal of funding from Oakland PD ?
Their budget has never been decreased in recent years, and they are always over budget due to overtime.