Oakland’s First Fridays festivals have been followed by unsanctioned, chaotic after-hours gatherings in the streets near the official event area for several years.
Once again, the "leaders" of Oakland continue to allow a very small number of people to terrorize a city of at least 400,000 people.
OPD and these "leaders" know who they are but because of ideology, these "leaders" keep offering carrot upon carrot to the criminals while residents and small businesses are negatively impacted.
Former OPD chief Howard Jordan wanted to implement gang injunctions against a very small number of people because residents and small businesses along the 35th ave corridor have been terrorized (ie new parents too frightened to go out in the dark to get milk for their new borns).
Instead, former mayor Jean Quan told chief Jordan to not implement those injunctions. Also, Jean invited these gang members to her office to talk and of course, she bought their bullshit in that there werent any jobs for them.
Think about that, Jean invited gang members to her office but not the residents (and new parents) and small businesses. The altruism of these "leaders" keep criminals out of jail and as a result, residents are "jailed" in their homes because of fear and small businesses suffer because customers are too afraid to walk the streets to their stores.
Is there any way to publish a table showing the actual data for specific crime categories assessed on FF event nights versus non-FF event nights? I think the actual data would be more useful. Percentages can often be misleading.
Yesterday, I ate one donut. Today, I ate two donuts. That’s an increase of one donut. That is also a 100% increase of my consumption of fried, sugary pastries that could potentially lead to diabetes, heart disease, or stroke. Same data. Drastically different presentations of data.
Also, it is my understanding that the late night / early morning takeovers have occurred on first Fridays of the month when there is not an official FF event. How do should we interpret that data? Just the memory of a FF event leads to an increase in crime? Is crime higher on Friday than other days of the week? What does a comparison by day look like? How does it compare to Taco Tuesday?
Hi Josh, thank you for your comment. The raw data in spreadsheet format is included with the data visualizations at https://www.citizensoakland.org/first-fridays-incident-data, and is available for download directly from the Oakland Police Department's Crimewatch data portal (see endnote 3). Thank you again for your comment; the discussion is appreciated.
Thanks Sean for another great article. One additional idea I would add, is that if Oakland had a productive economy and clean out the drugs, the moral in our fellow Oaklanders would be better. When you have so much poverty and a city in distress, with no mission, I believe these factors contributes to the late -night crime. Oaklanders deserve to have a safe city. Mindy Pechenuk, for Oakland Mayor 2026
Another story you won’t see in the oaklandside, for reasons that should not need explanation.
FUCK the Oaklandside and their "journalists"
Once again, the "leaders" of Oakland continue to allow a very small number of people to terrorize a city of at least 400,000 people.
OPD and these "leaders" know who they are but because of ideology, these "leaders" keep offering carrot upon carrot to the criminals while residents and small businesses are negatively impacted.
Former OPD chief Howard Jordan wanted to implement gang injunctions against a very small number of people because residents and small businesses along the 35th ave corridor have been terrorized (ie new parents too frightened to go out in the dark to get milk for their new borns).
Instead, former mayor Jean Quan told chief Jordan to not implement those injunctions. Also, Jean invited these gang members to her office to talk and of course, she bought their bullshit in that there werent any jobs for them.
Think about that, Jean invited gang members to her office but not the residents (and new parents) and small businesses. The altruism of these "leaders" keep criminals out of jail and as a result, residents are "jailed" in their homes because of fear and small businesses suffer because customers are too afraid to walk the streets to their stores.
Is there any way to publish a table showing the actual data for specific crime categories assessed on FF event nights versus non-FF event nights? I think the actual data would be more useful. Percentages can often be misleading.
Yesterday, I ate one donut. Today, I ate two donuts. That’s an increase of one donut. That is also a 100% increase of my consumption of fried, sugary pastries that could potentially lead to diabetes, heart disease, or stroke. Same data. Drastically different presentations of data.
Also, it is my understanding that the late night / early morning takeovers have occurred on first Fridays of the month when there is not an official FF event. How do should we interpret that data? Just the memory of a FF event leads to an increase in crime? Is crime higher on Friday than other days of the week? What does a comparison by day look like? How does it compare to Taco Tuesday?
Just curious.
Hi Josh, thank you for your comment. The raw data in spreadsheet format is included with the data visualizations at https://www.citizensoakland.org/first-fridays-incident-data, and is available for download directly from the Oakland Police Department's Crimewatch data portal (see endnote 3). Thank you again for your comment; the discussion is appreciated.
And I inadvertently made my donut analogy on National Donut Day!!! Enjoy your tasty treat.
Oh great. Thank you. You know I read this stuff on my phone and have a tendency to miss details. Have a great day!!
Thanks Sean for another great article. One additional idea I would add, is that if Oakland had a productive economy and clean out the drugs, the moral in our fellow Oaklanders would be better. When you have so much poverty and a city in distress, with no mission, I believe these factors contributes to the late -night crime. Oaklanders deserve to have a safe city. Mindy Pechenuk, for Oakland Mayor 2026