Oakland business owners meet with police chief, DA to push for solutions

Oakland business owners demand answers on crime in first-of-its-kind meeting

Oakland business owners met face-to-face with the police chief and new district attorney, demanding solutions to ongoing crime. The meeting aimed to open communication and establish a strong partnership between law enforcement and the community.

OAKLAND, Calif. - Small business owners in Oakland say they know their problems can’t be solved overnight. But they came for solutions.

In a first-of-its-kind meeting on Tuesday, they sat down with Police Chief Floyd Mitchell and newly-appointed Alameda County District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson to voice concerns, demand answers, and push for a path forward as they face ongoing property crime.

Organizers said the goal was to open direct lines of communication and ensure city leadership understands the toll crime is taking on the local business community.

Frustration meets a call for solutions

While emotions ran high at times, the focus was on finding solutions. Among the top concerns: slow 911 response times, a lack of police resources, and the city’s restrictive vehicle pursuit policy.

"What you see is property crime that affects you a lot," Chief Mitchell said. "Someone smashing through your window, doing $50,000 worth of damage just to steal $5,000 worth of merchandise. We have to hold these people accountable."

One business owner shared his frustration bluntly.

"The only solution that I could see today, and this is my opinion, is we try to get the National Guard and get a couple of tanks out here and some drones and be serious," he said. "Because we’re in the city of Oakland, where we have real killers."

Residents and business owners also raised concerns about emergency response delays.

"I know we have an issue with 911 calls - that’s currently occurring right now, as we speak," said one business owner. "What are you doing in the current moment to improve that?"

Mitchell responded that the department is working to hire more dispatchers.

"We’re going to continue to try to hire and fill the positions. I think right now we have 13 positions that are unfilled," he said. "We have several people in the background phase to try to fill those positions. It takes us about a year from the time the dispatcher is hired until they’re on the console by themselves."

Business owners also pushed for changes to Oakland’s pursuit policy, which currently does not allow officers to chase suspects in property crime cases. But Mitchell stood by the existing approach.

"It is national best practice that we do not chase property crimes," he said. "The value of life versus the value of loss is one of our 19 risk factors that we have to evaluate."

D.A. collaborating with police 

DA Jones Dickson said her office is working closely with police and actively charging cases.

"It’s clear to me that when I look outside my window, which is at Lake Merritt, and I see that there’s almost nobody walking the lake - that’s very different than it was 10 years ago," she said. "The goal is for us to have a better perception of the city and know that you can come to your systems - so that you know they work on your behalf."

Ali Albasiery, who owns five markets in Oakland, helped organize the meeting with community advocate and activist Brenda Grisham.

"All my stores have been broken into. Everybody else’s businesses have been broken into," Albasiery said. "A lot of businesses are shutting down, closing down, and the city of Oakland is not going to get new businesses."

Grisham encouraged attendees to take their concerns beyond the meeting.

"I think it’s all in working together," she said. "And I think the more information that people have, they’re more apt to try to work together."

She urged the business owners to bring their concerns directly to City Hall and to hold the mayor and city council accountable.

Chief Mitchell echoed that message, emphasizing the importance of reporting every crime to help paint an accurate picture of what’s happening in Oakland.

"We can only report on the data that is presented to us or the crime that is presented to us - whether it goes up or down," he said. "So what I would say is to get a good picture of where we are from a crime standpoint. We need everybody to report the crime that is occurring to them."

So far this year, according to OPD data, overall crime is down across the board with one key exception: homicides. There have been 27 so far, which is slightly higher than this time last year.