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I'm not convinced that survrillance tools will cure what appears to be a lack of effort from police. They probably have things they consider more important to

I'm not convinced that survrillance tools will cure what appears to be a lack of effort from police. They probably have things they consider more important to investigate than your encounters in Oakland or the thousands of dollars of equipment I had stolen from myself and my startup a couple years ago. I'm confident that all of these things could be solved with data already available to the police, with a bit of investigative effort. I don't think more surveillance in their direct control would help.

ggreer 10y ago
I think of it like a sales funnel: 1. A certain number of crimes are committed. 2. Of those, a certain number are relatively easy to solve (thanks to surveillance or dumb criminals or luck). 3. Of those, a certain number are actually solved by police. (Because they have the inclination and time to do so.) I think improving (2) will help, even if (3) also needs work. Though in my experience, OPD has spent a significant amount of time and effort attempting to both document and solve crimes.
CalChris 10y ago
I live in Oakland as well. The police here are not very good. They been under Federal oversight. There's a current sex scandal (involving a bunch of East Bay departments). We've run through several chiefs in short order. They were completely out of control during Occupy. Surveillance hardware is just more toys. It's the culture that needs to be fixed. I'd like to see a bachelors degree (currently a GED) and Oakland residency required.
- Kalium 10y ago
  As I understand it, police often don't want to live and work in the same city. There's the risk of running into the guy they busted for slinging drugs while grocery shopping with spouse and kids, and avoiding that by living the next town over is an attractive proposition. Requiring a degree is likely going to skew the racial mix of OPD more.

ggreer 10y ago

I think of it like a sales funnel: 1. A certain number of crimes are committed. 2. Of those, a certain number are relatively easy to solve (thanks to surveillance or dumb criminals or luck). 3. Of those, a certain number are actually solved by police. (Because they have the inclination and time to do so.) I think improving (2) will help, even if (3) also needs work. Though in my experience, OPD has spent a significant amount of time and effort attempting to both document and solve crimes.

CalChris 10y ago

I live in Oakland as well. The police here are not very good. They been under Federal oversight. There's a current sex scandal (involving a bunch of East Bay departments). We've run through several chiefs in short order. They were completely out of control during Occupy. Surveillance hardware is just more toys. It's the culture that needs to be fixed. I'd like to see a bachelors degree (currently a GED) and Oakland residency required.

Kalium 10y ago
As I understand it, police often don't want to live and work in the same city. There's the risk of running into the guy they busted for slinging drugs while grocery shopping with spouse and kids, and avoiding that by living the next town over is an attractive proposition. Requiring a degree is likely going to skew the racial mix of OPD more.