Month: July 2010

Problem Solving Officers Are Gone (For Now)

In case you haven’t heard, the Oakland Police Department is scrapping its problem-solving units to cope with the 80 officer layoffs planned for today. That means Maureen Vergara leaves beat 13z less than two years after she became the village’s problem solving officer. Captain Anthony Toribio said Monday morning that Vergara’s departure will “place a greater burden on the police department to track crime trends” in 94611.

Captain Anthony Toribio (Photo by M. Gribi)

Officer Vergara isn’t the only PSO to be leaving the hills. As of Monday, Randall Chew (13x), and John Haney (13y) are no longer PSOs for their respective beats. Jim Dexter, the chair of the Beat 13y Neighborhood Council, said (as an individual) that the trio made an especially effective crime-fighting team in the hills, “literally changing and redefining the role of the PSO.” While Dexter said that PSOs were not adequately evaluated by OPD, a dynamic PSO matched with an active council could yield good results. Dexter said that was the case in beats 13x, y, and z. Until today, that is.

Of course, there’s still a chance that the negotiations between the city and the police officer’s union will prevent the planned layoff of 80 cops. If the two parties do reach a deal, the PSOs will stay. Is it possible ditching the PSOs was aimed at drawing attention to the layoffs?

Don’t Tread On Me

There’s something a-slithering in Redwood Regional Park. Park Ranger Dee Rosario said that he spotted a rattlesnake near the Girl’s Camp off of Skyline Boulevard.

Rosario said that in 30 years of walking the park, he’s never seen a rattlesnake. Keep your eyes peeled when hiking, especially when it’s sunny and the snakes are basking.

Libby Schaaf Raises $72,000

The candidates running for seats in City Hall have until the end of this month to report how much money they raised during the first six months of the year, but one candidate is already making her war chest public. Libby Schaaf, who is running to replace Jean Quan here in District 4, announced that 344 donors gave her $72,000. The limit is $116,000, so Schaaf is already well past the halfway mark. Would the other District 4 candidates like to tell us how much they raised? We’re curious.


The campaign reports that more than half of the contributions were for $100 or less. Read our Q&A with Schaaf.

Neighbors and Cops Nab Burglars

When we first heard about the big burglar bust in the 5500 block of Harbord Drive on Friday, we called the Oakland Police Department to see what they could tell us. The cops said that neighbors and police had thwarted a break in at a marijuana grow house. That didn’t sound right to the neighbors, and so we held off writing anything until we could get the police report. It turns out that there was no marijuana growing in the house.

Here’s what went down according to the cops and eagle-eyed neighbors. At 2:47 pm, a neighbor called OPD to report a suspected burglary. Within minutes cops had arrived on the scene. One neighbor working in his home office looked out the window and saw three officers coming up his neighbor’s driveway with guns drawn. As he was hustling his wife and two girls upstairs, his daughter saw three people dash across the backyard deck. The man went back downstairs and saw three men crouched behind a bush across the street. He signaled their location to the police as the suspects dashed to the back of the house. Then he grabbed a baseball bat and went outside. He wasn’t the only one with that idea.

A number of residents were outside serving as extra eyes for the police. At least two men carried baseball bats. Neighbors report at least a dozen cop cars in the area. The police report doesn’t mention how many officers were there. Overkill or not, the sworn/civilian coordination worked. OPD arrested three suspects, a 15 year-old boy whose name can’t be released because he’s a minor, Matthew Buford, 19, and Michael Maes, 22. The trio drove to their would-be victim’s house in a stolen 2006 Pontiac Grand Am.

The man who saw the cops walking up his neighbor’s driveway retrieved a jar of money containing several hundred dollars in his backyard, which he was able to return to his neighbor. If the burglary had been successful, it would have been the 42nd burglary within the boundaries of 94611 in the past 60 days.

Wallaroos and Emus in the Oakland Hills

Quick! What’s the difference between a kangaroo and a wallaroo? The wallaroo is slightly smaller and a little stockier than its more famous cousin. The antipodal macropods are now frolicking with emus at the Oakland Zoo’s new Wild Australia exhibit.

You can see the new exhibit by taking a ride on the zoo train, which is now called the Outback Adventure Train. California’s climate is so similar to parts of Australia (consider the eucalyptus), would wallaroos and emus survive in the Oakland Hills if they escaped their enclosures?