Yesterday in Montclair, some local burglars took computers and jewelry. Ho-hum, nothing new. Yet these criminals also tried to shoot a key witness during their getaway, and fortunately failed. Oakland police were on the scene quickly as well.
One Montclarion spoke to neighbors and police yesterday, and shared a more complete picture this morning. We thought it was worth passing along her Montclair Safety report, right here.
From my neighbor who came upon the police:
Three African American males, driving a Black Chevy Blazer, did a quick burglary of the house taking jewelry, iPOD, iPAD. They were reported to OPD by a contractor who saw them running out of the house. The contractor threw a rock at the Chevy Blazer so it now has a broken windshield. The burglars tried to shoot the contractor from their car, luckily they missed. Three OPD cars showed up at the house very soon after they were called.
From a policeman:
I spoke with one of the OPD officers as I happened to drive by there around 11 am. He was wonderful and very informative and helpful. Apparently this Blazer has been casing this area and they break into houses between 8am-5am. [sic]
From the neighbors who were robbed:
They were not there at the time. One occupant left the house before 10 and the contractors saw the burglary in progress shortly after and threw the rock. Then they were shot at. OPD identified the shot was fired at 10:17 and hit the contractors vehicle. (I wonder if the bullet was found?)
This was not at at Thornhill near Moraga as mentioned in the article (this was 2 doors from me). Folks suspect the Chevy Blazer was nearby and saw the occupant leave. I heard this car was linked to other robberies (and it has a cracked windshield now!). Not sure if there is a plate or not.
Today in Montclair, 94611 
If it wasn’t at Thornhill and Moraga, where was it then? We are new to the area and are trying to understand the template for these burglaries — people gone from home? Broad daylight? Casing prior to robbery?
Not exactly sure, further up Thornhill towards Snake…we’ll try to learn more.
The crime patterns are exactly as you have questioned. There’s casing of homes to make sure folks are gone, and most burglaries are during the day when folks are at work. For regular updates about safety matters, here are local community groups:
— Montclair SIC (site) – Holds monthly meetings, mostly for residents south of Thornhill. Also you can report and learn about local safety and watch matters on their yahoo board.
— North Hills Community Association (site) – Holds monthly meetings, mostly for residents north of Thornhill. Also you can learn and ask about safety, home services and more by joining their email-forum, via the home page.
P.S. The Oakland Police Department sends out major alerts and messages, via Nixle.com.
For such an “informative and helpful” officer, we sure seem to be short of informative and helpful facts!
l’m really stunned at the free pass folks in Montclair are giving the OPD with these repeated events. Must be the altitude 🙂
OPD is a corrupt and incompetent organization, and famously is close to being “federalized” by the Justice Department because they can’t/won’t comply with federal court orders.
My question — what are the pros and cons of federalization with respect to these incidents?
thanks, and wake up, Oakland.
Thanks so much for the resources!
One point — sending “three OPD cars […] very soon” after the incident is the *EASY and VISIBLE* part of police work. That’s why they do it. The hard part, which the police are not doing, is the real work to stop this ongoing behavior.
The police get paid *enormous* amounts of money and benefits and you should hold them accountable for this privilege.
Demand more and don’t settle for excuses. Send email to Libby Shaff, the State attorney general, etc. Oakland police are not doing their job, they make excuses for it (if they are so understaffed how did so many cars show up so quickly?), and they make unbelievable amounts of money for that privilege. On our backs.
Contractors are getting shot at in the street and you folks are complementing the police for being “informative and helpful” (no evidence of either is subsequently given in the story).
That contractor might be making 12 bucks an hour, and your “helpful” officer gets a lifetime of free health care after he retires from racing to your crime scene in a car you paid for.
I don’t mean for everyone to have an upset stomach over their lattes (before their laptop is stolen) but Wake up, Oakland. Demand better from your police department (“ho hum, nothing new” is not an example of this spirit).
We only have ourselves to blame.
I totally agree with the statements above, if we don’t take action who will? Certainly not our Mayor!
Has anyone considered incorporation? Maybe if Montclair we a city and we actually had control over our public services we wouldn’t be dealing with these issues on such a huge scale. Seems to work for Piedmont….
Is this blog about Montclair abandoned?
Well, postings are occasional these days. Since the founder (that’s me) moved away, I have depended on Montclarions to volunteer ideas or write posts, and welcome them with open arms. Please reach me at debby.richman at gmail.com.