I live at The Grand, which is close to Broadway and Grand. In the last 6 months, I have heard one purse snatched and one assault and carjacking. Both happened in broad daylight, in heavily trafficked areas with people around. I was unable to assist OPD with the former case, but for the latter I ran down to give a statement. OPD never caught them last I heard, the car hasn't been recovered, and an elderly couple was very shaken.<p>I get the feeling that some elements inside OPD are trying to help the public, while others are cops for the power trip (see the Riders case of the early 2000's). OPD is absolutely stretched thin, but they are that way because Oakland is a big city and the command structure has previously had major run-ins with the DoJ (see Riders again) and therefore is very very careful about putting officers on the street. More so, they keep having issues with the DoJ (See Occupy Oakland, Scott Olsen), going so far as to the DoJ throwing down a threat of having the force taken over and reorganized, what would be a first for any organization in the US. We can't even keep a police chief for more then a few months, or days for that matter. Howard Jordan was around from 2011 until earlier this year. A day or two before another DoJ ruling/meeting, he suddenly retired due to a "medical condition", which he still hasn't disclosed. His replacement, Anthony Toribio, only lasted 2 days. Days. Not months. Days. The current interim chief, Sean Whent is still around, but we will see how much longer. We only have 637 officers as of last check. 637 for a town of 400,000 people.<p>Oakland has a broken government, including OPD and other services. It caused all of it's own problems, mostly due to OPD. Oakland won't get better until crime gets better or people start caring more about Oakland. I love my city, but I can't do much to help, other than helping the community (see OaklandWiki.org).<p>Maybe this is rambling, but whatever, it's out there. Oakland needs help, robbery and crime in general isn't going to drop until someone starts to care.<p>Edited to add more details and color.