Oakland crime scene.
Violence and police budget cuts in the US city of Oakland in California is forcing residents there to take extraordinary steps, including hiring private security, a report says.
Crime is on the rise in Oakland and there has been 61 murders so far in 2013, according to a report by CBS News.
According to preliminary statistics by the FBI, Oakland experienced a 19.7% increase in violent crimes and a 26% increase in property crimes in 2012.
“It’s like, ‘Oh, another shooting,'” said Jan Hetherington, who has lived for 14 years in the Oakland neighborhood of Maxwell Park.
Hetherington told CBS News that despite living in a good neighborhood, she has to bring in private security to feel safe.
Budget cuts have forced Oakland to trim its police force by a third, pushing residents to pay for private security patrols themselves.
Eighty-one-year-old Joyce Nichelini has lived in Oakland for 42 years. “I lock a gate now and I lock my door and I have alarms. I even put bars on my house,” she said. Despite those measures, she said she still doesnâ„¢t feel safe.
On Saturday, four people were shot and wounded in broad daylight near downtown, Oakland police said. On Friday, two men were shot to death and two others were wounded in party.
On Thursday night, a woman was killed and a man was injured when someone opened fire on their parked car.
Oakland’s crime rate began to escalate during the late 1960s, and by the end of the 1970s Oakland’s per capita murder rate had risen to twice that of its neighbor city, San Francisco.
A crime ranking survey in 2010 ranked Oakland as the fifth most dangerous city in the US.
AHT/DB
Republished from: Press TV