‘Address the Issue!’: Oakland Residents Demand Answers on Rising Crime from Progressive DA in Heated Meeting

Lines outside the Montclair Presbyterian church in Oakland, Calif. stretched around the block last Thursday as concerned community members gathered to hear what Alameda County district attorney Pamela Price is doing to address surging crime levels.

Video captured by CBS News shows a massive line of people who were left outside of the full-capacity meeting. Inside, Oakland residents were captured on video shouting over Price as she tries to give a presentation.

“No! Address the Issue!” one man can be heard yelling.

As of July 23, violent crime in Oakland was up 15 percent over the same period the previous year, while property crime has increased by 28 percent, according to Oakland Police Department data.

Price has come under sustained criticism for her handling of crime since her term began in January. During an interview with a local CBS affiliate, the district attorney insisted that her “role has really no impact on crime.” A public relations specialist of the district attorney, shortly after, cut the interview short because the journalist failed to ask about Price’s accomplishments soon enough.

The day after the Thursday meeting, the local NAACP branch of Oakland condemned Price and demanded more help from law enforcement.

“Failed leadership, including the movement to defund the police, our District Attorney’s unwillingness to charge and prosecute people who murder and commit life threatening serious crimes, and the proliferation of anti-police rhetoric have created a heyday for Oakland criminals,” local president Cynthia Adams and Reverend Bob Jackson said in a public statement. “If there are no consequences for committing crime in Oakland, crime will continue to soar.”

“We are in crisis and elected leaders must declare a state of emergency and bring resources together from the city, the county, and the state to end the crisis. We are 500 police officers short of the number that experts say Oakland needs. Our 911 system does not work. Residents now know that help will not come when danger confronts them. Worse, criminals know that too,” the duo added.

“There is nothing compassionate or progressive about allowing criminal behavior to fester and rob Oakland residents of their basic rights to public safety,” the duo added. “It is not racist or unkind to want to be safe from crime. No one should live in fear in our city.”

The comments drew Price, in turn, to denounce the NAACP and its leadership. “We are disappointed that a great African-American pastor and a great African-American organization would take a false narrative on such an important matter. We would expect more from Bishop Bob Jackson and the Oakland Chapter of the NAACP,” a spokesperson for the district attorney’s office said in a statement.

“We are disappointed that a great African-American pastor and a great African-American organization would take a false narrative on such an important matter. We would expect more from Bishop Bob Jackson and the Oakland Chapter of the NAACP.