Preliminary reports show that Oakland could be seeing a decrease in violent crime, including homicide.
According to a new report from the Major Cities Chiefs Association, Oakland is one of multiple cities seeing a decrease in homicide and other violent crimes.
The report compiles data from police executives representing some of the largest cities in the United States and Canada, including San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose. Using the data from cities across the country, Oaklandside reported a 17 percent decrease in homicides when comparing totals from January through June in 2024, to the same timespan in 2023.
Since the data is preliminary, we won’t know the true change in violent crime until the whole year’s data has been collected. This means the year-end statistics could look different from the current trend.
Another reason to be cautious about this presumed decrease in violent crime is a previous San Francisco Chronicle report of the Oakland Police Department’s misleading crime data.
According to the Chronicle, OPD compared year-to-date totals from past years to incomplete year-to-date figures from the current year, which results in crime trends seeming better than they actually are. It is unclear if the Major Cities Chiefs Association report has the same problem, and if they are relying on OPD’s allegedly misleading data.