News/Commentary

Police recommend air horns to spook criminals as crime spikes in Oakland

August 9, 2023 | | Print Article

Oakland, California has devolved into a Democrat-led crime-ridden hellhole and police there are now advising residents to carry air horns to scare off criminals.

Surging crime is alarming the police as well as residents. A lack of officers and laws preventing them from actually doing their jobs are adding to the grim situation. Not to mention the state being anti-Second Amendment. Police are also telling residents to add security bars to their doors and windows, according to CNN.

Burglaries in the city have jumped 41 percent “and robberies by more than 20 percent,” according to the media outlet.

Toni Bird, who has been an Oakland resident for 2 1/2 years, is following the advice of police and has stockpiled three airhorns and security cameras at her home to scare off predators.

“The types of crime that we’re seeing feel much more violent and the consequences feel much more severe. And it feels like the people that are being targeted are people who are vulnerable,” Bird commented.

Some people are fighting back. A 75-year-old Oakland woman fired a .357 revolver at thugs who broke down her door to scare them off. They returned fire with 17 to 20 rounds. The criminals were terrible shots and missed the woman who was lucky to have not been hit. They stole some jewelry and fled.

Sixty-year-old retiree David Schneider was not so fortunate and was shot and killed while trimming a tree in his yard. He was Bird’s neighbor and the incident caused her to retreat indoors out of fear for her safety, according to CNN.

“People aren’t feeling safe out of their house,” she remarked. “It makes sense that you would want to protect your house then, right? You would barricade it.”

Oakland residents are scared and many are fleeing the state because of the rise in violent crime that has community activists, including the local NAACP, demanding urgent action from city officials.

The escalating crime has forced some Oakland residents, including Kristin Cook, to leave. Cook wept as a moving pod packed with all her family’s belongings was loaded onto a flatbed truck. She spoke with CNN about her heart-wrenching decision to leave despite living in Oakland her entire life. She’s now headed to Texas with her son.

“I love Oakland. … I can’t take it anymore,” she told CNN. “I got to the point I was too scared to leave my house.”

She said the rise in carjackings has made her scared to drive at night.

“My son is about to start driving. … I’m terrified my son is gonna be killed at a stop sign because he’s driving an Impala, and I just can’t, I can’t risk it,” the distraught mother stated.

In a letter sent out in late July, NAACP Oakland Branch President Cynthia Adams and Oakland pastor Bishop Bob Jackson demanded action from elected leaders to ensure public safety.

“African Americans are disproportionately hit the hardest by crime in East Oakland and other parts of the city. But residents from all parts of the city report that they do not feel safe,” they said in the letter, according to CNN.

They flatly accused “failed leadership” of creating “a heyday for Oakland criminals.”

“We call on all elected leaders to unite and declare a state of emergency and bring together massive resources to address our public safety crisis,” the letter urged.

The district attorney took offense at the accusations.

The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office clapped back at the NAACP’s characterization of the city official’s efforts to stop the massive crime surge.

“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,” the office decried in a statement.

The Oakland police currently have 715 officers employed by the city. According to the Oakland Police Officers’ Association, that number should be closer to 1,200.

The advice to use air horns was mocked by those who prefer guns as a defense and as a deterrent to crime:

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