SafeWise, a company that sells home and internet security systems, publishes an annual “Safest Cities” list for the 50 states, using FBI statistics and other data. This year, they ranked 230 California cities, based on an analysis of violent crime and property crime. The safest city was right here in the Bay Area: Danville, at #1. The least safe? You guessed it. Clocking in at #230 was our very own Oakland.
I don’t suppose this news comes as a surprise to anyone. We live in the most violent, dangerous city in California, and yet we still have a powerful contingent of far-left influencers who dismiss crime, and who willfully mislead the public and the media about how to tackle it.
These people make a big to-do about MACRO, the program that purports to hire non-police individuals to respond to “non-violent, non-emergency 911 calls,” rather than cops. One of the prime movers behind MACRO has been the Anti Police-Terror Project and its leader, Cat Brooks. As she puts it, APTP’s new “MH First” [Mental Health First] project, a sort of mini-MACRO, will “interrupt and eliminate the need for law enforcement in mental health crisis first response” by sending “peer support” (i.e., not professional psychologists or social workers) to de-escalate situations involving mentally ill people.
Now, it’s fine that Brooks apparently is assembling a team of concerned citizens to rush to the scene when somebody is out of control. But let’s keep one thing uppermost in our minds: mentally ill people are not the cause of most crime in Oakland. The half-naked guy wandering through traffic; the snarling, angry ranter giving everyone the finger; the lady wrapped in garbage bags, picking at her toes; the homeless guy urinating in a bus stop: These individuals are not threats to our safety. They’re annoying, but they’re not murdering us.
So, sure, let Cat Brooks and MACRO send “peers” out to help them. We’ll see how that goes. But let’s realize that most of the thugs who are doing the killing and robbing and carjacking are not mentally ill (unless you define sociopaths as a mentally ill). The actual criminals who threaten us are rational males making horrible decisions, for whom “peer” intervention is useless. They don’t benefit from counselors who offer them substance abuse support, or advice on how to be nice to their spouses. There’s simply a huge difference between mentally ill people on the streets, and the gangbangers who terrorize Oakland. Unless we make that distinction, we’re not coming anywhere close to solving crime.
Brooks and the people at MACRO have never offered a single solution to violent and property crime. They peddle the falsehood that criminals are simply misguided, lovable scamps, and that when and if they do commit crimes, it’s due to “white supremacy, capitalism, and colonialism” (in Brooks’ words).
The vast majority of normal people understand how mendacious that is. It’s like Brooks is saying that the European colonial powers that conquered the world in the 1600s and 1700s are responsible for the death of the 15-year old girl who was shot and killed a few days ago in East Oakland.
No, Great Britain and France didn’t kill her: a thug did, and he’s still on the loose. As for the charge of “capitalism,” is Brooks serious? Market forces of supply and demand killed that little girl? Get real. “White supremacy” killed her? Laughable. Her killer was someone, most likely not deranged in the conventional sense of the word, but a monster who should be behind bars.
If Oaklanders are serious about getting rid of crime—if they’re embarrassed to live in the deadliest, most dangerous city in California—there’s something they can do about it. Fire the worst of the City Council members who continue to undermine our public safety. Marginalize extremists like Cat Brooks instead of giving her free publicity to spread her propaganda. Start treating cops as the good guys they are. Support the Oakland Police Department. Elect tough District Attorneys who will stop letting dangerous felons out of jail. Elect a Mayor—not Sheng Thao, please--who realizes her first duty is to protect public safety. If we do these things, we may not be safer than Danville anytime soon, but we will save countless lives.
Steve Heimoff