I wrote last week about a ranting, cursing shoplifter at Whole Foods whom I saw leaving with her arms full of pilfered food, and how a store manager told me the same woman stole from the store every single day, but they were unable to do anything about it, for a bunch of reasons.
On Friday I had another long talk with the guy. He told me that employee morale at the store is so low because of theft and insane people that they have to bring in a psychiatrist on a regular basis to help traumatized workers. Employees get threatened, assaulted, tased, sprayed with tear gas, spat on, cursed at. One register worker got hit when the customer complained he had looked at her “disrespectfully.” Once the manager started talking to me, he couldn’t stop; it was like a dam had burst and all the grief and anguish came pouring out.
He said he’s ashamed of himself for reaching the point where he resents the thieves. “I’m a good guy,” he said, “a loving person. I’m not like this when I’m not at work.” He likes his job and loves Oakland, where he and his girlfriend bought a house. “I expected to live here forever, but now, our plan is to leave.” The young man was so upset, he was on the verge of tears. My heart went out to him.
He goes to City Council meetings and speaks up, but nothing ever changes. He’s met with Carroll Fife, but she was completely unresponsive. The cops tell him they can’t do anything. “The police blame the city, and the city blames the police,” he lamented.
There used to be a time when employees could try to stop shoplifters, he said, but no more. If he were to engage with or interrupt a shoplifter, who knows what might happen? Knives, guns, hammers, screwdrivers, anything could be pulled out from under a coat to cause human carnage. He reminded me of the security guard who was shot to death in December, right across the street, at 7-Eleven. “I have to look out for my employees. I’m not going to endanger their lives over stolen food.” And even if he did get involved, he said, Whole Foods would fire him.
His eyes reddened again. It’s a cliché, but I felt his pain.
He said that the regular shoplifters all come from a homeless shelter a half-block away, the old Lake Merritt Lodge, at 2332 Harrison Street. “We’ve investigated this, on our own time,” he said, explaining that the four-story structure functions basically like an illicit emporium. “You want food, you go to the first floor. Cocaine, the second floor. Heroin, the third floor.” The shoplifters themselves, all denizens of the homeless shelter, are instructed what to steal by middlemen, who then sell the stolen items to restaurants. “Shrimp, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, expensive stuff. These people are drug addicts. They don’t know what Chateauneuf-du-Pape is. The just steal what they’re told to.” It would be nice, I suggested, if we knew which restaurants were buying the stolen items. He pointed to the mustard-colored shelter. “There’s an alley right behind it where the fencing takes place.”
The guy’s story was appalling. This is a man who’s caught between a rock and a hard place. It’s killing him that he can do nothing to stop the thefts, that he and his employees have to stand by stupidly while horrible people ransack the store. It’s killing him that his employees are in such peril. It’s killing him that nobody gives a damn. He grew up in an America where such things aren’t supposed to happen. But they do happen in Oakland. All the time, every day. And nobody is stopping it.
Meanwhile, our wonderful Police Commission had a hearing last week on whether bringing in the California Highway Patrol to help out Oakland is constitutional. One of the commissioners as well as the chairwoman said they were “disturbed” by CHP’s presence.
Can we admit that the Police Commission is superfluous from the point of view of public safety? They do far more harm than good. But there they are, legally appointed, so these puffed-up bureaucrats feel they have to hold these meetings and debate heavy stuff. They babble on and on, pretending they’re important, while Oakland burns.
I question the whole idea of civilian oversight of the police. The old question, “Who oversees the overseers?” is apropos. It’s obvious that CHP has been helping Oakland immeasurably. CHP is busting thugs left and right, arresting hundreds of them, and here’s the Oakland Police Commission pontificating. Instead of being grateful to CHP and Gov. Newsom for sending them, they’re “disturbed.” Well, Police Commission, I’m disturbed by you and your useless, pointless meddling. I’m disturbed by your attitude toward cops, as if they’re little children who need your parenting. I’m disturbed by criminals, and by the insolence of these thugs, and your tolerance of them. And I’m disturbed that these police watchdogs, with their resentment of law enforcement, have so much power over our police. I loathe Ron DeSantis for many reasons, but I do support the legislation he just signed in Florida “to prohibit localities from using political entities like Civilian Oversight Boards to drive an anti-police agenda.” As a Florida legislator said, “We are no longer going to allow a civilian oversight/review process to be a vehicle for the persecution of individual officers.” I agree 100%. We must remove every shackle the anti-police woke left has placed on OPD and let our brave men and women in blue fight crime.
Meanwhile, the racist, pro-criminal Cat Brooks continues to rant “We must Defund OPD”!!! Can you believe it? The entire country has repudiated this insane call for anarchy and criminality, yet Brooks doubles down, lying that “OPD remains an embarrassment to the city and a lethal threat to Oakland’s Black and Brown communities.” Tell that to the Whole Foods employees, Brooks, who include many Black and Brown people. Tell that to the Black and Brown residents of Fruitvale, International Boulevard, West Oakland, who continue to be preyed upon, assaulted and slaughtered—not by cops but by members of your own community.
Brooks loves oversight gestapos like the Police Commission, which are stacked with cop haters. “Oakland’s Police Commission,” she sagely advised, “should lead a community engagement process to see what Oaklanders have to say about there being less eyes on the OPD.” Brooks, who’s very good at organizing, would, of course, make sure that her APTP goons dominated such a “community engagement process.” Supported by the likes of Carroll Fife, Nikki Bas, Sheng Thao and other cop haters, they’ll never stop trying to defund OPD.
Cat Brooks, you are a lunatic. There’s no one to compare you to except Trump: he’s a grifter of the sick right and you’re a grifter of the sick left. He’s in this for the money, and so are you. Tell us, Brooks, how much do you make each year for pimping APTP? We don’t know because Brooks won’t tell us. The investigative group Influence Watch reported that Brooks’ APTP had $5.4 million in assets in 2021. That was three years ago; the number must be considerably higher now. That’s a lot of money. Where did it come from? How much did Brooks personally siphon off? Brooks insists on transparency from OPD but it looks like she’s hiding a lot. The City Council should conduct hearings into this likely source of corruption, but of course they won’t, because it’s dominated by Brooks’ cop-hating, hand-picked flunkies.
Steve Heimoff