Legal/Law/Criminal Justice and Reform

‘You Coddle These Criminals’: Blue City Women Slam Soft-On-Crime Policies At Community Meeting

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Female residents of Oakland, California, tore into city officials over local crime and recent attacks on women during a crime and violence prevention meeting Tuesday evening.

Hundreds of people showed up at the meeting, where numerous women recounted being robbed and attacked in Oakland, often by teenagers, according to the Berkeley Scanner. One woman drew cheers from the audience for a fiery speech in which she decried city leaders’ crime policies and called for the police to crack down on low-level offenses, according to footage shared by independent journalist Leighton Woodhouse.

Oakland has seen a surge in crime over the past year and saw more than 100 robberies in a single week in May, with some ending in assault or gunfire, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Many of the alleged perpetrators were children.

“Oakland is out of control with the crime. I’m fed up. I’m absolutely fed up. We’re all fed up because of you and your policies, and you coddle these criminals. They’re coddled,” she said as the audience erupted in applause, according to Woodhouse’s video.

This is how angry people were at the meeting last night. This is in perhaps the most left-wing city in the country. https://t.co/S9LOdzgves pic.twitter.com/qDxvNWYggm

— Leighton 明 Woodhouse (@lwoodhouse) May 31, 2023

“I’m asking you to let the cops start off giving tickets to low level offenses starting with license plates,” she said. “Let the cops pull these people over, no license plates and tinted windows you’re not supposed to have. That’s why all this stuff is happening, because you need to start by citing people for these low level crimes. And don’t tell me it’s profiling, cause you can’t even see who’s in the car nowadays.”

Another woman in her late fifties recounted being attacked outside her Oakland home this month by teenagers, according to the Berkeley Scanner.

“It’s all women,” she said. “Two kids beat the shit of me in front of my house last Monday night. Down on the pavement. Punching me, kicking me, dragging me through the street… “I’m almost 60 years old. I’m one of the old women that just got taken down. And it’s happening everywhere.”

One woman touted her progressive credentials before complaining that women weren’t safe in the area due to ongoing violence. “I’ve had two dozen years of being at the far extreme most progressive community-organizing activism kind of activity you can think of,” she said. “I don’t think it’s as simple as being too progressive here. I think the devil is in the details… It’s all kinds of women being targeted. This is systemic violence as well.”

She also complained about city leaders letting individuals commit crimes repeatedly.

“It actually does mess you up more to keep attacking people,” she said. “You can’t let kids just go back out there.”

Oakland is a heavily blue city, and 79.8% of voters in Alameda County voted Democrat in the 2020 elections, according to Best Places.