October 5, 2010 | 9:24 AM | By

Factcheck time – SF Chronicle and Oakland’s murder rate

FILED UNDER: Police, Politics, Chip Johnson, Matthai Kuruvila, mayoral race, murder rate, Oakland, Oakland Police, San Francisco Chronicle

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Matthai Kuruvila’s front page article on crime and the Oakland mayor’s race is a sweeping take on public safety’s political impact in the Bay’s second city. This is an issue we tackled back in July, and it’s good to see it surface again in the public discourse. However, the article’s second paragraph caught my eye:

“The homicide rate remains stubbornly high, even though overall violent crime has declined in recent years. The city just laid off 10 percent of the police force after a battle over officers’ pensions, an action their union said made the public less safe. If voters don’t approve a costly parcel tax and an amendment to another tax the same day they elect a new mayor, hundreds more officers could go.”

Sweeping generalities like “the homicide rate remains stubbornly high” are frustrating to everyday readers to begin with, but are even more agitating when they are not backed up by the facts.

According to the Oakland Police Department’s latest weekly crime statistics (from 9/20/10-9/26/10), there have been 62 murders in Oakland this year, down from 80 in 2009. That’s a 23 percent drop, and a 39 percent decrease from the 101 murders in 2008. Many police departments would give an arm and a leg for those kinds of numbers – and it’s worth keeping in mind that this reduction has occurred as the police department is losing officers.

So why is the Chronicle still pushing this image of Oakland as a hyper-violent city? We’d expect this sort of coverage from the resident Don Perata supporter and columnist Chip Johnson, but the editorial slant seems to have crept into the hard news items.

  • http://www.abetteroakland.com V Smoothe

    Many police departments would give an arm and a leg to have 62 murders in a year that is three months from being over? I don't think so. To suggest as much is offensive.

  • Ali Winston

    V: We're talking about crime reductions here, right? We're not saying Oakland's murder rate isn't high – it is. But it is way down from two years ago. The numbers don't lie – and the Chronicle left those crucial facts out of the article. We're just pointing out the discrepancy with this morning's article. Still offensive to you?

  • http://www.abetteroakland.com V Smoothe

    Yes, I still find your suggestion that Oakland's murder rate is something other police departments would find enviable incredibly offensive.

    Furthermore, I don't see what “discrepancy” you're referring to. The Chronicle article does say that reported crime has gone down, so I'm not sure what “crucial facts” you think were left out.

    Finally, I don't think this piece gives an accurate picture of Oakland's homicide number. You say that homicides in 2010 are 23% lower than in 2009. But in reality, we have about 23% of the calendar year left to go. So your comparison doesn't actually make any sense. After reviewing the stats myself, it appears that this blog, which claims to “factcheck” the Chronicle story, is actually less accurate than the original article.

  • dude

    V: He's not saying police departments would love 62 murder in a year. he's saying they'd love a 23% drop and a 39% decrease from 2008. the article is mainly commenting on the blanketing statement “the homicide rate remains stubbornly high”. How can it REMAIN high when it's decreased from 2008?

  • http://twitter.com/KALWinformant KALWinformant

    V: Take a closer look at the weekly statistics from OPD that I link to above. They are labeled YTD – or year to date. The 23 percent drop in homicides is from a comparison in the number of homicides at this point last year. There were 101 murders in Oakland in 2009 according to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report (http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2009/data/table_08_ca.html), not 80 for the year- as it seems you’ve inferred from looking at the OPD numbers. Please make sure you’re reading the documents correctly before jumping to conclusions.