Year in Crime: Brazen Acts Stand Out, But Violent Crime Drops Overall
This year's salacious tales, police cutbacks and scandals are likely to be remembered
In Oakland, the police pursuit and shooting death of a local barbershop owner inflamed residents. In San Mateo, a community leader was murdered in a mall parking lot. In San Francisco, a natural crystal healer went on a rampage against bicyclists in his SUV.
Some of this year’s most memorable stories were salacious tales of senseless violence. But by all accounts, violent crime in the Bay Area dropped in 2010.
Mirroring nationwide crime trends, Oakland is ending the year with a 14 percent drop in violent crime and about 90 homicides, compared to 104 homicides last year. That’s the city’s lowest rate since 2005, the police department said. With staff waning, police spokeswoman Holly Joshi said the department owed the lower numbers to a shift of focus from quality-of-life to violent crimes.
In San Francisco, homicides hovered around the same rate as last year — 48, compared to 45 in 2009. But that was less than half the figure in 2008, when the city saw 96 killings.
Unfortunately, economic woes at the two departments may have played a role in low clearance rates. This year, San Francisco solved about 42 percent of the city’s homicides, compared with 75 percent last year. At 51 percent, Oakland’s clearance rate was only slightly better. With detectives currently filling in on patrol duty, those numbers are not likely to improve.
Johannes Mehserle
Despite the drop in violent crime, one of the biggest stories of the year renewed fears of excessive police force against African-Americans.
Former BART police officer Johannes Mehserle was convicted in July of involuntary manslaughter in the 2009 shooting death of Oscar Grant at the Fruitvale BART station. In November, Mehserle was sentenced to two years in prison with credit for time served. The court’s decision prompted protests that resulted in mass arrests and inspired furor over police abuse. But instances of such abuse, according to the Oakland Police Department, were no more common this year than last. In both 2010 and 2009, officers were involved in six shootings, four of them fatal. Locals continue to funnel their anger over Grant’s death into other causes, including organizing around the November officer-involved shooting of Oakland barber Derrick Jones. The demand for accountability prompted police Chief Anthony Batts to ask the Federal Bureau of Investigation this month to investigate Jones’ death.
Richmond Rape Hearings
The preliminary hearings for the seven accused in the alleged gang rape of a 16-year-old Richmond High student late last year received a lot of attention this month and last as horrific details of the crime emerged from the Martinez courtroom. At the end of the five-week preliminary hearing, Judge Gregory Caskey ruled Richmond police had violated the rights of the youngest defendant during interrogation and ordered Cody Smith to be released without charges. Caskey scheduled the arraignment for the six remaining defendants for Jan. 10.
David Lewis
In June, residents of East Palo Alto — especially reformed prisoners — were shocked when convicted drug addict-turned-community leader David Lewis was fatally shot while walking to his car in the parking lot of the Hillsdale Mall.
At first, police said Lewis knew his killer and claimed an arrest was imminent. As weeks and months passed without any useful leads, many grew concerned that the case would turn cold. Finally, six months after Lewis’ death, the community saw some closure this month with the arrest of 58-year-old Gregory Elarms. But even though police say Elarms, who had known Lewis when they were growing up in East Palo Alto, planned the attack, the motive, according to authorities and family members, still remains a mystery.
Unsolved Murders
Several other shooting deaths in the Bay Area also have authorities puzzled, including the high-profile killings of German tourist Mechthild Schroer, 50, and former high school basketball star Stephen Powell, 19, both in San Francisco. Schroer, an elementary school principal, was walking with her husband near Union Square in August when she was killed in a shooting outside an overcrowded teen party. Five young people were detained but released without sufficient evidence.
In June, a gunman opened fire into a large crowd gathered in the Castro for Pink Saturday, a gay pride celebration, killing Powell. Police called the shooting gang-related and apprehended a suspect, then released him. They have yet to make an arrest in the case.
Giuseppe Viola
One of the most colorful — and brazen — characters San Francisco has seen in a while, the accused Ponzi schemer operated for years out of popular cafes and pastry shops in North Beach. He’s accused of defrauding investors near and far of about $17 million. Court papers allege he stole $500,000 from Kuwaiti diplomats as payment for five undelivered “sports cars” cobbled together from Corvette and Alfa Romeo parts. Viola's longest con, however, was convincing his trusting girlfriend of 18 years that he was, actually, a top-secret undercover agent running covert operations for the National Security Agency.
Biker Rampage
Bay Area bicyclists were especially alarmed after police said a 39-year-old Albany man went on a rampage in June, deliberately striking four bicyclists with his Nissan Rogue within a six-minute period in San Francisco’s Mission and Potrero neighborhoods. David Mark Clark, a tennis instructor and natural crystal healer, was charged with four counts of attempted murder. Police said he falsely reported his car stolen before they tracked the crime back to him.
Gang Injunctions
Despite massive protest from community groups and the ACLU, Oakland got its first gang injunction in North Oakland this year, restricting the activities of alleged gang members. About five months later, City Attorney John Russo decided to pursue another injunction in Fruitvale. In San Francisco, City Attorney Dennis Herrera set in place the city’s fourth gang injunction against two alleged gangs in Visitacion Valley.
Residents in both cities have expressed concerns that the injunctions will lead to racial profiling as police scrutinize neighborhoods for the presence of perceived gang affiliation and activity, and believe that the cities would benefit more from social services, resources and activities for young people.
Gang injunctions emerged from Los Angeles as a popular law enforcement trend in the late 80s. Oakland soon attempted to follow suit in the early 90s, but a judge struck down the request. The most recent attempt involved concessions at the request of the ACLU, including the addition of an opt-out process for anyone named in the injunction, and required procedures for adding names to the list.
Acorn
One of the year’s most important stories was also one of the least covered — the conviction and sentencing in October of the man police once heralded as the leader of Acorn, Oakland’s most notorious and violent gang. Marc Anthony Candler was sentenced to a minimum of 48 years in prison in a quiet courtroom in Oakland, in stark contrast to the press conferences and bright television lights that once accompanied news of the arrests of 54 gang members, including Candler, as a result of the Oakland Police Department’s “Operation Nutcracker” in 2008.
The Crime Lab Scandal(s)
The crime lab scandal was the gift that kept giving in 2010, at least for journalists. Starting in March with the discovery that former San Francisco crime lab technician Debbie Madden had allegedly skimmed cocaine from evidence for personal use, news outlets soon reported other deficiencies at the crime lab, including an overworked staff, outdated equipment, inconsistent record-keeping and even a family of feral cats. Police Chief George Gascon shuttered the drug-analysis section of the lab, and the district attorney’s office dismissed hundreds of drug cases. San Francisco police officers now conduct their own preliminary drug tests, and more complicated analysis is outsourced to other labs. A recent SF Weekly investigation showed there may be problems afoot in other parts of the lab, including the DNA analysis section. Meanwhile, the state attorney general’s office said its investigation of Madden continues.
New Law Enforcement Leaders
In 2010, new police chiefs in San Francisco and Oakland were put through the ringer during their first full years on the job, bearing the brunt of public reaction to their departments’ shortcomings.
San Francisco police chief George Gascon began restructuring his department, adding staff to the homeland security and media relations units, while frequently butting heads with the Board of Supervisors. Between layoffs and attrition, Oakland police Chief Anthony Batts saw his department shrink significantly, resulting in elimination of the city’s popular problem-solving officers. With the passage of Measure BB, Batts now plans to reinstall the problem-solving officers, but expects the force to wane to about 640 officers by the beginning of the new year — a far cry from the minimum 925 officers Batts said he needed when he first got the job.
What's Next?
If this year is any indication, expect to see a continued emphasis on police accountability. There were too many scandals this year to allow breathers for the new police chiefs.
For Oakland in particular, with a diminished staff, more responsibilities, and community tension, law enforcement is only going to get tougher. Such conditions, according to law enforcement sources, provide the perfect recipe for mistakes. And with Batts’ contract up in two years, will he want to stick around?
The bright side: with the department’s focus on violent crime, if there were ever a time to drive badly, it’s now.
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