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When a North Oakland “troublemaker” was released on bail, Oakland Police Officer Robyn Clark e-mailed over 200 neighbors the following: Hi everyone! Mr. [Name withheld] is NOT currently wanted by the police. This information is being disseminated to you, because everyone needs to be very cautious of [Name withheld]. 

“This man is very articulate and smart. He can also be hostile if you confront him. If this man enters your business and causes any problems, call police, and use the following information to get a restraining order...” 

Later that day, the owner of a cafe just over the Berkeley border followed Clark’s advice, warning neighbors that the man had been a nuisance to customers in his cafe and had taken advantage of acquaintances. 

Clark and his fellow e-mail recipients belong to an Oakland Police Yahoo newsgroup—the brainchild of Oakland Police Lieutenant Lawrence Green—that releases up-to-the-minute alerts and oodles of crime data, putting pressure on known criminals in North Oakland as well as the Berkeley Police Department to keep up. 

“The neighbors love it,” said Samantha Herbert, an Oakland group subscriber and member of a South Berkeley group urging the BPD to develop something similar. 

“As far as we’re concerned what we don’t know might hurt us. Berkeley police mean well, but they’re having to be dragged into this by the nose.” 

Berkeley police, though, say that when it comes to providing crime data, they’re hamstrung by antiquated technology and a data system purchased three years ago that has since proved useless. (See Sidebar) 

Green’s chat group does more than just issue warnings and crime data. It’s a free-flow forum for residents in his six-beat patrol just across the border from Berkeley.  

When neighbors complained about noisy motorized scooters, an officer responded—outlining the OPD’s action plan. When neighbors wanted to pursue nuisance lawsuits against owners of drug-infested properties, Lt. Green e-mailed them a lawyers’ telephone number.  

“We include anything impacting crime or quality of life,” said Green, who started the group in June, 2002, and watched as OPD Chief Richard Word mandated a year later that the rest of Oakland follow suit. 

“I give to the community everything except what they don’t have access to,” such as domestic violence cases or specific crime fighting tactics, he said. 

BPD Capt. Doug Hambleton said his department wasn’t as comfortable releasing the information on individuals Oakland provides. “We have different interpretations on what is appropriate,” he said. 

Berkeley Police spokesperson Kevin Schofield said one of the department’s goals is not to release any information that would jeopardize anyone or inhibit an investigation. 

The different approaches were exemplified during a flare-up of shootings this summer along the North Oakland-South Berkeley border. 

While Berkeley police were hesitant to link the shootings, Green released the following on his website: “The bottom line is that North Oakland drug dealers are responsible for multiple murders and shootings in Berkeley, and Berkeley drug dealers are banding together to ‘take out’ the North Oakland dealers.”  

He later informed neighbors that both departments would perform joint drug buy-and-bust operations, infuriating BPD officials—who complained to Green’s boss that he was undermining the their work. 

“They got all bugged,” Green said. “I don’t understand that. “I’d rather have criminals think that we’re going to be in the neighborhood every day so they’d go somewhere else. I’m not as paranoid about information compromising things.” 

Though Green said his upfront style has resulted in “some touchy issues,” he remains committed to his community policing model. 

“The old way was ‘everything is police business.’ That’s fine if you can solve all the crimes yourself. But in reality, we don’t have big police forces. So we need to tell [residents] more so they can tell us more.” 

The chat group has won much praise, but few copycats. When contacted, most criminologists or police organizations knew little about their existence. 

“[Oakland] is right on target, said John Furman, a community policing researcher at the International Association of Chiefs of Police, adding that though “an excellent use of technology,” chat groups are “hardly a trend.” 

UC Irvine Criminology Professor Paul Jesilow said that if more police departments adopt Internet chat groups, the goal won’t just be better communication with residents. “This stuff is all politically driven,” he said. “If [the police] are seen as likable good guys they’re going to get money. If they’re seen as schmucks, they’re not.”  

Jesilow feared that the Internet was not an equitable tool for pooling community input. “If the Internet is the only mechanism, then priorities may turn on cultural differences rather than community-wide problems,” he said, noting that minorities and poor people are less likely to have online access. “You’re starting off with a segment of the population who likes the police and will buy into what the police say.” 

Ozzie Vincent, a South Berkeley resident who participates in Oakland crime prevention councils—the heart of that city’s community policing—said all seven area leaders in his beat were white, although until recently two had been African-American as are several of the grassroots members. 

Meanwhile, Vincent, Herbert and others have formed the South Berkeley Crime Prevention Council to lobby the BPD to reinvigorate community policing, something they say hasn’t existed for over a decade. 

First on their list is a call for Berkeley to scrap neighborhood watches—many of which are dormant—and replace them with Oakland-style crime prevention councils in which a beat is divided into seven or eight areas and area leaders meet monthly with beat cops to discuss concerns. 

“In two hours we cover everything in a 50-block area,” Vincent said. “If all the neighborhood watches in Berkeley were active, area coordinators would have to be at 60 meetings a month and then disseminate the information. It doesn’t work.” 

Next on their list: More information and better lines of communication.  

“In Oakland you have total transparency and mutual trust. In Berkeley you have to beg, borrow and steal to get information,” said Herbert who added that BPD Chief Roy Meisner was “blown away” when she showed him the detailed crime reports OPD provided.  

Two weeks ago, her group met with top BPD brass, who pledged to improve community involvement.  

“I was amazed how upfront they were,” Herbert said.  

“Lawrence Green is so energetic and devoted to this concept that you can’t just mandate it,” she added. “We don’t have to be carbon copies, but certainly there is room for real improvement.”