Oakland shootings, cuts in police force cause concern

It’s about 2 a.m. on Saturday, and the parties are winding down – time to gather up friends… It’s about 2 a.m. on Saturday, and the parties are winding down – time to gather up friends and head for home.

Students frequently wander the streets of Oakland during early morning hours, but after some recent crimes in the area, local police think students might want to be more concerned about their safety.

“Although no students have been involved in the recent shootings [in Oakland], they should still exercise precaution,” Zone 4 Sergeant Benjamin Bogus said. “And stay with people you know when you are out at night.”

Bogus referred to several shootings that have occurred near Pitt’s campus in the past few months. According to police reports, there have been six reported shootings in Oakland since January 2003.

With worried students and residents in mind, city police officers in Oakland want to keep Pittsburgh a safe place. City officials have decided to go one step further by implementing new law enforcement technology.

The U.S. Department of Justice awarded the city police a grant for $495,947 to purchase and operate new law enforcement equipment and technology.

“Local governments are looking to the federal government for help in upgrading their crime-fighting and anti-terrorist capabilities,” U.S. Representative Mike Doyle, D-Swissvale, said in a press release.

“This grant will improve the Pittsburgh Police Bureau’s ability to protect the city’s critical infrastructure,” he added.

According to Matt Dinkel, Doyle’s press secretary, the Pittsburgh Police Bureau will use the grant to “deploy and operate a network of eight high-resolution, wireless, robotic video cameras on four buildings around the city of Pittsburgh, in order to protect critical assets and infrastructure within the city’s boundaries.”But the boost to the security technology on the city’s streets comes shortly after a number of police officers were laid off in response to recent state funding cutbacks. Many officers and public works employees have responded with concern about the reduction of the size of the force, Dinkel added.

The laying off of 102 city police officers forced the city to redesignate police zones, or areas of patrol. Former Zones 3 and 4 were combined into Zone 3, except for the Hayes and Gates Manor sections of former Zone 4. These sections have been combined with the former Zone 6, which included Oakland, to make up the current Zone 4.

According to Tammy Ewin, a city police spokesperson, “The strength in each zone has not decreased much, in terms of police officers patrolling the streets.”

But Bogus suggested that the changes might have greater effects to the police force itself.

“Because layoffs were done by seniority, the [officers] that were laid off were the youngest, strongest and most aggressive officers we had,” Bogus said. “We need officers with that kind of determined drive out patrolling our streets.”

After the layoffs, the department decided to put onto patrol some of the officers who had been doing desk work at the station.

Bogus is also worried about future layoffs.

“The city won’t say that they won’t lay off any more policemen, because it may happen,” Bogus said.