Oakland PD failed to immediately respond to gas station looting due to how it was reported: mayor

( KRON ) — Police in Oakland failed to respond in a timely manner to an incident in which dozens of people were caught on camera looting a gas station due to how the crime was reported, according to Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao.

“What we saw in that video was appalling and those responsible for it must be held accountable,” Mayor Thao told KRON4.

“It is my understanding that when the call came in, there was actually… it wasn’t raised to a Priority One because of the way the report was given, but after retrieving and receiving the footage, OPD area captain did immediately connect or try to connect with the business owners.”

Priority One calls, which are also known as urgent calls, are the second-highest priority calls for police departments, behind Priority Zero. The Oakland Police Department’s response time for Priority One calls has declined from an average of 11 minutes in 2019 to an average of 35 minutes in 2023, according to the City of Oakland.

In the July 5 incident in question, a large crowd of people — about 40 to 50 — were caught on camera ransacking a 76 gas station on Oakland’s troubled Hegenberger corridor after crashing a car through the window.

When the owner called OPD, he was told the “file a report online.” The owner then tried contacting Oakland PD Chief Floyd Mitchell and was told to make an appointment.

"Video evidence was later reported to OPD that made clear the scale and details of the incident, including the large number of suspects, and the incident was immediately elevated to a Priority 1 incident, which prompted an officer to go to the scene to make contact with the owner, and investigators are now reviewing evidence and working directly with the gas station owner," OPD told KRON4.com at the time.

Speaking to KRON4’s Stephanie Lin, the mayor also addressed a recent series of attacks on Asian seniors, particularly the question of whether the attacks should be investigated as hate crimes.

“First and foremost, I want to say that this is completely unacceptable,” Mayor Thao said. “We’re talking about people who are so vulnerable, these are basically our parents our grandparents, we can all connect to that everyone has a right to safety in their own communities and their own homes.”

“I believe there is possibly, of course, it’s an ongoing investigation, I would say targeting the elderly is a hate crime in itself,” Mayor Thao added.

Several arrests have been made in connection to the attacks, however at this time, they are not being investigated as hate crimes.

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