Violent Crime Persists in Berkeley During the Summer
I personally would have thought that crime might decrease somewhat during the summer months as less students were on campus. Last week, however, I received two UCPD crime alerts. The first:
Strong Arm Robbery
California Hall
On Wednesday, June 21st at approximately 10:15 PM, a 20 year old white male Cal student was walking from Eshelman Hall towards Northside. As he neared Wheeler Hall he saw 3 young men sitting on a bench in between Wheeler and Durant Halls. As he passed the individuals they jumped up and began following him. As he neared the end of the grass island in front of California Hall Suspect #1 came up behind him and grabbed him just below the knees flipping him up. The victim managed to quickly get to his feet where upon the suspect took a swing at him which missed. The three suspects then backed the victim up against a wall near Doe Library. They told the victim that they didn’t want any trouble and then swore a few times. They took the victim’s cash and one of the suspects said “It’s nothing personal…., it’s just business”. They then left the scene walking eastbound between California Hall and Moffitt Library…
The second:
Assault With a Deadly Weapon
Grinnell Pathway
(Suspect Arrested)On June 22, 2006 at approximately 11:00 PM the Berkeley Police Department responded to a report that a 21 year old woman had been approached by someone brandishing a knife at Bancroft and Fulton. A UCPD Officer spotted the suspect on Frank Schlesinger Way. As the Officer exited his vehicle the suspect came towards him threatening him with a knife. The Officer took the suspect into custody. During the detention it was discovered that the suspect was responsible for stabbing a white male victim. This occurred just prior on Grinnell Pathway. The suspect had approached a group of 12 people and had fondled a 23 year old white female and a 32 year old white male…
Just a heads up to anyone who’s still around.
…. i heard cal PD wants to incorporate a berkeley neighborhood watch… do you think this will help?
What can we do to decrease this kind of crap around here?
Comment by Anonymous — June 25, 2006 @ 9:30 pm
p.s …. for all of us cell phone holders… 911 = high way patrol.. dial 510-981-5900 … thats umm berkeley 911 haha
Comment by Anonymous — June 25, 2006 @ 9:31 pm
now why would you think that ben? everything that i have ever read indicates that “crime” increases, pretty much everywhere, in the summer.
also, i assume that the “crime” you are mostly concerned with is cal students being attacked by non-students, well even if we work with that, the fact that your victim pool is smaller means that the predator-prey ratio increases, thus making it more likely you will see attacks.
Comment by mano — June 25, 2006 @ 10:14 pm
Crime around here is always high. Berkeley is a ghetto, far too close to a slum.
Comment by iliketapioca — June 25, 2006 @ 10:46 pm
Good to note the 911 number, anonymous. I reported a violent domestic disturbance a few weeks ago and called 911, which gives you the California Highway Patrol located in Sacramento. I dont even think the Berkeley 911 phone number is on the back of our student IDs.
Comment by jlmay — June 25, 2006 @ 10:59 pm
981-5900 is actually the BPD non-emergency line. Great to know if you ever need to report anything but don’t need a code 3 police response.
981-5911 is their 911 line.
and if you’re on campus or in the dorms/uc property (or if you forget BPD’s 911 line), 642-3333 is UCPD’s 911 line.
the departments will want you to call the one that has jurisdiction over what you’re calling about–so don’t call BPD 911 if you’re in the middle of campus. but of course if it’s enough of an emergency, BPD listens to UCPD radio traffic and vice versa.
Comment by Jason O. — June 26, 2006 @ 6:39 am
Oh-ho that makes me feel good. Thanks for the heads up, Ben.
Comment by Megan — June 26, 2006 @ 4:18 pm
Yeah… Berkeley’s a pretty bad ghetto with a median family income of 70,000+
Comment by Anonymity — June 26, 2006 @ 4:53 pm
Want to cut crime in Berkeley? Carry guns and shoot to kill. They’ll stop when they’re more afraid of us than we are of them, or when they die off.
Comment by Anonymous — June 26, 2006 @ 5:47 pm
well, the spam filter doesn’t like my other address for a map showing the extremely high auto theft density near Dwight and college, but here is another good map. South and West Berkeley totally aren’t the high crime density areas: http://berkeleyca.crimelog.org/address/2200+haste
Comment by hella — June 26, 2006 @ 6:29 pm