Earlier this week, PublicCEO published a guest opinion from Renee Domingo, Manager of the Emergency Management Services Division for Oakland’s Fire Department. In it, she discussed her city’s groundbreaking approach to curb crime through a state-of-the-art and controversial surveillance center.
Piggybacking off the controversy surrounding the Domain Awareness Center, the British-based national daily newspaper The Guardian recently asked readers for their responses on the following question:
If you were in charge of a city with a high crime rate like Oakland, what recommendations would you make to effectively control crime while also valuing people’s privacy and civil liberties?
Response came from a wide array of readers, ranging from historians to tech workers.
Two of the responders were Oakland residents. The first, a school teacher based in North Oakland, believes that disadvantaged teens need “positive, encouraging, [and] engaging things to do” to make up for the lack of constructive activities in their home life.
The Guardian reached out to Ali Winston, a reporter that specializes in criminal justice and has been following the ongoing saga that is Oakland’s skyrocketing crime rates.
Winston acknowledges that after-school programs do in fact help occupy the time of teenagers who would otherwise commit crimes, but points out that Oakland’s budget is in a bit of disarray and cannot effectively support these programs. “Until the city overhauls police and fire compensation and the city’s pension burden, this dynamic will not change.”
The suggestion from the tech workers in Oakland strikes a similar chord: “I would push for a federal takeover (which almost happened recently) in order to force a contract renegotiation with police unions and allow for the reforms that were asked for nearly a decade ago.”
Overall, it is a quick and interesting read. Another commenter hails from Kansas and specifically addresses the issue of surveillance abuse.
Read the full article at The Guardian.