Tag Archives: Berkeley Police Department
Police blotter: Recent crime in Berkeley
This is a partial list of recent crimes in Berkeley based on information from the Berkeley Police Department, followed by a snapshot of BPD activity this week. The BPD’s spreadsheet of calls for service is available on Google Docs. See also the San Francisco Chronicle’s regularly published list of arrests in Berkeley. For other sources of information on crime in Berkeley see Community CrimeView and Crimemapping.com.
March 25:
Drunk In Public Arrest – 1500 block of Oregon Street – #2012-16021
On Sunday, March 25, 2012 at about 9:32 p.m., a BPD patrol officer responded for a second time that night to an apartment building in the 1500 block of Oregon Street. The calls were regarding an unwanted person who was not welcome but had returned after being warned not to. During the second call for service, the BPD beat officer and a cover officer detained the man. The man displayed impairment and an inability to follow directions. The officers could smell a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage on his breath, his speech was slurred, his eyes were bloodshot and he had to lean on a pole to maintain his balance. The beat officer arrested the City of Oakland man for violation of 647 (f) PC – Drunk in Public. … Continue reading »
No known injuries in Monday shooting on Russell
At about 1:00 p.m. on Monday, Berkeley police responded to the area of Russell and Sacramento to investigate community calls of “loud reports”.
Officers learned that a group of male adults were standing on the sidewalk in front of an address in the 1500 block of Russell Street, according to the BPD. There was a verbal exchange between a male pedestrian and the group of men. A member of the group shot a pistol before fleeing the area.
Officers did a preliminary investigation and found shell casings in the area. Officer did not locate any blood or evidence of injury and no victims have come forward related to this incident. Detectives of the BPD Homicide Detail are conducting the follow-up investigation. BPD has not made any arrests. … Continue reading »
City releases transcript of murder victim’s call to police
City officials on Tuesday released a transcript of Peter Cukor’s Feb. 18 non-emergency call to police, and in it he asks for police to come “right away” to deal with Daniel Jordan DeWitt, who allegedly killed him about 15 minutes later.
The two-page transcript, however, does not reveal what, if any, level of urgency Cukor conveyed in his voice.
Cukor and his wife Andrea first encountered DeWitt when they returned to their home on Park Gate in the Berkeley hills around 8:30 pm on Feb. 18. DeWitt was hanging around their driveway. Cukor asked DeWitt to leave and then called police at 8:45 pm on a non-emergency number to report that a stranger was lingering nearby:
“Cukor: “Yes, there is a gentleman, a young man hanging around my property. I think he is a transient. I’m not sure.
Dispatch: What is the address sir?
Cukor: 2 Park Gate Berkeley
Dispatch: And he is just standing around there?
Cukor: Yeah. He says that he lives here. He wants to come in which is very strange. I’d like an officer up here right away.” … Continue reading »
Officer “put in awkward position” by Berkeley police chief
Sergeant Mary Kusmiss of the Berkeley Police Department was put in a difficult and very awkward position by her boss, Chief Michael Meehan, when he asked her to go to a reporter’s house at 12:45 am on March 9 to request that a story be changed, according to an attorney who Kusmiss recently retained.
“She is the only person who knows what went on that night,” said Alison Berry Wilkinson, who said Kusmiss was told today that she will be a witness in a city investigation into Chief Meehan.
Wilkinson said Kusmiss “did everything to avoid ending up on Doug Oakley’s doorstep” on the night of March 8-9 when Chief Meehan asked her to do so after seeing an online story the Oakland Tribune reporter had written about a community meeting earlier that night. … Continue reading »
Community gathers after murder, quizzes Berkeley police
An estimated 150-200 people turned out on Thursday evening to Northbrae Community Church on The Alameda in north Berkeley to ask the Berkeley Police Department about their response to the Feb. 18 murder of Park Hills resident Peter Cukor.
There was a palpable sense of anxiety in the room as the meeting got under way and a significant media presence, with several TV crews as well as print and digital journalists in attendance.
When Councilmember Susan Wengraf opened by saying questions would be taken on written cards, there were shouts of dismay and hostile accusations leveled by several members of the audience.
However, once the meeting progressed, the mood became calmer and there were even moments of levity. Berkeley Police Chief Michael Meehan received several rounds of applause from an audience that generally skewed towards the over-50s. … Continue reading »
Live coverage: Berkeley community meeting after murder
Berkeley shows big decline in violent and property crime
Total crime was down in Berkeley last year by 14%, a result that councilmembers hailed as “great news” when the annual crime report was presented at last night’s City Council meeting.
Violent crime fell 9%, from 531 crimes in 2010 to 482 in 2011. Property crime fell 15%, from 5,941 to 5,071. Only the small number of arsons increased, from 23 to 25, and auto theft was up 5%.
Berkeley Police Chief Michael Meehan said that it was not yet possible to compare Berkeley’s results with other cities, but the reduction from 2009 to 2010 had been twice the state and national average.
Asked about the reasons for the encouraging results, Meehan said that academic studies had shown the only consistent factors in crime reduction were “adequate police resources and focused police strategies”. The Berkeley police, he said, worked to “specific and measurable goals”, which had been exceeded in 2011. … Continue reading »
Police blotter: Recent crime in Berkeley
See also BPD’s weekly calls for service and the San Francisco Chronicle’s regularly published list of arrests in Berkeley. For other sources of information on crime in Berkeley see Community CrimeView and Crimemapping.com.
February 28:
Traffic Enforcement Stop leads to Drug Arrest #12-10941
City of Berkeley Police Department Drug Task Force Officers (DTF) stopped a car for a vehicle code violation on Baker Street just south of Alcatraz Avenue on Tuesday, February 28, 2012. Officers contacted the driver of the car and conducted a records check which revealed that he was on Federal Probation for a narcotics offense. The driver told the officers that he had marijuana in the car. Officers conducted a probable cause search of him and his car and found 5 ounces of marijuana, a digital scale, and over $5,000 in cash. He also had pieces of mail from the I.R.S. that were not addressed to him. Officers suspected that the suspect was involved in some sort of tax return refund fraud which would be investigated further. The 29-year Oakland man was arrested and was booked into the BPD Jail for H&S 11359 – Possession For Sales, H&S 11360 Sales of Marijuana and 530.5 PC – Identity Theft. … Continue reading »
Berkeley home hotbed of crime and nuisance for decades
Bebo Turman describes the household at 1722 Ninth Street in Berkeley as “the neighbors from hell.”
For more than 30 years the home, near Virginia Street in west Berkeley, has been a hotbed of criminal activity and civic non-compliance, according to testimony given by Berkeley police and staff at a hearing of the Zoning Adjustments Board last Thursday. There have been more than 40 criminal-related reports, including cases of illegal weapons possession, drug use, theft, using the house to trade in stolen goods, public drunkenness, and excessive noise, according to BPD officer Cesar Melero.
It is the “nexus for drug activity in the neighborhood,” said one police officer.
Fifteen people with Alameda County criminal records have used the house as their address of record, and some are associated with the city’s notorious Westside gang, said Sgt Peter Hong. … Continue reading »
Councilmember: Unanswered questions over murder
Update, 4:32 pm: Murder suspect Daniel DeWitt did not enter a plea this afternoon at his arraignment in Alameda County Superior Court, according to an updated report by Henry Lee in the Chronicle. His father, Al DeWitt Jr., confirmed the person his son described as his fiancée, Zoey, does not exist. Daniel DeWitt was diagnosed five years ago with paranoid schizophrenia and has a pending misdemeanor battery case for an incident last year.
Original story: Berkeley City Councilmember Susan Wengraf is to meet with Berkeley Police Chief Michael Meehan to seek answers to what she says are still unanswered questions over the police response to the Feb. 18 killing of Peter Cukor, 67, outside his home at Park Gate in the north Berkeley hills.
In particular, Wengraf says she wants to understand more clearly the prioritization of non-emergency calls by BPD and larger protocol issues about how calls to the police from the community are handled.
BDP did not respond to a non-emergency call placed by Cukor at approximately 8:45 pm on Feb. 18. because patrol teams had been reconfigured to monitor an Occupy protest march which was coming into Berkeley from Oakland. The first of several BPD officers arrived at the scene within five minutes of a subsequent 911 call by Cukor’s wife, which was placed at 9:02 pm, after the murder suspect had begun to assault Cukor. … Continue reading »
