Eight teenagers, recently arrested for a string of more than 35 robberies in Oakland, are all back out on the streets Wednesday.
The robberies included an attack on a 63-year-old woman in Rockridge last Sunday and the lack of punishment is prompting concern and frustration from residents.
“If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime. But if there is no time, go ahead and do the crime, right?” said Michael Melland of Oakland. “It's a terrible situation. I don’t think these kids need to have their lives ruined but they shouldn't have done what they did.”
It was a crime spree that hit nearly every part of the city -- in total, eight juveniles and one adult were arrested.
“It doesn’t make people feel safe,” said Katherine Fuller, Rockridge resident.
That adult was charged with possession of stolen property, according to Oakland Police Officers Association President Sgt. Barry Donelan.
But it's unclear if the kids will face any charges.
NBC Bay Area reached out to the district attorney’s office but did not hear back. Donelan says despite OPD increasing resources to address robberies and violent crimes, they are seeing the same results.
“What you are seeing is a revolving door justice system, they are coming right out and doing the same thing,” said Donelan. “The other aspect of this that is very concerning is the number of firearms that are involved.”
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There’s more than 900 robberies in the city this year -- a 7% increase over the same time last year, according to crimemapping.com. Nearly 60% of those crimes involved a gun.
“We are out there making the arrest, tracking down the suspects, but unfortunately, they are not being charged,” said Donelan.
Frustrations boiled over in a meeting with Oakland city leaders and police Tuesday night.
Residents and business owners demanded the city take more action to address the uptick in crime.
“We’re almost encouraging this type of behavior and we’re not doing the little things. All I hear you talking about is, we can’t do this because of this limitation,” said pizza shop owner Adam Stemmler.
Last week, Mayor Sheng Thao vowed to provide more resources to help address root causes for youth crimes.
While some in the community argue serving time is not a solution, others believe teaching youth tough lessons now will prevent a culture of crime in the community going forward.
“People don’t steal just because they want to steal, generally speaking. It’s a large-scale social problem and we need to invest in root causes,” said Craig Segall, Rockridge resident.
“If we are telling them it's OK to do this at a young age, what are they going to do when they get older?” said Fuller. “We are just perpetuating the cycle of behavior.”
