People in Oakland have been left frustrated and confused after the police department pulled the plug on a temporary pilot program for reporting car break-ins Saturday, less than 24 hours after its launch.
The Oakland Police Department launched the pilot program Friday. It encouraged residents to post details of auto burglaries — such descriptions or photos of people or cars— to the department’s social media accounts on X, formerly Twitter, and Instagram.
The program was supposed to run through the weekend, but only one day later, OPD announced the program’s end on social media.
The end left some residents confused.
“You have to give it a chance to see if it works. And then if it works, you continue to use it,” said Oakland resident Steve Defilippis. “If it doesn’t, then you don’t continue to use it. But you do have to give it more than 24 hours.”
Defilippis has previously had someone break into his car in Oakland. And only moments before speaking to NBC Bay Area on Monday, he saw another break-in happen at Second Street and Broadway.
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“I think the police need to be doing a better job of watching the area,” said Defilippis.
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Mayor Sheng Thao endorsed the program during an interview with NBC Bay Area before its launch.
“This does actually help the community to play a role in this as well, too,” said Thao. “We know it’s going to take all of us.”
In a statement, OPD said that “the test concluded as scheduled,” and that the account would be reactivated ahead of its next test.
A source inside OPD told NBC Bay Area that rank-and-file officers were never provided any internal details or orders on the operation.
The Oakland city council was also not aware of the program, according to Councilmember Noel Gallo. Over the weekend, he met with a business owner who had their restaurant and two cars outside it broken into recently.
“The issue here is real serious,” said Gallo. “Now I understand what the police department was trying to do, introduce technology for us to report it. But we are already way behind when it comes to 911 and 311 calls. It takes forever.”
More than 11,000 car break-ins have been reported in Oakland so far this year, which is a 35% increase over 2022. More than 12,000 cars have also been reported stolen.
OPD told NBC Bay Area that it is reviewing the results of the pilot program and that it will release that information in the future.
