HOMICIDES RISE AGAIN, THREATENING OAKLAND'S RENAISSANCE

OAKLAND, Calif., Aug. 9 - Killing No. 69 of 2002, a shooting, took place on
Thursday night just three blocks from a neighborhood rally to stop the
violence in the streets. Killing No. 68, another shooting, happened on
Tuesday while 2,000 Oaklanders were rallying all over the city as part of a
"National Night Out" against crime. Advertisement

This is turning out to be a deadly year in Oakland. Only two years ago, the
city was promoting its renaissance and boasting about bringing violent
crime to its knees. But after several years of decline in the number of
killings, Oakland, like many midsized cities, is finding itself faltering
with the national economy, and wrestling anew with rising crime.

With 69 killings so far this year, compared with 48 at the same time last
year, the anguished fear of getting caught in a bullet's path is back.

July was a particularly bad month - 15 killings. Many people in this city,
especially in East Oakland, are still mourning victim No. 64. In that
shooting, Katherine Bagwell, 23, was killed as she sat with her 7-year-old
daughter, Jaunnicia Milton, who saw her father shot to death a year ago.

The memorial to Ms. Bagwell, who witnesses say was shot because she knew
the identity of Jaunnicia's father's killer, is as much a memorial to a
little girl's lost innocence, with as many teddy bears as candles.

"That was really shocking," said Cassandra Jones, who stopped by the
memorial to add a small white teddy bear and a red candle to the growing
tribute. "When they start shooting in front of a little girl - and she was
shot too, in the leg - you know things are out of control."

Mayor Jerry Brown is asking voters to approve tax increases of $63.5
million over five years to add 100 officers to Oakland's force of 750,
complaining that the city's force is smaller by far than those of most
cities of Oakland's size. But he blames several factors for Oakland's
beleaguered streets.

"I don't think anyone can pinpoint any particular cause," Mayor Brown said.
"These things cycle. Sometimes there are a lot of parolees hitting the
streets. There are some serious violent gangsters coming out of the
prisons, and basically they're taking back their corners. As you increase
the open-air drug markets, turf becomes more valuable. Most of these
murders are executions."

The Oakland Police Department estimates that 60 to 65 percent of the city's
violent crimes are committed by an estimated 10,000 people who are either
on parole or probation and that about 80 percent of the killings committed
are drug-related.

"A large percentage of the homicides are centered around the violence that
emanates around the sale of drugs," said George Phillips, a police
spokesman. "You have people who for the most part are undereducated,
they're from low-income backgrounds, they have low job skills, and they
have no hope, unfortunately. And the drug business is a very lucrative
business."

Anyone who passes by certain streets of East Oakland would know the drug
dealers are back in force. This afternoon, when the temperature was near
90, young men in twos and threes were huddled around the corners of 65th
Avenue and International Boulevard wearing the bulky parkas used to stash
bundles of drugs.

The scene looked like the bad old days of crack, when the city's homicides
peaked at 175 in 1992. But not everyone here believes that adding 100 more
officers is the solution. The Oakland Police Department has more than a few
critics. It is still recovering from a scandal involving several officers
accused of beating and kidnapping suspects, filing false reports and
obstructing justice.

Last week, hundreds of young people gathered in downtown Oakland to protest
the plan to hire 100 new officers, saying it would do little to squelch the
violence.

"Locking people up in prison, where they get even more hardened, isn't the
answer," said Joliet Rodriguez, a 20-year-old student. "I've seen people
locked up for possession and end up killing somebody when they get out."

Mayor Brown says the city is not just looking for more officers. Oakland is
also inventing and expanding programs that deal with the maladies that
create drug dealers, he said.

"When some hard-core drug dealers comes out of prison, where he served 10
years, he has nowhere to go," Mr. Brown said. "That's the great scandal
here. The lockup is a quick fix."

The city is working with inmates in the state prison system before they are
released, Mr. Brown said, as well as after. One program makes new parolees
attend meetings that address their needs - education, job training, drug
counseling - and follow them through. "We in Oakland, " Mr. Brown said,
"are doing what the state should be doing." --
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