Crime & Safety

Oakland Tops the List for Cities with Most Robberies

There's a robbery in Oakland once every two hours of every day, on average.

Oakland had more robberies per capita than any other city in the U.S. during the first six months of 2012 — over one-third more than its nearest competitor, Cleveland, says an article in today's Oakland Tribune, which dubbed Oakland "the robbery capital of America."

The statistics work out to 12 robberies per day, or one robbery for every 91 residents, many of them street robberies where the target is cellphones, the Tribune reported.

And it's not getting better, the report says — robberies increased by nearly a third in 2012 over the previous year, and the the rise has continued this year.

Find out what's happening in Alamedawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

One reason is a thriving market in stolen cellphones, which has lured criminals from the drug trade to street muggings, the Tribune says.

You ay read the complete Tribune article here.

Find out what's happening in Alamedawith free, real-time updates from Patch.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.