Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/01/24/crime-wave-forces-in-n-out-to-close-oakland-location.html
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That’s one hell of a record for a company with 400 locations. I wonder if any other large restaurant chains can make a similar claim?
Maybe part of the reason they’ve been so stable is that the restaurants are all company-owned, not franchises, so any given location can potentially stay open for a while without being profitable. And based on the length of the lines at the drive-thrus, they consistently keep the number of locations low enough that supply os below demand.
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This explanation sounds plausible but there have been a lot of stories about big chains shutting down locations due to “crime” only for further investigation to reveal that they were really just using crime as an excuse for shutting down locations they weren’t going to keep open anyway. (See: Walgreens closing some of their stores across the bridge in San Francisco)
So my thinking is maybe, maybe not.
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I live in Oakland, and sadly, this stuff is real. The Oakland Police Department has essentially been on strike since the BLM days and is currently without a permanent chief. They are pretty much invisible and do not respond to calls for anything less than a shooting. They no longer walk beats, ride around on bikes (which they did for years), or do traffic enforcement. At the start of the pandemic, we started getting weekend crowds and an impromptu market at a local park. They refused to show up until the inevitable dispute and shooting happened, then they refused to do anything except shut the whole thing down. I live near one of the shopping districts and every morning there are stores with newly boarded up windows due to overnight burglaries. I’ve seen people drive up to the supermarket parking lot, wander around looking in car windows, smash and grab whatever they want, then casually drive off. What is there to stop them? OPD says they can’t do anything because they don’t have enough officers. My attitude is we should fire the lot of them and start over again with people who actually want to protect and serve. End of rant.
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That the response of many in law enforcement to being asked to stop shooting innocent people and generally being thugs is to feel unappreciated and stop doing their job says just about all you need to know about them. Buttheads.
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That is pretty much the saddest take on humanity I’ve read today
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… except actual striking workers don’t get paid 
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… that they’re not accountable to anybody?
No other profession has to be exhorted to do their job — everybody else either does it or they’re fired
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Similar thing happening around here:
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They’ve had problems at this location for years now, but it’s become worse in the last year. It’s near the Oakland airport, so there’s a lot of rental vehicles with luggage in them.
They should have closed it down a while ago.
A story from that same area: a woman had her car taken from her… with her 2 year old child in it. They then left the child abandoned in San Leandro. Police finally caught the guy, although I personally think that police are not the solution. It’s shocking that stuff like this hardly even makes the news at this point.
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Looking at this, it would appear that Oakland PD has had a leadership problem since well before BLM. They’ve had 11 acting, interim, and “permanent” chiefs since 2009, with one of those interim chiefs currently on his second stint as interim chief, so really it’s 12. That’s an average tenure of just over a year. In 2016 alone, they had four different people running the department. You’re absolutely right. They need to fire the entire department and rebuild it, just like Camden, New Jersey did.
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I saw something about this location a couple weeks ago.
It’s evidently very close to the Oakland airport, so there are a lot of rental cars packed with baggage, etc, showing up.
If you check the reviews on Google Maps, it confirms it - many travelers passing through getting their belongings stolen.
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Yeah torn on this being more corporate propaganda vs the fact that Oakland has had systemic issues for years, one of which is being surrounded by more expensive places with systemic issues that make it even more difficult for Oakland to fix their systemic issues in a state that has part of the state (which ironically benefits from the Bay Area existing) and a powerfully vocal national minority that’s been railing against it for decades to ensure those systemic issues stay since success despite those issues makes them look bad.
Having your car broken into is extremely common in parts Oakland. And as someone said the police are hard to get hold of in many cases. When I was there there was a disturbed aggressive man pounding on the window of the restaurant we were in screaming at the people inside. I tried calling 911, and the number simply went to voicemail and said to try again later. There’s seem to be some problems with the police response there that you don’t see in other cities.
So the force’s budget will have been reduced to reflect their lack of effort… right
And some insane video of the 2 year old boy being dropped off at a random location in San Leandro after his mom got jacked.
Add me to the suspicious camp. Oakland’s reported violent crime is up slightly after the past few years, but is up to where it was in 2014. Property crime in that neighborhood is actually down year over year after a bad spike.
They’ve been on paid strike for a long time. Their most recent peak for crime clearance rates was 2016, but even that was down from earlier periods and at their best they were generally miles below the already low national average
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If, as per @henry_minsky 911 goes to voice mail, “reported” is not necessarily going to be particularly accurate.
