The Oakland Police Department has received questions about our “Weekly Crime Reports.” We want to provide our community members with our response in its entirety.
There has been no change in how the Oakland Police Department (OPD) has reported our Weekly Crime Data since we began sharing it with our community. Our Weekly Crime Reports are up-to-date and accurate for crimes involving immediate danger and loss of life, such as homicides, shootings, sexual assaults, and robberies.
Property crimes such as burglaries, auto theft, and larcenies are accurate at the time of reporting. There can be a delay in the overall number of reported property crimes based on our community’s use of the online reporting system. Each of these online crime reports must be reviewed and verified by a member of our staff before being included in crime statistics.
This practice is not unique to Oakland; it is consistent with other jurisdictions around the Bay Area, which also experience similar delays and have comparable disclaimers regarding lag time in their reporting methods.
OPD strives to be as accurate and transparent with our community as possible. We will continue to work on improving our online reporting system and our ability to share real-time crime data with our community members.