Data shows Oakland car break-ins falling
Car break-ins, one of the most vexing issues across Oakland, have dropped dramatically this year, according to a Chronicle analysis of police department data.
Over the first two months of 2024, the number of car break-ins plummeted to 1,300, down from 2,327 in the first two months of 2023, records show.
The drop in vehicle break-ins broadly mirrors a similar downward trend in San Francisco now, which also reported a dramatic decrease in car break-ins this year, a development that officials in that city credited to strategies intended to catch the most prolific offenders.
In January, San Francisco reported 753 car break-ins for the month, down from 1,746 documented in 2022.
Oakland police spokespersons said they were not available for comment about the drop in car break-ins.
Oakland police data analyzed by the Chronicle shows that the reported number of car break-ins is trending closer to where it was in 2018, when 1,223 car break-ins were reported in the first two months of that year. Break-ins climbed to 1,740 in 2019, to 2,293 in 2020, and dropped dramatically in 2021, to just 904 car break-ins.
But in 2022, they rose up to 1,597, and peaked in 2023, with 2,327 reported break-ins.
While car break-ins appear to be trending downward so far in 2024, both Oakland and San Francisco have struggled to curb a growing number of auto thefts in recent years. Year-to-date police data as of Sunday, March 17, shows that in Oakland, reported incidents of motor vehicle theft reached 2,621, down from 2,851 during the same period in 2023, but up from 2,157 in 2022.
The issue has been especially acute in Oakland, where nearly 15,000 cars were reported stolen last year, the highest number in the city in at least 15 years. That theft rate was equivalent to about one car stolen for every 30 residents of the city.
The neighborhoods of Uptown and North Oakland specifically
saw the biggest spike, rising 69% in car thefts in 2023, as well as rising 27% in total crimes overall.