The Oakland, California chapter of the NAACP voiced frustration Monday after the city missed a deadline to apply for grant funds to combat retail theft, a crime that has plagued the Bay Area and other parts of the state.
“Oakland got nothing,” Cynthia Adams, president of the Oakland NAACP, said at a news conference.
Adams and other local leaders, including Carl Chan, a Chinatown community leader, gathered to demand Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao declare a public safety state of emergency, Fox San Francisco reported.
“It’s sad to see that many businesses are suffering along with people, whether you’re driving down on a street, carjacking, home invasion,” Chan said. “It’s not fair. They feel unsafe. Many of the employees working in all businesses, they feel that they are very, very unsafe.”
The city missed out on part of $200 million in state grant funds that were given to other cities and counties to fight organized retail thefts, more commonalty referred to as smash-and-grab robberies.
In Oakland, the funds would have been used for extra police patrols, squad cars and automated license plate readers, among other resources, to track down suspected perpetrators of crime, the news outlet reported.
Last week, San Francisco received $17 million. Chan said businesses plan to go on a one-day strike because “we are under siege,” the news report said.
The missed deadline comes as Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price faces a recall effort over her progressive policies. Fox News Digital has reached out to the city.
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