Blog Post # 4 Crime Rate Rises In Oakland Due to Dim Lighting

California Legislature enacted new energy-efficient lighting standards in 2002 and Oakland followed suit which imposed restrictions on their 37,000 street light. In Oakland this past Thursday, they reached over 85 homicides for this year which was a 25%increase from last year. Local residents believe that majority of the crimes that are committed happen at night due to poor lighting. Statistics stand behind this and show that crime and street lighting have a strong correlation. Crime tends to take place at night because people are more likely to get away with it. Street lights serve as surveillance in urban cities. Oakland police and city officials as of 2007 requested that there be more lighting in particular crime hot spots. The assistant police chief Howard Jordan also believes that better lighting will help reduce crime. Some cities choose low lighting because they feel that brighter lighting may eventually cause budget cuts. But on the other hand I don’t think they can afford for the crime rate to continue increasing, and better lighting is worth having to prevent future crimes from occurring. A city local named Mr.Carey has started a group called Soldiers against violence everywhere which is community organization working to stop homicides from happening. He has encouraged residents to contact the Public Works Agency to help keep watch on their neighborhood. Reducing crime is really something major that needs to be done because all of the murders and Homicides that have occurred are really unacceptable. Oakland is working towards improving their light situation which in the near future should reduce their high crime rate.