Quan's Office Disputes Report Criticizing '100 Blocks' Plan
OAKLAND (CBS 5) -- Mayor Jean Quan's plan to fight crime is under scrutiny, after a new report finds flaws with her "100 Blocks" program.
Quan's plan is described as a combined effort of law enforcement, city services, and community-building programs targeting parts of East and West Oakland.
Oakland's latest shooting happened Tuesday near the San Leandro border, far from the 100 blocks that Quan has identified as the city's most dangerous.
"These 100 blocks are where 92 percent of the murders have happened over the last five years," Quan said in January.
It's a statistic that the mayor has repeated, even naming her signature public policy plan the "100 Blocks Initiative," vowing to send extra police officers to those areas.
"We will prioritize these 100 blocks," the mayor said earlier this year.
The Urban Strategies Council said they have crunched the numbers and they don't match up with Quan's claims.
"The conclusion that violent crime is concentrated in 100 blocks in the city at over a 90 percent level is not accurate," said Junious Williams, CEO of the Urban Strategies Council.
Williams said police reports show that Quan's math is fuzzy. While Quan said that 92 percent of murders in the last five years happened in her 100 blocks, the council found that just 17 percent of shootings and homicides happened in those blocks.
It's a discrepancy that the mayor was not willing to talk about on-camera Tuesday.
Instead, the Mayor's office released a statement saying in part, "Although the report may be accurate while standing alone, there are key differences. The city's maps use more recent data. The city uses a more accurate count of homicides and shootings."
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