By Steven Symes 
In the early morning hours of August 24, residents in an Oakland neighborhood were terrorized by a huge street takeover. While police responded to the illegal gathering, it was only after fireworks, gunfire, a car was lit on fire, and other objects were burned in the street as people who lived nearby wondered when it would end.
Maybe Oakland should try something like this?
The Oakland Police Officers association leveled some serious criticism. According to KTVU, the organization claims a mere 16 police units were available during the chaotic street takeover, which was why bringing it under control took so long.
BREAKING: 0 arrests made in Oakland after violent street takeovers by 500+ "youths" pic.twitter.com/F2batzC6b3
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) August 25, 2025
They want the city to not only hire more cops but to work to retain the few it has employed.
In the meantime, there were zero arrests not only at the Oakland street takeover but another “sideshow” held in nearby Richmond. It’s almost like when the kids who do these sorts of things face inconsistent or pathetic consequences for their behavior, they just keep doing the same thing.
But people who lived nearby were afraid for their lives, saying explosions shook their houses and gunfire made them feel like they could become victims of the violence at any moment.
Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee addressed the street takeover in a written statement: “I am very clear we have more work to do, and we will continue to do the work to increase public safety in all of our neighborhoods.”
What exactly does that mean? Nobody seems to know.
We do know Oakland Police Department went on a public relations offensive on Wednesday, bragging about how it’s seized 128 vehicles connected to street takeovers so far in 2025. That’s great, but it’s obviously not enough, otherwise there wouldn’t have been a massive event on Sunday.
However, police say they’re working to figure out who all was involved in the last takeover. But seized vehicles are held for 30 days and then released, so that isn’t really solving the problem.
Image via KTVU