My car was stolen in the East Bay. Here’s what it was like: KRON producer
(KRON) — A KRON4 News producer experienced first-hand what it’s like to have your car stolen in the East Bay and navigate Oakland’s troubled 911 emergency dispatch system.
The producer, who has only lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for three months and resides in Oakland, made a trip to Costco in Hayward on Wednesday at noon. When she walked out of the store, her 2017 black Kia Optima was gone. A security guard approached her and said men wearing ski masks drove off in the Kia.
Keenly aware that Kias are targeted, the producer had already planted an Apple AirTag tracker inside.
She immediately filed a police report with the Hayward Police Department and her insurance company issued a rental car. The producer used the “Find My” Apple app, and received a ping showing the AirTag tracker was on the 1400 block of 61st Avenue in Oakland.
The producer said she called the Oakland Police Department’s non-emergency number and 911 several times throughout Wednesday afternoon to alert police about her stolen car’s suspected whereabouts based on the “Find My” app. “I called the non-emergency line and no one answered. I kept getting hung up on. It would hold for 20 minutes, then drop,” she said.
When she eventually got through to a 911 emergency dispatcher, the dispatcher said no OPD units were available that day to investigate.
Toddler found wandering in San Leandro after mother’s car stolen in Oakland
The producer drove to the address where her AirTag tracker was pinging. “I got in the Jeep I’m renting, I went to the location, and I’m doing my own little investigation,” she said. On 61st Avenue, she found a multi-family house and a busy street, but no Kia in sight. She saw several Oakland Police Department officers working in the neighborhood who were busy with other cases.
Twelve hours after she notified the 911 dispatcher of her AirTag’s exact location, Oakland police officers went to the house on Thursday, talked to the residents, left, and told the producer that her car was still missing.
The black Kia has an Illinois license plate and a hole in the back bumper. With the AirTag’s location as a lead, “I thought they would find it right away.” By Friday morning, the producer’s hopes were low of ever seeing her Kia again.
Last year, city leaders vowed to revamp its emergency dispatch system by hiring more dispatchers and modernizing its technology to help improve OPD officer response times.
The Oakland Police Department did not answer KRON4’s questions about its non-emergency and 911 communications systems on Friday.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KRON4.
