Oakland Chinatown turns to private, armed security in wake of assaults, robberies
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Business owners in Oakland’s Chinatown raised more than $80,000 to hire private guards.Scott Strazzante / The ChronicleShow MoreShow Less
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Pressure to increase public safety in Chinatown has mounted since early this month, when surveillance videos of robberies and attacks began surfacing on social media.Scott Strazzante / The ChronicleShow MoreShow Less
As Oakland Chinatown reels from a recent string of assaults and robberies — some of them captured in stark, instantly viral video footage — merchants are testing a controversial solution: armed security guards.
A six-person foot patrol roamed along 9th and Webster streets on Tuesday morning, each guard clad in a black uniform with a tactical vest. Three of them carried expandable batons and guns in leg holsters. Volunteer ambassadors in blue vests also thronged the area around Pacific Renaissance Plaza, a cluster of shops on 9th Street with a courtyard in the middle.