Just 15 days into his training with BPD, a young officer made a traffic stop that resulted in the seizure of a handgun with an extended magazine, and nearly 60 stolen credit, debit or gift cards.
Sgt. Mary Kusmiss
Posted inCrime, Crime & Safety
Parolee charged in Berkeley robberies has violent past
Jahton Green in 2008. Photo: BPD An Oakland parolee charged in two Berkeley robberies in August has a lengthy and violent history of attacking elders, according to authorities and media reports dating back to 2008. Two of his alleged victims died following the attacks, and he had only recently been released from prison prior to […]
Posted inCrime
Police conduct manhunt in Berkeley Marina after sexual attack
UPDATE 6/12 10:15 a.m.: Berkeley police continued their investigation throughout the night and currently have patrol officers looking for the suspect in the Marina, according to Lt. Dave Frankel. The suspect is described as a male with a dark complexion, under 30 years old, with blonde hair streaked through with green. He was wearing jeans, […]
Posted inCrime & Safety
Anthrax scare at Berkeley police station, other cities
Update, 5:00pm: Berkeleyside’s Lance Knobel filed this report from Berkeley Police station: A white envelope containing a suspicious white powder was opened at the BPD this afternoon at 2:17 pm leading to an evacuation of part of the public safety building and a dispatch of specially trained hazmat teams from BFD and Alameda Fire Department. […]
Posted inCrime
Berkeley police investigating shots fired in South Berkeley
Berkeley police have cordoned off Acton Street near Oregon to search for evidence in connection with a shooting that happened around 5 pm, according to the police scanner, and Berkeleyside tipsters. Alameda County Sheriff’s deputies are talking to a man who went to Highland Hospital with possible gunshot wounds, according to the scanner. Berkeley police […]
Posted inCrime
Armed men assault bank security guard in Berkeley
Today at about 1:20 pm two male suspects assaulted a security guard outside the Bank of America at 2546 San Pablo Avenue and robbed him of his revolver. The suspects were armed with semi-automatic handguns and apparently struck the guard in the head before fleeing on foot. According to BPD spokesperson Sgt Mary Kusmiss, the guard […]
Posted inCrime & Safety
Police chief: ‘Not some kind of preferential treatment’
Embattled Berkeley Police Chief Michael Meehan said Wednesday that having 10 police officers search for his son’s stolen iPhone on January 11 was not “some kind of preferential treatment,” but is something the department “would do for anybody in the city.” “This is being cast as some kind of preferential treatment, but it was not,” […]
Posted inCrime
Berkeley man charged with manslaughter in fatal crash
The 24-year old man who crashed a car into a traffic circle in Berkeley on May 18, killing his 22-year old girlfriend and seriously injuring her 6-year old son, has been charged with vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and a series of other felony counts. Police said Jose Lumbreras of Berkeley had a blood alcohol count […]
Posted inCrime & Safety
Hunt for police chief’s son’s iPhone cost $740 in overtime
It cost the city of Berkeley about $740 in overtime pay to have 10 detectives search for Berkeley Police Chief Michael Meehan’s son’s missing iPhone. Three detectives and a sergeant from the property crimes unit put in two hours of overtime each when they scoured a north Oakland neighborhood for the stolen phone on January […]
Posted inCrime
Police chief sent 10 officers on hunt for his son’s iPhone
Late on the afternoon of January 11, an estimated ten Berkeley police officers, several of them from the department’s Drugs Task Force, knocked on front doors in a residential block in north Oakland. They were not looking for drugs. They were hunting for the missing iPhone of Berkeley Police Chief Michael Meehan’s teenage son. Four of […]
Posted inCity, Crime & Safety
Berkeley will spend up to $50K after police chief blunder
The city of Berkeley has hired a public relations firm at a cost of $24,000 to review the police department’s media policies, bringing the price tag to $49,000 for Police Chief Michael Meehan’s decision to send a sergeant to a reporter’s home in the middle of the night to ask for a change to a […]
Posted inCrime & Safety
Car strikes tree in central Berkeley kills one, injures two
Update, 11:32 am: All three of the occupants of the Cadillac are currently Berkeley residents, according to new information released by BPD. The male driver and the child remain in the hospital. Very preliminary evidence suggests the Cadillac was travelling northbound on California Street when it struck the roundabout in the intersection of Allston Way, then collided with […]