His fellow cyclist, Antonia Bowman, said her sense of safety has improved since a traumatic robbery before the pandemic.
“I was robbed at gunpoint and I lost my wallet and backpack,” Bowman said. “But I haven’t had anything serious like that happen to me while continuing to live in Oakland since that time.”
Their experiences mirror the city’s latest data, which shows broad declines across multiple categories. Violent crime — including homicide and rape — is down 22% in the first quarter compared with the same period in 2025. Homicides alone have fallen 39%, according to city figures released April 2.
The drop builds on trends from 2025, when Oakland saw significant reductions in violent crime following pandemic-era spikes. The East Bay city is not alone: Nationwide, homicide rates have fallen sharply, reaching some of the lowest levels since modern record-keeping began in the late 1950s.
Still, the reasons behind the decline remain unclear, and the impact on daily life is uneven.
In East Oakland, where crime has historically been concentrated, some residents say they are beginning to notice a difference.
“I live in one of the hardest parts of the city, which is 105th Avenue, where there’s a lot of crime,” said 72-year-old Melvin Welch, who has lived in Oakland since infancy. “A man like me shouldn’t be afraid of having to rush home before it gets dark because of crime.”
Welch said that, at least in recent months, that fear has eased.
“It’s a good thing, especially for me,” he said. “Oakland is a beautiful city. We get a bad rep because of crime.”
Others say the numbers are encouraging, even if the shift isn’t always visible.
“It makes me happy to know that there is a drop in crime,” said Lindsey Pease, an Oakland resident. “Hopefully that means the perception will catch up for people who grew up in Oakland because they were direct victims of a crime or their perception of it.”
For some, the perception gap is as important as the statistics.
“I’ve felt like the crime rate thing was more of a story being told about Oakland than an experience of Oakland itself,” said Liv Schaffer. “I’ve always felt a lot of real neighborly sense here.”
