Category: FAQs

Upper Rockridge Neighborhood Association (URNA) is a California non-profit public benefit corporation created to promote the public safety of the residents of Upper Rockridge and immediately surrounding areas in Oakland.

The Buckeye-Harbord Neighborhood Watch opted to look into private security after seeing a significant increase in crime in our area. A subcommittee was formed and several Security Patrol companies were identified. The idea of working together as neighbors to help our security was the core value. Additional neighborhoods also expressed a desire to be part of a solution. Some of our neighbors stepped up and generously offered to work towards this end as the board of the URNA. The area grew to include most of upper Rockridge (see map).

URNA has also invested in Security cameras placed at key gateways, on private property to better monitor the area.

The URNA is a membership group (although the Newsletter is free to all who subscribe) where dues are directed towards security patrol services and investments in camera technology as well. We offer several membership levels. Some of our surrounding neighborhoods associations operate purely as crowd-source funded services. We may move in that direction at some point, but currently we sign up people willing to contribute on an on-going basis, though you can opt-out easily too.
UPDATE: JULY 2017 URNA has formed a new strategic partnership with BAY ALARM – who already provides popular patrols services to our area. As such Bay will take over billing for patrols and URNA will continue its other work via funds on hand and contributions. To JOIN, see the “JOIN NOW” page of this website. New members get a discount too.

For membership info: please visit contributions Of course all of us benefit from these deterrence measures, so be an active part of it for better peace of mind too.

To determine if your house is in the coverage area, please click here to show the map. Of course, feel free to contact us if you have any questions. Please remember to sign up for our newsletter and consider joining URNA as we would not exist without your ongoing support.

Patrol hours were limited to high-crime windows in the past model where URNA hired patrols by the hour and hours depended on the number of members.
UPDATE: July 2017:
URNA patrol service decided to divest its Oakland business, and URNA has formed a strategic partnership with BAY ALARM that will provide the patrols moving forward. They do indeed patrol 24/7!

URNA monitors the patrol cars via a GPS tracking system. Our historical experience is that the patrols pass by almost every house in the patrol area between several times each patrol day.The exact number depends on the day and also of course our current funding levels for the patrols. More members would allow expanded coverage hours – a worthy goal.

Patrol hours vary by day with some randomness to get the best bang for the buck in our contracted hours. Additionally, the patrol officers will often change up their strategy for covering the areas on a daily basis. Our coverage area is quite large, so they may hang out in one sector for an hour and move to adjacent ones with that frequency, but they may also drive around to cover the whole area more quickly. The patrol officer are experts at getting the most out of the time and changing things up to keep the bad guys guessing.

UPDATE: July 2017: Patrol logs are accessible with our new service from BAY ALARM for URNA FULL MEMBERS.

No. URNA believes the primary purpose of the patrols is deterrence. We especially do not ever want to increase the risk of a firearm being discharged within lower Rockridge. Matters that require firearms should be handled by the police. Our contracted security officers may carry mace or batons only if they are licensed to do so. For additional information, please read our engagement policy.

Patrol officers generally will not physically intervene, but instead will provide a visual presence and call the police when appropriate. If they witness any portion of a crime, patrol officers will provide eyewitness and other evidence to the police as well. That said, if there is a crime in progress where a person is being harmed or facing imminent harm, the patrol officer may choose to intervene physically if in their judgment they feel it is safe to do so.

URNA intends for patrol officers to be part of the community. As such, we expect them to converse with members of the community on their daily rounds. Please introduce yourselves and talk with them as well. If there is a surge in crime activity on your street, please call them and ask them to come and stop so you and your neighbors can talk with them. We send the name of the patrol officer(s) to members via our member emails. And the patrol company dispatch has a list of active members as well.

URNA does not have existing data analysis for our area at this time, however we do encourage you to look at OPD crime stats that are regularly published via the NextDoor website.

Of course it is always hard to determine when a patrol deters a crime since it does not happen, but we’ve heard anecdotally that crime rates have lowered in other neighborhoods that started patrols

Additionally, Paul Liu, Ph.D., an economist and one of the organizers of Safer Rockridge – which covers Lower Rockridge area along College Ave- analyzed the impact of the patrols on burglaries and robberies in Rockridge with Bayesian statistical modeling using over seven years of Oakland-wide, historical data through October 2014. He estimates that burglaries and robberies were down by 30% after initiation of the patrols, relative to what they would have been absent the patrols. He also found no evidence to suggest that the patrols have caused a spill-over effect in neighborhoods adjacent to Rockridge. See the full report at http://goo.gl/zY27Z4.

Patrol officers receive training as required by the State of California, as well as by the owner of the firm (SC3). In addition, most of our officers have been life-long residents of Oakland and are very familiar with the community. Some have had several years or more patrol experience prior to being hired.

Racial profiling is typically an issue that arises with police departments using racial or religious bias in exercising their discretionary right to detail citizens. Since our contracted patrols do not stop or detain people, however, the issue of racial profiling doesn’t arise. Nontheless, it is our policy that the URNA safety patrols are prohibited from engaging in racial or other discriminatory profiling.