Kelly Fang/Senior Staff

An electrical wire theft, which UC Berkeley officials believe may be linked to the on-campus explosion, is part of a larger trend of copper thefts on campus and in the city.

Although UCPD is conducting an ongoing investigation of Monday’s theft of high-voltage copper wiring from a campus electrical facility, multiple instances of copper theft — from construction materials, decorative plaques and even toilet flushers — have occurred on campus.

The copper wiring was taken from a facility near the Big C trail, according to a UCPD Daily Activity Bulletin. The incident, however, highlights a prevalence of copper theft at UC Berkeley that, while sporadic, is costly to the campus.

Police are actively investigating the theft but do not have any suspects at this time, UCPD spokesperson Lt. Eric Tejada said.

“We have some leads in the case — there was evidence left behind,” Tejada said. “We are hoping to get some fingerprint or DNA evidence off of it.”

Tejada said that copper theft is something UCPD deals with on a regular basis on campus and that thieves commonly cash in the metal at recycling centers.

On Jan. 20, 2011, a grand theft of 500 pounds of copper wiring from Memorial Stadium while it was still under construction cost the campus $2,000, according to UCPD crime logs.

These thefts are not always crimes of opportunity but are often highly planned, Berkeley Police Department records show.

On Aug. 22, a theft of 30 feet of copper coaxial communication cable from a utility pole in northwest Berkeley interrupted telephone and cable television service to numerous homes in the surrounding area, according to a police alert on the city of Berkeley’s website.

Similar incidents occurred in a nearby city, where witnesses reported seeing a boom-equipped utility truck and workers who were wearing hard hats and orange safety vests and appeared to be doing “legitimate work,” according to the alert.

Thefts of copper increase as the price per pound increases, so because the current price of copper is on the rise, the city and its citizens must be even more vigilant, said BPD spokesperson Officer Jennifer Coats in an email.

As of Thursday evening, the price of high-grade copper is $3.26 per pound, according to NASDAQ’s website. Local metal recycling companies said they typically buy used copper at a price between $1.50 to $3.00 per pound, depending on quality.

Rafael Pinedo of Lakeside Non-ferrous Metals, a metal recycler in Oakland, said nonferrous metals are typically sold to the company at the 100-pound minimum after a screening process and 72-hour wait period.

Local police monitor the sale and purchase of scrap metal in the Bay Area and have a system in place to notify recyclers about stolen metal. Paul Forkash, the founder of Aaron Metals in Oakland, believes that middlemen are available to take the metal to be sold in different regions.

“There are some people who are not permitted, have no business license, that will buy metal off the street and will load up a truck to take it to Southern California or Nevada,” Forkash said. “The material could be very identifiable, but yet it is being transported so far out of the area that (police) would have no way of tracking it.”

Chase Schweitzer covers crime. Contact him at cschweitzer@dailycal.org and follow him on Twitter @ChaseSchweitz.

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Just a month after the December massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in which 20 schoolchildren and six staff members were killed by an armed intruder, the Berkeley district allocated about $50,000 to have school security consultant Edu-Safe Associates audit its safety policies. About $30,000 of that has been spent so far. After the district reviews the results of the audit, it will release a report and possible recommendations to the school board.

Mark Coplan, a district spokesperson, said the audit was not conducted to modernize outdated safety policies but rather to improve already sufficient plans at the district’s schools. Each of the 20 schools in the district has a comprehensive safety plan that is updated annually.

In March, an armed man was reported near Berkeley High School after a failed robbery. Shortly afterward, Berkeley Police Department advised administrators to implement a campus lockdown “to prevent potential harm from entering the campus and also to prevent kids and adults on campus from exiting into situations that could be extremely dangerous,” said Pasquale Scuderi, Berkeley High School’s principal, in a letter to families and staff.

Two years ago, the same school suffered a string of firearm-related incidents.

“All I was told to do was lock my doors, turn off the lights and draw my window shades down and nothing else,” said Daniel Plonsey, a teacher at Berkeley High School with two sons in the district, of the lockdown in March. “(But) even with an updated safety plan, I don’t think I would know what to do in such an unpredictable situation — how could anyone?”

The district’s hiring of consultants to audit safety policies in January was meant to foster a wider dialogue, Coplan said.

“(A) reason we decided to bring in consultants was that we thought it would be less effective to come up with just a local solution,” he said. “We will come up with better solutions this way.”

Two policies many safety experts have pushed are “run, hide, fight” and ALICE (“alert, lockdown, inform, counter and evacuate”). Both are strategies for what to do in the event of a campus intrusion, and both advocate attacking the intruders.

Multiple school districts in the East Bay are considering adopting ALICE, including Pleasanton Unified School District.

Glen Sparks, a coordinator for the Pleasanton district, said that while his district is considering the program, it will more likely draw up its own intruder-safety protocols through cooperation with Pleasanton Police Department.

Berkeley Unified School District enjoys a similarly close relationship with the city police department, said Jennifer Coats, public information officer for BPD.

“BPD has a longstanding relationship with BUSD, and we will continue to work together towards campus safety,” she said.

Contact Nico Correia at ncorreia@dailycal.org.

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Carli Baker/Staff

Early Sunday evening, many residents of West Berkeley fled indoors after hearing a staccato of gunshots throughout the neighborhood.

For Tom Boot, who was outside gardening at the time, it wasn’t until the fifth or so “boom” that he realized the sounds were gunshots, not firecrackers. A moment later, he saw the male victim running down Eighth Street. The victim was later pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.

“I heard this young voice,” Boot said. “I heard him start yelling, ‘Help, help I’ve been shot.’ He kept repeating that plea.”

The victim, whom neighbors describe as a slim black man in his late teens or early 20s, collapsed near the intersection of Eighth and Page streets, where Boot found him lying on his back, suffering from “multiple wounds” around the chest and abdomen. Boot then ran to the victim’s side, urging him to stay conscious.

“I said, ‘Open your eyes,’ and he did. He looked at me,” Boot said. “They say if there is a shooting, don’t run to the victim, because you might get shot, too, but it’s a natural impulse to help someone if they say they need help. I was with him, and that’s all I was thinking about.”

Carol Sitea, who lives on Page, said she believes the victim was in an apartment complex playing cards when he was chased, barefoot, out of a house by the shooter. When Berkeley police arrived, Sitea said, they raced down her street, “heatedly pursuing the suspects.”

“It was an out-of-body experience,” Sitea said. “You feel so detached from yourself. I suppose you could get used to it, but I don’t know how.”

Homicide detectives were on site canvassing for witnesses and evidence until early Monday morning, BPD spokesperson officer Jennifer Coats said. She did not say whether a suspect had been apprehended and declined to release any more details until the investigation concludes.

This incident marks Berkeley’s fourth homicide of the year.

In July, Jermaine Davis, 26, was shot and killed on Derby Street near Martin Luther King Jr. Way. In August, 24-year-old Berkeley resident Dustin Bynum was shot and killed at the intersection of San Pablo Avenue and Delaware Street, the same intersection where city resident Zontee Jones, 24, was killed earlier in February.

Despite these incidents, West Berkeley resident James Nguyen, whose home is scarred by bullets from a previous homicide, says he still feels safe in his home.

“After accidents, in a couple hours you forget. Life goes on, things return to normal,” Boot said. “What’s tragic here is, you try to pretend like everything is the same: You’re eating and talking, but all that’s really there (in your mind) is that kid.”

Contact Virgie Hoban at vhoban@dailycal.org and follow her on Twitter @VirgieHoban.

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Berkeley police responded to phone calls about 5:40 p.m. and found the victim suffering from gunshot wounds at the intersection of Eighth and Page streets.

BPD spokesperson officer Jennifer Coats said the victim was transported by Berkeley Fire Department to a nearby hospital, where he was immediately pronounced dead.

Homicide detectives are on the scene, canvassing for witnesses and evidence.

Coats declined to release any more details until the investigation has concluded.

Anyone with information on the homicide is encouraged to call Berkeley Police Department’s Homicide Detail at 510-981-5741. Callers wishing to remain anonymous can contact the Bay Area Crimes Stoppers at 800-222-8477.

Contact Virgie Hoban at vhoban@dailycal.orgvhoban@dailycal.org and follow her on Twitter @VirgieHoban.

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Sean Goebel/File

Berkeley City Council will consider a grant that would fund increased enforcement of underage drinking laws at its meeting Tuesday.

If approved, the grant would provide Berkeley Police Department with $75,500 to fund various measures, such as undercover sting operations, to combat underage drinking.

“The money allows us to do the types of operations that we typically wouldn’t be able to do without funding,” said BPD officer Steve Rego.

Each year, the state’s Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control selects local police agencies to fund and assist in the enforcement of alcohol-related laws. The department has awarded grant money to BPD each year since 2003.

According to the recommendation submitted to the City Council, BPD plans to identify sites where alcohol is most accessible for students and begin a dual strategy — involving education and enforcement — to prevent sales to underage buyers. BPD also plans to work closely with UCPD on these issues, said BPD spokesperson officer Jennifer Coats.

“The program itself is definitely useful in trying to help us deter alcohol-related crimes,” Coats said.

In past years, BPD has used grant money to fund overtime for Party Patrol enforcement teams, investigate adults who buy alcohol for minors and educate businesses on alcohol laws. BPD also works from the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control agents on these operations, Rego said.

Alcohol abuse by minors remains an issue police are trying to curb. Since residence hall move-in day, UCPD has responded to 13 alcohol-related illness incidents, prompting BPD to dispatch plainclothes officers to areas near fraternities as well as other popular locations on Southside.

In 2011, UCPD arrested 119 people for liquor-law violations on campus and took disciplinary action on another 608, and BPD arrested 40 people, according to the 2012-13 UC Berkeley Annual Campus Safety Report.

Councilmember Kriss Worthington, however, wants the City Council to explore alternative methods for curbing underage drinking, such as using social media campaigns to educate students.

“The city’s been doing this for many years,” Worthington said about the grant. “I don’t think this grant will do a single thing to adjust the high number of alcohol-related hospitalizations.”

Similarly, Roland Peterson, executive director of the Telegraph Business Improvement District, believes Southside businesses likely will remain unaffected by increased law enforcement.

“The vast majority of businesses are responsible, so I don’t think there is any cause for concern,” he said.

Worthington said the city should use these grants to promote positive alternatives to alcohol rather than punish businesses that are “tricked into breaking the law” through undercover operations.

“If you want to reach a large number of people, I think you need to use modern tools to communicate to them,” he said. “What we’re doing now is such a 20th-century concept.”

Alison Fu covers city news. Contact her at afu@dailycal.org.

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Nathaniel Solley/Staff

After 30 days of camping in front of the Berkeley main post office, protesters hoping to prevent the sale of the building vacated the property by Thursday morning.

On Wednesday evening, Berkeley Police Department removed the tents in front of the post office in Downtown Berkeley, said Officer Jennifer Coats, spokesperson for BPD. Citing growing safety concerns, BPD and U.S. Postal Service investigators asked the protesters to leave the post office steps.

In an Aug. 26 letter addressed to the mayor and City Council members, City Manager Christine Daniel expressed concerns about increased “criminal activity” related to the encampment, including incidents of physical assault, several arrests for weapons possession and a serious dog bite.

“It just wasn’t safe,” said U.S. Postal Inspector Jeff Fitch. “People were setting up tents on steps, and they were utilizing garbage cans in the lobby as restrooms. There was alcohol, and some people even slept on the roof.”

According to Fitch, postal investigators and police handed out notifications of possible arrest to protesters Monday.

“It is my understanding the few people that were there last night left on their own,” Coats said. “Berkeley Police Department went and collected what appeared to be abandoned property.”

Coats said that property collected during the removal process had been booked for safekeeping and that no arrests were made when police cleared the property.

However, according to an online post by the Berkeley Post Office Defense, a loose collection of individuals working to challenge the sale, many of the protesters were attending a march in support of Trayvon Martin in Oakland when about 20 police officers “chose to move in” on the encampment in Berkeley. The officers confiscated belongings without warning and removed the tents, the post says.

An appeal filed by Mayor Tom Bates to stop the sale of the post office was dismissed Tuesday by the Postal Regulatory Commission.

Despite these events, the fight is not over for the protesters, said David Welsh, a retired letter carrier who had been on the Berkeley post office’s steps since July 27. Welsh said that although the encampment has ended, protesters still are taking steps to raise community awareness.

“We’re having a celebration on Saturday to celebrate the monthlong encampment,” Welsh said. “The next step is to have a concert and teach-in, which will be on the steps.”

Contact J. Hannah Lee at jhlee@dailycal.org.

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The suspect, 21-year-old Maurice Thomas, was arrested in San Diego on July 4, according to Berkeley Police Department spokesperson Officer Jennifer Coats.

Lt. Jorge Duran of San Diego Police Department told Berkeleyside that Thomas was arrested on suspicion of being under the influence and possessing a controlled substance. Police later found during the booking process that Thomas was wanted in connection with the murder of Jones.

The Daily Californian could not reach San Diego Police Department for comment.

Jones was shot near the intersection of San Pablo Avenue and Delaware Street at 11:08 a.m on Feb. 4. Officers responded to the scene after receiving reports of shots fired. Jones was immediately transported to Highland Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The killing of Jones was Berkeley’s first homicide of 2013, followed by the July shooting of Jermaine Davis on Derby Street.

Thomas has been charged with the murder of Jones and has been held without bail in Santa Rita Jail in Dublin since July 15. He will enter a plea after arraignment at the Rene C. Davidson Courthouse in downtown Oakland on Aug. 5, Coats said.

On June 16, police also arrested Jevon Calland in West Berkeley in connection with the shooting.

Calland, Thomas and others allegedly planned beforehand to harm the victim. The day before the murder, Calland reportedly threatened Jones in front of witnesses. Both suspects allegedly carried firearms to the scene of the crime, but Thomas was allegedly responsible for shooting Jones.

Contact Madeleine Pauker at mpauker@dailycal.org.

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According to Officer Jennifer Coats, spokesperson for Berkeley Police Department, officers responding to reports of a gunshot around 7:05 p.m. Monday could not initially locate a victim. The victim, whose injury was not life-threatening, transported himself to a nearby hospital, which contacted the police department later in the evening.

The victim told BPD that he was walking down the sidewalk on the 2700 block of Dohr Street at the time of the shooting.

No further information has been released, but Coats wrote in an email that the police department “(does) not believe this was a random event.”

An investigation is ongoing.

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According to Berkeley Police Department spokesperson Officer Jennifer Coats, the body was discovered at about 5:10 a.m. by an officer on patrol. The officer proceeded to call for medical assistance from Berkeley Fire Department, which pronounced the subject dead at the scene.

“Preliminary investigations indicate a hit-and-run,” Coats said. “The Fatal Accident Investigation Team is evaluating evidence and have put out a public plea for information on the car involved.”

Part of the roadway was closed while police conducted their preliminary investigation. At about 11:00 a.m., all roadways at the University Avenue freeway overpass were reopened.

BPD currently does not have any information on the vehicle involved or any possible suspects.

Contact Stephanie Petrillo at spetrillo@dailycal.org.

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Around 12:57 p.m., a Berkeley police officer on patrol noticed a 20-year-old man who appeared to be having a medical problem, according to Officer Jennifer Coats, spokesperson for Berkeley Police Department. As the officer went to conduct a welfare check, the subject started exhibiting bizarre behavior, such as darting into traffic and putting himself into danger.

The subject became “violent and combative” after the officer attempted to physically detain him, prompting the officer to call other officers, according to Coats. The subject was restrained by several officers after a minor scuffle and taken to a local hospital for evaluation.

No charges have been filed, and no arrests have been made.

It could not be confirmed whether the subject was a UC Berkeley student.

Contact Chris Yoder at cyoder@dailycal.org

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