Oakland’s only In-N-Out Burger restaurant will close after 18 years despite still making a healthy profit because customers and staff are “unsafe” due to rising crime rates, the company said.
The 75-year-old company’s Oakland, California, facility will close its doors in March because of the crime that has endangered the lives of customers and staff, the company’s Chief Operations Officer Denny Warnick said.
He wrote in a statement: “Despite repeated steps to create safer conditions, our customers and employees are regularly victims of car burglaries, property damage, theft and armed robberies.”
Employees at the store have the choice of being transferred to another location or accepting severance pay.
Data from the Oakland Police Department earlier this month showed that robberies increased by a whopping 38% between 2022 and 2023.
The In-N-Out is located on a square mile of several gas stations that police say are the targets of about a dozen violent crimes every day
Democratic Mayor of Oakland Sheng Thao (pictured), who has served in the role since January 2023, denied that her policies were the sole cause of rising crime rates
Motor vehicle theft in particular saw a large increase, with the police force reporting 44% more in 2023 than in 2022.
The number of burglaries has also increased by 23% compared to the previous year.
The In-N-Out is located within a square mile of several gas stations that police say are targets for about a dozen violent crimes every day.
Less than a mile away from the Chevron, a Shell gas station on Hegenberger Road has also been plagued by thefts. About five hundred meters from the Shell, another Chevron is another hotspot. And in addition, the In-N-Out Burger parking lot is affected daily.
Police say the criminals, who operate in well-organized groups, follow the same playbook: A spotter keeps watch for targets, usually rental cars going to or from the airport, while they stop at gas stations.
They then alert the accomplices, who pull up in a vehicle when the targets start pumping fuel. They often smash a rear window or pop open the trunk of unlocked vehicles before making off with luggage and valuables. The thefts last only a few seconds.
The spike has earned Shell the nickname “America’s most dangerous gas station.” The two Chevron sites are also top candidates for the unwanted title.
Online reviews for these gas stations and the In-N-Out are flooded with dozens of complaints from customers affected by the crooks.
A shocking video from the In-N-Out parking lot shows a thief crashing into a black SUV in broad daylight. The crook leans his feet off the ground through the rear window of the vehicle and grabs several items before fleeing in a waiting getaway car as more than a dozen onlookers watch.
Another clip from outside the Shell shows a thief using the exact same method to steal a backpack from the trunk. With his feet off the ground, he leans against a broken rear window to pick up the loot before escaping.
The victim said he was parked for less than two minutes. “Stay away from this place at all costs,” the review said. “The thieves were bold enough to use my credit cards at this gas station later that day.”
Cars near the In-N-Out are often the target of robberies
The In-N-Out is located near Oakland Airport, making it a perfect target for thieves
The total number of homicides increased in 2019, but the numbers have remained relatively stable over the past three years
An officer patrolling outside the Shell on Thursday told DailyMail.com: ‘This has always been the case, but not to the extent it is now.’
The officer’s assessment is backed by official crime statistics for Oakland, which show that auto theft has increased nearly 50 percent in the past year. In 2022, there were 8,675 cases of car theft in the city, compared to 12,956 last year.
Democratic Mayor of Oakland Sheng Thao, who has served in the role since January 2023, denied that her policies were the sole cause of rising crime rates.
“Crime in Oakland has been steadily increasing since 2019,” Thao told local media, adding, “It is unfair for anyone to say that crime only started to rise on my watch.”
Data from the city’s police department shows that this is only partially true.
The total number of homicides increased in 2019, but the numbers have remained relatively stable over the past three years.
The number of car burglaries has increased since 2020, reaching a new peak in 2023 not seen in the past decade.
The number of business burglaries has also increased steadily over the past five years and has almost tripled since 2019.
But in July 2023, months after Thao took office, the Oakland Police Department was forced to issue a public safety advisory that cited an increase in home robberies.”
OPD urged residents to prune hedges and shrubs to “eliminate potential hiding places,” install home security systems and use outdoor lighting with motion sensors.
The number of business burglaries has also increased steadily over the past five years and has almost tripled since 2019
In July 2023, months after Thao took office, the Oakland Police Department was forced to issue a public safety advisory citing an increase in home robberies.
Thao previously said her office had since implemented new neighborhood strategies and was already seeing success.
In the Chinatown, Uptown and Jack London Square areas, we’ve seen a 42 percent drop in robberies, a 32 percent drop in car burglaries… and a 38 percent drop in theft and a 13 percent drop in commercial burglaries.’
Her office also plans to revive the city’s gun violence program, which connects people most at risk of gun violence with life coaches.
In 2013, the number of murders fell and reached a low of 67 in 2018. Since then, the number of murders has risen, reaching 120 in 2023.
Similarly, shootings involving injuries began to decline in 2013, reaching a low of 274 in 2018 before rising to 509 in 2023.
An audit of the program by the California Partnership for Safe Communities found these spikes are due to the city gradually moving away from the ceasefire strategy.
Beginning in 2016 and 2017 and accelerating in 2019 and 2020, “every key element of the strategy was significantly watered down, resources stripped away or redirected,” the report said.
This started under Thao’s predecessor, Libby Schaff, who took office in 2015 and admitted last year that efforts to defund the city’s police department went “too far.”
It’s not just funding that’s hampering the city’s ability to stop crime. Many police officers in the city believe that policy restrictions have taken away their ability to effectively curb crime.
MailOnline previously spoke to Oakland police officers who said the city’s ‘restrictive’ rules forced them to let criminals get away with crime.
“We can’t do non-violent crime car chases,” an Oakland officer said from the seat of his squad car.
“I can get behind the cars and try to turn on my lights, but why would they stop?”