On Tuesday, the Oakley Police Department provided mid-year data while also providing fireworks data from the July 4 Holiday.
Oakley Police Chief Paul Beard reported to the city council that this was a general report card, which was a good one with 40 sworn officers out of an allowed 42. He said 1 officer is out on an injury and in the early stages of a non-sworn employee who has committed to becoming a police officer.
He noted that he uses stolen vehicles as a barometer of how the city is doing in terms of crime – he said that stat is holding water as crime is down.
“You are going to see we are down in every crime category except domestic violence,” said Beard.
Oakley police officers seized 36 separate firearms during 2024 while just in the first half of 2025, they have seized 29 firearms during criminal investigations.
In 2024, they had no shooting victims. However, in 2025, they did have a shooting on August 1, 2025. A few days later, the suspect was taken into custody—it was not a random act of violence, it was targeted.
| Crime | 1st half 2024 | 1st half 2025 | % |
| Murder | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rape | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| Domestic Violence | 46 | 49 | +7% |
| Assault w/Deadly Weapon | 6 | 6 | 0 |
| Robbery | 6 | 2 | -66% |
| Petty Theft | 49 | 43 | -12% |
| Commercial Burglary | 13 | 10 | -21% |
| Residential Burglary | 7 | 4 | -43% |
| Auto Burglary | 23 | 22 | -4% |
| Vehicle Theft | 64 | 36 | -43% |
| TC Property | 72 | 55 | -15% |
| TC Injury | 28 | 24 | -15% |
| TC Fatal | 1 | 2 | +100% |
| DUI | 19 | 27 | +42% |
Oakley Saw 65% Increase in July 4 Fireworks Related Calls for Service
Oakley Police Department provided a review of its 2025 fireworks mitigation which resulted in a 65% increase in calls for service over the July 4 holiday related to fireworks.
According to Lt. Robert Roberts, even with social media education efforts and announcements, a fireworks forum on June 11, along with citizens providing tips for 45 locations of fireworks.
The operation included 3 days (July 3-5) and had 20 dedicated staff to the operation with 100 hours. The city saw a 65% increase between 2024 to 2025 between June 1-July 11.
- 2025 – 160
- 2024 – 97
“It was not surprising to me. I knew with 4th of July coming on a Friday I knew it was going to be a challenge,” said Roberts. “I figured our numbers our numbers would go up and lucky for us our citizens were calling in and giving us locations.”
According to Roberts, they saw a loss of 36% in citations issued dropping from 14 in 2024 to 9 in 2025. They also saw 3 fire calls in 2024 versus 14 fire calls in 2025 – an increase of 375%.
“Am I pleased with it, absolutely not,” said Roberts. “I wish it was zero all around… we could have done better.”
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