It is said that every good deed goes unpunished.
An Oakland, California, city council candidate campaigning on a platform of tackling the city's homelessness and “skyrocketing crime” said a homeless woman stole her bag full of donations during a campaign launch event on Sunday. To make matters worse, she said she called 911 but police never showed up.
Charlene Wang, who is running for the city's citywide seat in California, said a homeless woman stole a bag containing about $1,000 in Clinton Square Park around 4 p.m. Her team confronted the woman and pleaded with her to hand over the bag, but she eventually ran off with her ill-gotten gains, Wang said.
A video of the exchange can be seen Wang pleading with the confused woman to return the bag, but the homeless woman angrily refuses to hand it over.
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Oakland city council candidate Charlene Wang (left) confronts a homeless woman who allegedly stole a bag full of cash, while Wang (right) speaks. (Auckland City Council Candidate Charlene)
“Can you please get me the orange bag,” Wang politely asked the woman. “When you're done, just take the bag away so we can all take it and run away,” the woman replied.
The homeless woman, wearing two hats, a toggle coat and untied sneakers, began to become agitated, yelling incoherently and threatening the volunteers.
Another volunteer with Wang offered to give her $100 in exchange for the bag, but Wang refused, saying he wanted the $100 first.
Wang's team then tried to call homeless services, but they were unavailable over the weekend, Wang said. They then called the police, but they never showed up and were told there had been 250 calls prior to their incident.
“The complete lack of response we've seen from both mental health services and police services is unacceptable,” Wang told Fox News Digital. “I am committed to hiring more police officers and improving mental health services so that we can reduce response times and get people the help they need.”
Wang told ABC7 police told her they would be there later to file a report, but she claims that never happened.
“I tried desperately to have an easing conversation to convince her to hand over the bag,” Wang told ABC7. “I even offered her a hot meal at the grocery store and money in exchange for the bag, but it didn't work.”
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A volunteer confronts the homeless woman and tries to get her bag back. (Auckland City Council Candidate Charlene)
“I can only imagine the trauma she is going through being forced to live on the streets. I'm not angry with her but I think this is another example of the paramedics' service. I was essentially left to fend for myself.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Oakland Police Department (OPD) for comment.
Oakland has faced a host of problems in recent years, including housing costs, homelessness and crime, and Wang hopes to tackle these issues if elected.
Wang, a Democrat who previously served in the Department of Transportation (DOT) under the Biden-Harris administration, is running in an independent race, meaning candidates will not list their party affiliation on the ballot.
Oakland city council candidate Charlene Wang says a homeless woman stole a bag full of donations during a campaign launch event and she called police, who never showed up. (Auckland City Council Candidate Charlene)
“this [DOT] “I helped launch a pilot program at the Federal Highway Administration to help people released from prison get job training in the construction trades,” Wang told Fox News Digital. “These programs cut the chances of recidivism in half and are a critical piece of the public safety puzzle.”
According to Wang's website, his main policy goals include tackling public safety, reducing the cost of living and implementing “a new strategy to combat homelessness,” including a new Oakland Corps program to clean up trash and plant trees, aimed at connecting homeless people with housing, social services and jobs and helping them rebuild their lives.
Regarding crime, Oakland has one of the highest violent crime rates in the nation, but the city's police force is “grossly understaffed, with far fewer officers per capita than the national average,” the report said, and it plans to invest in technology and hire more officers.
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Oakland City Council candidate Charlene Wang said Oakland police did not show up to the scene. (Jane Tiszka/Digital First Media/East Bay Times via Getty Images)
“I will address skyrocketing crime and gun violence by investing in technology alongside community policing,” Wang's website states.
Data released by OPD in May showed violent crime rates were down for the first half of the year, with overall crime down 33%. Property crimes were down 50%, homicides down 17%, assaults down 7% and rapes down 21%.
However, reports from the San Francisco Chronicle and the Oakland Report claim that the Oakland Police Department does not compare like for like when reporting crime statistics for Oakland, California, making the perception of a crime decrease misleading. The papers argued that the Oakland Police Department is comparing incomplete 2024 crime statistics to complete 2023 crime statistics because 2024 crime statistics take time to be finalized and comparisons in this manner have historically led to underreporting.
