Oakland to ban public shrines to murder victims

Although the city and Police Department had allowed the shrines to remain on public and private property for as long as six months, the violence earlier this week prompted Word to change the policy.

"They seem to be a magnet for violence," Word said. "You can almost count on some sort of retaliatory violence while people are mourning at these shrines."

Police blamed an ongoing feud between rival Sureo and Border Brothers gangs for back-to-back shootings Monday that left a 13-year-old boy and two others dead and nine men wounded.

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Authorities said they believe members of the Sureo gang opened fire on mourners at street shrine at 94th Avenue and A Street two hours after members of the Border Brothers shot at mourners during a funeral in Hayward for a Sureo gang member.

The street shrine memorialized a suspected Border Brothers gang member killed Sept. 3 and buried Monday at the Hayward cemetery.

"In the past, we tried to work with the family, but that's not an option anymore," Word said. "It's not safe."

Word said his officers would first ask friends and family members to remove the pictures, stuffed animals and religious items. If they do not, the police will take the items and keep them until they are claimed by the family.

But Word said bottles of liquor and drug paraphernalia, which are often a part of the shrines, will be thrown away. Many of the mourners have also begun spray-painting slogans of remembrance and gang graffiti around the shrines.

City Councilmember Nancy Nadel (Downtown-West Oakland) said she does not think removing the shrines is the solution to Oakland's gang problem, which has deep roots in East Oakland.

"It is important that people be allowed to mourn," said Nadel, who plans to run for mayor in 2006. "But taking a hard line about the shrines just adds to the conflict."

Svea O'Banion, a member of Safety First, a community organization that has been lobbying the city for more police officers said her Fruitvale neighborhood has been held hostage by the shrines.

"We are punished by the drug dealers even after they are dead," O'Banion said, adding that the shrines often become a focal point for drug dealing, littering and loitering.

O'Banion said Word's policy should be ratified by the Oakland City Council to make it clear to everyone that shrines will be taken down.

Word said he planned to discuss the new policy with Mayor Jerry Brown and City Administrator Deborah Edgerly this week. The chief was unsure whether an ordinance would need to be adopted by the council to implement the change in policy.

Through his spokeswoman, Brown declined to discuss the shrines.