I'll Figure it Out...I will

I thought I had a handle on this story. I mean how hard can a straightforward, fact based story be? I thought I’d call a couple of people and go to the police station, talk to a few cops, maybe sit in on a court case or two and take a couple of notes, turn it in and be done. Sigh how I get so ahead of my self?

It’s only Friday but I know how life takes me away from my studies so I knew I was going to get a head start, but I think I’ve backtracked in some instances.
Yesterday I went ahead a went to the police station anyway even though I had decided to do a profile instead because I was in the neighborhood and I might as well just do it. It was nothing like I thought. I wanted to see people being booked and charged with crimes, a couple of mug shots being taken, I thought something interesting would happen as I was there. You know that scene in the Hangover where the main characters had gotten arrested and were all sitting on the bench looking like they had just gone though hell, yea I expected to see something like that so I could take pictures of all the drunks and prostitutes. Only if… But it was a regular Thursday afternoon as side from the blue suits and badges I didn’t witness anything exciting.
I got bored and left. I used to work at the courthouse next to the jail and police station and I’ve witnessed more interesting things after someone has beaten a parking ticket case. Golly I’m mean this is OAKLAND!

But A couple of things arose from this firstly what kind of person must I be to really want to see bad shit happen in front of me/ what type of stereotyping am I playing into because I could picture clearly the black man I wanted to see/ and what does this mean for Oakland?

What I mean by that is, in the media Oakland is the worst place you can possibly be in the Bay Area, (maybe Richmond is worst now?) we hear about shootings, rapes, murders in the 1st and 3rd, kidnappings but as I strolled into the eerily empty police station I could figure out why what I have been showed about Oakland’s society is not what I’m seeing now. This prompted a series of other questions which came down to me doing a hell of a lot of research, and finding out that in Oakland crime is down 34 percent to put it simply, so why isn’t this news?

My initial plan had failed (like they often do) but I found another one. In the middle of robberies, murders, rapes ect. Something is changing. And although I don’t think I can really find the source in a couple of days, I think I can alter the image of Oakland a little even just to the students in this class and that is what I want to do for the crime story, Answer the question: Why is crime down in Oakland? What changed? And is this the result of people or do others just not feel like shooting any more?

My overall problem now shifted to how do I write a profile of cities’ changes verses a person who is changing the city?