TBS Today, Dec. 12

A woman driving in Berkeley earlier this week was confronted by an armed man who tried to carjack her, authorities report.

Here's what we know.

Woman escapes armed carjacking attempt in Berkeley

A man with a gun banged on the woman’s door and tried to open it, but she was able to drive away and call police.

The Berkeley ScannerEmilie Raguso

The good news is that most categories of serious crime (other than homicide) are down this year following a significant spike in Berkeley crime in 2023.

In other news

BPD just announced that its new Flock license plate readers have already "brought in a dozen arrests" and resulted in the recovery of nine stolen vehicles.

We published a status report on the Flock cameras in early November.

Also from BPD: The department announced plans for a DUI checkpoint tonight from 8 p.m. until 2 a.m. on Shattuck Avenue near Parker Street.

This week also marks the start of stepped-up DUI enforcement from BPD during the holiday season: "From December 11 through New Year’s Day, Berkeley Police Department will have additional officers on patrol looking for drivers suspected of being under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. The high-visibility enforcement effort is part of a national campaign, Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over, with the goal of stopping suspected impaired drivers who put others at risk."

Calling local photographers: We'd love to connect with you on Flickr. You can share photos to our group or let us know how to follow you by sharing a tip.

We keep checking with Alameda County on whether the DA job has actually been posted. Sounds like that's expected to come later tonight or tomorrow morning.

Applications to open this week for Alameda County’s next DA

The county said it hopes to post the job quickly, with applications being accepted as soon as Wednesday.

The Berkeley ScannerEmilie Raguso

Also, a reader alerted us to a story in this week's Berkeley High Jacket, the BHS student newspaper.

It highlights how the school newspaper broke a massive story on human trafficking and launched the journalism career of one of the reporters (who would go on to win a Pulitzer for team coverage by the Washington Post of the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007).

How the Jacket uncovered indentured servitude case in 1999

In the Friday, Dec. 10, 1999, issue of the Jacket, two students, Megan Greenwell and Iliana Montauk published an article titled “Young Indian Immigrant Died in Berkeley Apartment: South Asian Community Says ‘Indentured Servitude’ May Be to Blame.” At the time, Greenwell was a Berkeley High School sophomore who had only just joined the Jacket and had only written one Jacket article prior to this. Greenwell was assigned to look into a girl named Seetha Vemireddy who had died from carbon monoxide only a few blocks away from BHS.

The Berkeley High JacketEden Middleswart

In case you missed it

Police find 2 guns at Berkeley High, 2 students arrested

Police arrested two male Berkeley High School students, ages 17 and 18, as a result of the investigation, BPD said.

The Berkeley ScannerEmilie Raguso

Berkeley North Face is being targeted again by retail thieves

Berkeley police are investigating several recent high-value thefts from the North Face Outlet on Fifth Street.

The Berkeley ScannerEmilie Raguso

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