Eyewitness Helps Thwart Burglary Attempt

Piedmont police are crediting a watchful citizen with helping them break up a burglary attempt Wednesdsay.

A resident reading in his living room on the afternoon of May 25 looked up to see four young black males milling around a neighbor's home across the street, according to Piedmont Police Chief John Hunt. The resident called police shortly before 2 p.m., after watching for several minutes as the group split up, with one going up to the front door while the other three went around the side of the house.

The resident, Hunt said, was "describing classic daytime burglary behavior."

Hunt said one responding officer stopped Bernard Emerson, 20, of Oakland as he was walking up the driveway on the side of the house and placed him under arrest. Three other suspects jumped the back fence and ran down Grand Avenue. Hunt said a second officer arrested 19-year-old Oakland resident Michael Payton near the intersection of Sunnyside and Grand avenues a few minutes later. Two other suspects escaped apprehension, though evidence gathered at the scene may lead to one of them.

The homeowner arrived home while officers were there, Hunt said, suggesting that she could have encountered the would-be burglars had police not interrupted the attempt. Officers reported that a window on the side of the house had been pried open and the screws on a doorknob had been removed.

Hunt took pains to distinguish the eyewitness account that ultimately led to the arrest of the two burglary suspects Tuesday from false reports that have previously triggered concerns about racial profiling in Piedmont.

"[The witness] watched the suspicious activity unfolding and then called," Hunt said. "You don't call just because someone is of a different color."

Two black Piedmont High School students were stopped and questioned by police in March of 2010 following what later proved to be a false report. That incident prompted City Council to hold an emotional public forum on the issue and by setting up a diversity training seminar that was attended by police personnel and community members and by writing several that have been published in local media.

The efforts may have caused the pendulum to swing in the other direction somewhat. Hunt said a witness to what could have been another burglary attempt in April didn't call police until the next day for fear she would be accused of racial prejudice. But overall, the chief said, the recent public education seems to have made a positive impact.

"Calls that we view as biased in nature are down," Hunt said adding that police are getting are more detailed and accurate reports. "The witness on Fairview read my articles," he said.