Sarah Lamb, the association’s manager, agrees that the Oakland police department is “stretched thin,” and said that’s why Rockridge hired its own security. Unfortunately, she said, most of the neighborhood's recent robberies have happened before or after the guards’ shift. However, this doesn’t seem have dampened support.

“I think people are really happy to see somebody out there, acting as a deterrent,” said Willy Browning, one of the Rockridge guards.

According to Lamb, it’s not only Rockridge merchants, but also residents, who appreciate the extra security. But it is unclear whether the association can afford to keep the guards on.

The Rockridge District Association pays the two guards, who come from Statewide Protection Agency, $27,000 for four months of work, through December 31, when their contract is up for renewal. The funds come from merchants’ dues.

“We’ll see how people feel after New Year’s, if they want to continue paying or not,” Wilson said. “It’s expensive, having to pay taxes to the city plus pay dues to the association.”

Nikki Taylor, who owns two clothing stores with her mother on College Avenue, said she has met the guards and keeps their phone numbers handy.

“It’s reassuring, knowing they’re there,” she said. “But if someone has a gun, I don’t think there’s anything they can do about it.”

Parts of this article were originally published in NovoMetro.

Here, merchants, worried that shoppers will be scared off by belligerent homeless folks or rowdy clusters of teenagers hanging out after school, looked beyond Oakland’s overwhelmed police force and hired their own security: two unarmed guards on bikes.

While hardly a drastic measure, and not necessarily effective in terms of reducing crime, Rockridge’s decision symbolizes growing disenchantment with the ability of Oakland’s governing forces to provide security.

And Rockridge isn’t the only affluent neighborhood to have taken matters into its own hands, spurred by feelings of insecurity and worries about understaffed police. It follows in the footsteps of other affluent shopping areas in Oakland, like Montclair and Lakeshore, which have also turned to private patrols to reassure their shoppers.

The Rockridge District Association, made up of merchants along College Avenue, hired the private guards in late August. The guards now patrol the avenue from Alcatraz Avenue to Broadway, five afternoons a week. The idea, said association president Sara Wilson, is for the guards to serve as a deterring presence.

“Their job is to become more familiar with people who are on the street, those displaying aggressive behavior, learn their names and keep them moving so they don’t stay in front of one store or another,” Wilson said. “They deal with social disruption more than criminal disruption.”

In Rockridge’s case, Wilson acknowledges the association’s decision came on the heels of a spike in criminal activity in nearby shopping districts, but that no single incident prompted the hiring. Rather, the security's job is to identify “troublemakers.”

While the Rockridge guards have no police powers, they are in close contact with College Avenue’s police beat officer, Doug Chimpky, who patrols College Avenue regularly in the afternoons.  Because Chimpky is often called away for training and other duties, he appreciates the guards acting as his “eyes and ears,” he said

“They can ask people drinking in front of a store, for example, to leave. But if they don’t, there’s nothing they can do,” he said. “They can do anything any other civilian can do, but people see the uniforms, and assume they’re a figure of authority. They know the next step is the police.”

Though Chimpky said he can use all the help he can get, he doesn’t believe the area needs supplemental police patrolling, since other areas – downtown Oakland, for example – are much more in need of extra beat officers.

“There’s only one walking officer on 14th and Broadway,” he said. “And that’s crazy.”