Oakland Ends Plan to Hire Security Firm By BOBBY WHITE
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124044780262645939.html# The city of Oakland, Calif., dropped its plan to hire security firm International Services Inc. to patrol high-crime districts after the company's founder and two other executives were charged with fraud. Ousama Karawia, founder of the Torrance, Calif., company, and two of its vice presidents were accused last week by the Los Angeles District Attorney's office of defrauding the state of California out of more than $9 million in workers compensation. The suspects were arrested last week after a three month investigation, said Jane Robinson, a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office. All three have pleaded not guilty. An International Services spokeswoman declined to comment on the charges. The City Council agreed last month to hire International Services even as Oakland deals with a record $80 million budget deficit. The city of 400,000 across the Bay Bridge from San Francisco has turned increasingly to nontraditional measures in an attempt to reduce crime. Ignacio De La Fuente, a city council member who led the drive to hire armed guards, said he will push to retain another security service. "There is still a very serious need for security in some of our more crime-plagued areas," he said. Before selecting Mr. Karawia's company, Mr. De La Fuente said, he and representatives of Oakland's police department interviewed security candidates and found nothing out of the ordinary. Mayor Ron Dellums opposes hiring a private firm and prefers to have police patrol the district. Write to Bobby White at [email protected] --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's "News From Underground" newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to [email protected] OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the "Unsubscribe or change membership" link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the "Unsubscribe" button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
