Who stole Barbara Lee’s car? 

An unknown thief stole an SUV utilized by Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee after breaking into her Metropolis Corridor workplace, in accordance with a narrative first reported by police. California Post.

OPD advised The Oaklandside that the division is investigating the theft of a metropolis car from Metropolis Corridor on Monday, February 17. The car was recovered in Vallejo inside hours.

“Nobody in Oakland ought to have to fret about their automobile being stolen, whether or not they’re a resident, a metropolis employee or the mayor. Public security is a precedence all through our metropolis,” Lee mentioned in an announcement to The Oaklandside.

“OPD is following up on any leads,” a police spokesperson mentioned. “As that is an ongoing investigation, no additional info is out there right now.”

It’s unclear how anybody gained entry to Lee’s workplace. Oakland pays for personal safety personnel to protect Metropolis Corridor.

Final fall, that was a 45-year-old man from El Cerrito charged making threats and racist feedback in opposition to Lee by way of electronic mail.

Automobiles utilized by former Oakland mayors have been a supply of controversy. In 2024, metropolis officers acknowledged failing to pay an area automobile vendor for a Ford Expedition utilized by former Mayor Sheng Thao. In 2010, Oakland police began then-Mayor Jean Quan’s automobile exterior Metropolis Corridor over unpaid parking tickets.

Oakland makes use of a community of automated license plate readers that may monitor stolen automobiles. An audit of the system exhibits that there have been a number of latest searches by OPD for vehicle-related offenses. There have been 842 reported automobile thefts to this point in 2026, the US newspaper mentioned most recent published data by OPD. That is barely increased than the identical time final 12 months, however 28% decrease than the typical of the previous three years.