The Oakland Police Department has been so ineffectively structured that only one part-time investigator was assigned to handle 10,000 reported burglaries last year, a stunning deficiency revealed Thursday by police consultants hired by the city to develop a crime-fighting plan.

“Given the way the organization was structured, burglary was not being investigated,” said William Andrews, one of the consultants working on a team hired by Oakland Mayor Jean Quan and the City Council to help police reduce the crime problem. …

Police response to a rise in burglaries has been a persistent concern for residents throughout the city over the past few years.

Burglaries increased each of the last two years, including a 43 percent spike from 2011 to 2012. Auto burglaries jumped 77 percent last year, while home burglaries rose 24 percent.

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