Following a week of protests and unrests during some of the demonstrations in and around downtown Oakland, the Alamadea County Sheriff's Office released Thursday a list of Occupy arrests.

Hundreds of protesters who took to the streets to protest Tuesday's pre-dawn raid of the downtown Occupy Oakland encampment were met with tear gas and flash bangs from police.

The prevailing notion is that public safety depends on how many police officers you have relative to the population and, the more officers, the more safe.

I've lived in Oakland for a minute now, but I'd never really explored Alameda. So on Memorial Day morning, I set off on my bike to go see the beach there.

I ended up witnessing a slow motion suicide -- and wrestling some fierce inner demons, and playing a bit role in an unfolding national media story.

Here's what happened, and why it matters to Oakland ...