Police Union Standoff While Crime Rises
On Valentine’s Day, the Antioch City Council received Police Chief Allan Cantando’s annual report on crime in Antioch (2010 vs. 2011 stats).
The report showed declines in homicides (5 vs. 13), rape, robbery, aggravated assault, and total arrests. The bad news, however, was that burglary was up 22.8%, theft up 49.8%, auto theft up 0.7% and arson up 51.4%. To sum it up, although total violent crime declined 5.3%, total property crime went up 25.1% and total violent and property crime went up 18.5%.
Regrettably, there have been 6 shootings in the past few days, resulting in the death of one person. (Shades of the Valentine massacre). Fortunately, the resident who defended himself against an apparent home invader, wasn’t injured.
Residents would like to see the additional hiring of police officers, but due to the reluctance of the Public Employees Union Local 1 and the Antioch Police Officer’s Association, who inexplicably were granted 2 extra holidays per year during budget negotiations last year, to accept the same labor concessions as other city employees, the standoff may continue.
