Commits to more transparency, Public Safety Network with DOJ, has formed Community Engagement Unit, will host open house, signed 30×30 Pledge to achieve 30% women police recruits by 2030

Interim Antioch Police Chief Dr. Steve Ford. Source: APD

By Allen D. Payton

Following reports of more Antioch Police officers under investigation and on paid leave for alleged offensive texts, and this morning’s press conference by Mayor Lamar Thorpe on the matter, Antioch Police Chief Steve Ford issued a statement, late Thursday afternoon, March 30, 2023, outlining ways his department will respond.

“Chief Steven A. Ford’s Open Letter to the Antioch Community.

I write this letter to acknowledge the recent series of events pertaining to our members. Admittedly this is a very unfortunate situation, however I urge that our members’ due process be respected, and they are not tried in the court of public opinion. Important to note, as an organization we always strive to be of service and engage in fair and impartial policing practices.

Moving forward we will continue to be responsive to the community, be intentional about being accessible, and will adhere to procedural justice centered policing plans and strategies. We have recently instituted many new policies, procedures, and best practices which support our premise of transparency and consistency, and we look forward to serving this great community.

One of the things we’re most proud of is our current engagement with Public Safety Partnerships through the Department of Justice. This plan will codify what we’re calling our “Public Safety Network” whereby we will partner with a host of internal and external community-based resources to anchor a city-wide approach to public safety.

In support of these efforts, our Community Engagement Unit (CEU) was established. The mission of the CEU is to prioritize the principles of 21st century policing models by developing meaningful partnerships with our community. The CEU will listen to the community, foster new relationships, and strengthen old ones.

In the coming weeks we have many plans and programs forthcoming, one of which is an APD Open House. This will be publicized shortly, and we look forward to seeing our city residents and visitors present and engaging with our members.

Additionally, we have signed on to the 30×30 Pledge – a focused effort to improve the representation and experiences of women in law enforcement. The 30×30 Initiative helps policing agencies assess the current state of a department regarding gender equity, identify factors that may be driving any disparities and develop and implement strategies and solutions to eliminate barriers and advance women in policing. These actions address recruitment, assessment, hiring, retention, promotion, and agency culture.”

30×30 Pledge & Initiative

According to the website, the 30×30 Pledge and Initiative is focused on “Advancing Women in Policing, 30% Women Recruits by 2030”. The website points out, “Currently, women make up only 12% of sworn officers and 3% of police leadership in the U.S.”

The Pledge includes three phases. Phase 1 which is targeted for completion in the first six months includes collecting baseline data and Immediate Action Items:

1. Formally make hiring, retaining, and promoting qualified women a strategic priority for your agency through public statements and internal orders, and include improving gender diversity in your mission statement, strategic plan, and/or other public documentation of agency priorities.
2. Affirm zero tolerance for discriminatory practices or harassment, particularly with regard to demographics such as gender and gender identity, race and ethnicity, and sexual orientation.
3. Ensure there is a designated space for nursing mothers who have returned to work after giving birth to express breast milk (pump) as needed. This space must be private and sanitary (e.g., not the women’s bathroom or a cruiser). Provide dedicated refrigeration space for storing breast milk. Include seating, cleaning supplies, and all other requirements for making the space appropriate and workable, such as working electrical outlets.
4. Allow nursing mothers—especially those on patrol—flexibility in their schedules to accommodate expressing breast milk in designated space.
5. Ensure all equipment for women officers is appropriate and fit to the officer’s proportions (e.g., uniforms, firearms, ballistic-resistant vests).

Phase 2 is targeted to be completed in 12 to 24 months and includes collecting Diagnostic Data and Demographics. With all data collection related to individual demographics, agencies should aim to capture gender, race/ethnicity, and age, if possible. This phase includes Hiring, Promotion, Retention & Culture and Recruitment.

Phase 3 is Planning and should begin 6 months from pledge signing with development of a Strategic Plan to Advance Women in Policing. The final version is due 24 months from pledge signing.

Mayor Thorpe to hold news conference Thursday morning; two other council members unaware of matter

By Allen D. Payton

According to an East Bay Times report, eight more Antioch Police officers have been placed on leave and are under investigation for sending each other racist and homophobic texts in violation of department policies. Antioch Mayor Lamar Thorpe has called a press conference for Thursday morning at 11 a.m. to speak on the matter.

The officers on leave are in addition to eight other officers also on leave while under investigation by the FBI and Contra Costa DA’s office. (See related article)

Questions were emailed to Thorpe, Acting City Manager Forrest Ebbs, City Attorney Thomas L. Smith, Police Chief Steve Ford and the police department’s spokespeople, Lt. Michael Mellone and PIO Ashley Crandell asking to verify the information in the article and for the time and location of the press conference.

Ebbs responded, “The City of Antioch is investigating allegations revealed by information received against a number of Antioch Police Officers.  The City has placed the officers on administrative leave pending the investigation of allegations.  Given that this is a confidential personnel matter, no further information can be disclosed at this time.”

Thorpe confirmed the time of the press conference, said it will be held at City Hall and that the information reported in the article didn’t come from him.

Councilmembers Mike Barbanica and Lori Ogorchock said they weren’t aware of the matter before being informed by this reporter. “First I’ve heard or seen” of it, Ogorchock responded.

“I sure did not,” Barbanica responded when asked if he had heard about the matter. He then called Ebbs. Barbanica said Ebbs told him he had briefed Thorpe on the matter, just not the rest of the council.

“I told the acting city manager, we are a General Law City not a Charter City and if one council member was made aware, the entire council should have been made aware. For the mayor to be briefed and not the rest of the city council, this is unacceptable,” said Barbanica. “I asked him why I wasn’t made aware of this and why wasn’t the rest of the council made aware, and why did I have to learn of this from the media.”

The District 2 councilman said Ebbs told him Thursday morning, “in a very short period of time he was going to get communication out to the rest of the city council.” That was expected to be received by 10 a.m. prior to the press conference. “I’m waiting for the details to come out before making any additional comment,” Barbanica added. But he said he had an appointment in San Francisco at the time and couldn’t attend the press conference. “Had I been briefed about it, yesterday, I could have rearranged my schedule.”

See press conference video.

Our Neighborhood Voices, a growing statewide coalition of communities, claims the bill is a permanent extension of SB 35, gives developers unlimited ability to develop nearly anything, anywhere in California

California lawmakers recently introduced legislation that would permanently strip local communities of nearly all important land use decisions. While the legislation – SB 423 – is touted as a tool to solve our affordable housing crisis, local elected leaders say that the legislation undermines local democracy by removing the ability of communities to plan and prepare for what is built in their neighborhoods. It also can accelerate damaging ‘Builders Remedy’ projects across the state that see massive projects built in residential neighborhoods without adequate planning for water, schools, transit, safety fire danger and other priorities.

SB 423 also removes vital protections in our Coastal Zones – something no other housing bill has dared to do. Californians have consistently supported protecting our coasts – this bill removes many of those protections forever.

“I was hoping SB 423 might be a tool to help us solve our affordable housing crisis, but it is not,” said Susan Candell, Lafayette City Councilmember. “Instead, it is the state’s final end game to undermine local democracy in cities and counties, and unleash unlimited development, including the ‘Builders Remedy,’ even in our treasured coastal zones.”

SB 423 can potentially release the ‘Builders Remedy’ where developers can just about build anything, anywhere. SB 423 is a permanent extension of SB 35 – a 2018 law that forces local governments to approve certain developments under a streamlined process if they fail to build, not just approve, but build enough housing to meet their Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) numbers. Complex interactions with many other bills lead cities again to be subject to the ‘Builders Remedy’ in 2025 for Southern California and 2027 in Northern California.

The RHNA numbers – which are set every eight years – “laid out impossible goals this cycle,” explains Jovita Mendoza, Brentwood City Councilmember. “Virtually no cities or counties will be able to meet their RHNA numbers. Cities and counties are now set up to fail, and as a result, local governments will lose their ability to have a say about what gets built in our communities. Instead, under SB 423, that approval process will be turned over to developers permanently.”

Coastal zones have been protected from profit-driven overdevelopment since the passage of the California Coastal Act of 1976. This new proposed legislation would virtually undo decades of work to protect California’s coastlines.

“Now local oversight, those who are the stewards of the coastal zone, is removed. Instead, those decisions are handed over to developers and their allies in Sacramento. We all know we need affordable housing in every part of California, but this bill drastically reduces the required affordable units,” said Redondo Beach City Councilmember Nils Nehrenheim.

Our Neighborhood Voices is a non-partisan coalition of residents and elected officials from every corner of California who believe that land use decisions should be determined by local communities and their elected leaders – not one-size-fits-all laws from Sacramento and for-profit developers.

To get these important questions in front of voters, Our Neighborhood Voices is organizing to qualify a citizen-led ballot initiative that would protect the ability of local communities to adopt laws that shape local growth, preserve the character of neighborhoods, and require developers to produce more affordable housing and contribute to the costs associated with it.

Jessica Russo was arrested by Pittsburg Police in Antioch on Wednesday, March 29, 2023. Photos of scene by Allen D. Payton. Gregory Rossignon is still wanted for the March 22 murder.

Following hours-long stand-off outside home male suspect still wanted; his father says female suspect pregnant with male suspect’s child

By Allen D. Payton

Shortly after 2:00 pm Wednesday, March 29, 2023, the Pittsburg Police Department’s Special Response Unit served a search warrant at a residence in the 2000 block of D Street in the city of Antioch for two suspects wanted for murder of a Pittsburg convenience store clerk on March 22. During the service of the warrant, Jessica Russo was located and arrested. She was booked and taken to the Martinez Detention Facility.

Pittsburg Police officers near the house on D and W. Madill Streets in Antioch. Members of the Pittsburg Special Response Unit with the department’s Bearcat armored vehicle.

After a methodical and exhaustive search of the residence was conducted, Gregory Rossignon remains outstanding and still wanted for murder. During the search officers approached the house and several times, broke windows, dropped a phone with a phone line into the house, called out on the loudspeaker for Rossignon to pick up the phone and dial a number to speak to police. The officers flew drones inside and outside and deployed four rounds of a chemical agent believed to be tear gas inside the home. After the second round of gas another woman emerged from the residence about 5:53 p.m. and was detained, placed in handcuffs and escorted from the scene.

Pittsburg officers at front door breaking out windows, tear gas smoke emerged from the house’s attic, and a second woman was detained.

About 7:35 p.m., Rossignon’s father, who identified himself as Gregory, Sr., arrived on the scene and asked to speak to his son “so everyone comes out of this alive”. He referred to Russo as his daughter. When shown a photo of Russo and asked if she was who he was referring to, Rossignon, Sr. said, “yes, I call her my daughter. She’s pregnant with my son’s child…my grandchild.” He told police, “I’ll strip down if you need me to and walk in there to talk to my son.” Later, ,a woman drove up to the scene and said she was the suspect’s mother. Officers took both parents to an area on Lawton Street where they waited but did not speak to their son.

A drone was sent into the house through windows police had broken out. Gregory Rossignon, Sr., the suspect’s father, arrived on the scene offering to speak to his son.

At about 9:15 p.m., an officer said he expected to wrap things up shortly, but that they had not had any contact with the suspect nor could confirm that anyone was still in the house.

The Pittsburg Police would like to thank the Antioch residents who live in this area for their patience during the service of the warrant. Several residents were escorted by police to their homes on D Street. But one mother and daughter who live next door to the house had to find somewhere else to stay for the night. Although offered to stay at a Pittsburg motel by one of the officers, they chose to stay with friends. The woman said she expected to return to her home Thursday morning.

The Pittsburg Police Department is asking anyone with information related to Gregory Rossingnon’s whereabouts to contact the local police. We are also asking anyone with information contact Detective Jonathan Elmore at 925-252-4875 or the Pittsburg Police Department Tip Line at 925-252-4040.

See more photos and video at facebook.com/antiochheraldca.

Arrested for sex crimes against minors in Contra Costa, first at Deer valley High

By Ted Asregadoo, PIO, Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office

As the seven-count felony case against Christopher George Miller continues in Superior Court in Martinez, the investigative team who arrested him in a sting operation for arranging to engage in sex acts with a minor are asking the public for help.

The investigation into Miller started in 2022 when he was employed at Deer Valley High School in Antioch as a campus supervisor. A parent of a student reported to school officials that Miller was sending inappropriate texts to the student regarding marijuana use at the school, as well as sexually suggestive messages. (See related article)

The Contra Costa County Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC) adopted the case about three weeks ago to see if Miller (who was then a former employee at the high school) would sell marijuana and arrange to meet for sex. Posing as a 13-year-old girl on a chat app Miller used, a Detective with the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office started communicating with him. At one point while exchanging texts, Miller offered to sell the fictitious teen marijuana — and later the chats became more sexual in nature.

Miller arranged to meet the teen for sex at a park in Martinez on March 16th, 2023. Participating ICAC members from the Sheriff’s Office, Concord Police, Danville Police, Pittsburg Police, and the District Attorney’s Office met him at the park and arrested Miller on marijuana possession with the intent to sell to a minor and other charges related to contacting and arranging to engage in lewd and lascivious acts with a minor. He was booked into the Martinez Detention Facility and arraigned on a total of seven felony charges on March 21st. His preliminary hearing is set for April 3rd at 8:30 am in Department 25 in Martinez.

According to the charging document filed on March 20 by the CCDA’s Office, Miller was charged with seven felonies, including P0288.3(a), Contact with Minor for Sexual Offense on or about June 14, 2022; PC288.4(b), Meeting Minor for Lewd Purposes between March 10 and 16, 2023; PC288.3(a), Contact with Minor for Sexual Offense on or between March 10 and 16, 2023; PC288.2(a)(2), Distributing Or Showing Pornography To A Minor on or about March 14, 2023; PC288.2(a)(2), Distributing Or Showing Pornography To A Minor on or about March 15, 2023; PC 664/PC288(a), Attempted Lewd Act Upon A Child on or about March 16, 2023; PC 664/HS11360(a), Attempted Sale/Offer To Sell/Transportation Of Marijuana on or about March 16, 2023. 01-23-00820 – Charging Document Miller

ICAC Senior Inspector Darryl Holcombe notes that Miller may have been in contact with other victims. He’s asking the public to email him at the District Attorney’s Office if they have information related to Miller’s case. He can be reached at: DHolcombe@contracostada.org.

Case No. 01-23-00820 | The People of the State of California v. Miller, Christopher George

Allen D. Payton contributed to this report.

El Condado de Contra Costa Examina a la Comunidad para Planificación de las Artes y la Cultura

By Kristi Jourdan, Office of Communications & Media

What is the future of Contra Costa County’s arts and cultural landscape? As part of the County’s efforts to develop an Arts & Culture Strategic Plan, a survey will be available to residents during the month of April to gather community feedback.

The County has contracted with Arts Orange County as Project Manager to lead the arts and culture planning process. The goal is to guide an arts and cultural planning effort through an inclusive community engagement process that recognizes and respects the geographic and demographic diversity of the County. The process also includes an inventory of the County’s arts and cultural assets, including organizations, venues, and public art.

The survey will be open until April 30, 2023. To participate, visit www.surveymonkey.com/r/NSMSL2B

A Spanish language version of the survey is available at www.surveymonkey.com/r/YJHCQDH

¿Cuál es el futuro del panorama artístico y cultural del Condado de Contra Costa? Como parte de los esfuerzos del Condado para desarrollar un Plan Estratégico de Arte y Cultura, una encuesta estará disponible para los residentes durante el mes de Abril para recopilar comentarios de la comunidad.

El Condado ha contratado a Arts Orange County como Gerente de Proyecto para dirigir el proceso de planificación de las artes y la cultura. El objetivo es guiar un esfuerzo de planificación artística y cultural a través de un proceso inclusivo de participación comunitaria que reconozca y respete la diversidad geográfica y demográfica del Condado. El proceso también incluyeun inventario de los bienes artísticos y culturales del Condado, incluidas organizaciones, lugares y arte público.

La encuesta estará abierta hasta el 30 de Abril de 2023. Para participar, visite www.surveymonkey.com/r/NSMSL2B Una versión en Español de la encuesta está disponible en www.surveymonkey.com/r/YJHCQDH