Larry Wallace, one of California’s top law enforcement officials will be delivering the keynote speech at the Peace In The Streets Forum on Oct. 29 at Pittsburg High School.

Wallace, a resident of eastern Contra Costa County, was appointed in June by Attorney General Kamala Harris as the first African-American to be named director of the Division of Law Enforcement.

Wallace, a 25-year veteran of law enforcement, worked with Harris as the former San Francisco district attorney’s deputy chief of the bureau of investigations. He started his career with the Berkeley Police Department and spent a decade with the San Francisco Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement.

Wallace, who grew up in Oakland, has day-to-day oversight of the department’s $238 million budget, 437 special agents, 281 criminalists, and 693 non-sworn personnel.

“We have to be creative and innovative and think outside of the box,” said Wallace, “it’s very important to collaborate with other entities to make sure that you’re getting the work done.”

Supervisor Federal Glover and the East County Gang Task Force sponsor the Peace In The Streets Forum. The goal of the forum is to make the community more aware of the resources and strategies available to counter the perception of rising violence and criminality in East County.

Police suspect gunmen were targeting a guest when they shot up a 3-year-old’s birthday party recently in Pittsburg wounding four victims.

“Shootings and stabbings are occurring much too often,” said Glover. “The situation has gotten out of hand. It is to the point where a 3-year-old child can’t have a birthday party in peace. It is time to act! It is time to be part of the solution. It is time we stop the violence.”

The Peace in the Streets Forum starts at 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. on Oct. 29 at Pittsburg High School. For more information, call 925-427-8138

On October 21 at 5:33 a.m. Antioch Police Officers were dispatched to the Chevron gas station located at 3400 Hillcrest Avenue on a report of an armed robbery that just occurred.

Officers obtained both a suspect and suspect vehicle description and broadcasted the information to surrounding law enforcement agencies. Within moments of the broadcast, Antioch officers located the vehicle and attempted to conduct an enforcement stop. The vehicle failed to yield to the officers and a lengthy vehicle pursuit ensued.

The pursuit took officers onto Highway 4 several times (in both directions) as well as surface streets in both Antioch and Oakley. Once in Oakley, Oakley PD officers assisted in the pursuit and began to follow the vehicle on to Big Break. While on Big Break, the suspect vehicle attempted to intentionally ram both Oakley and Antioch Police Vehicles.

One Oakley PD vehicle was struck by the suspect vehicle while one Antioch PD vehicle was run off the road. The pursuit culminated with the suspect vehicle losing control as it attempted to go off road and overturned. The suspected exited the vehicle and attempted to flee on foot but was quickly apprehended by an Antioch officer.

The suspect, a white male adult, 27, was transported to a local area hospital with what was described by medical personnel as serious but not life threatening injuries. Upon being medically cleared he will be booked into the county jail on several felony charges. No citizens or officers were injured during this incident.

The name of the suspect, as well as the property taken during the robbery, are not being disclosed at this time so as to preserve the integrity of the investigation. It should be noted that during the pursuit officers were able to determine that the suspect vehicle had in fact been reported as stolen several days earlier out of Antioch.

By Allen Payton, Publisher

The City Council and community were given some good news at the September 13 council meeting when Chief of Police Allan Cantando announced violent crime is down by 19.7% for the first six months of this year, compared to last year.

In spite of a 30% vacancy in sworn police officer positions, murders, rapes, assaults and robberies, known as Part 1 crimes, were all down when compared to the first six months of 2010.

In his report to the council, Cantando shared that there was a 12.6% decline in total arrests from 2,797 to 2,444.

The only part-one crime to increase was burglary, which Cantando attributed to youths out of school for summer break. That figure drops when they return to school.

Cantando also praised the Volunteers In Public Safety (VIPS) for contributing almost 3,700 volunteer hours, helping save the department $86,000.
Council members thanked the Chief and the police department for their good work in the face of limited resources.

The Antioch Police Department and REACH Project, Inc. collaborated in a Curfew Sweep in the city of Antioch on Oct. 14 starting at 11 p.m. This program is designed to reduce the number of minors being out after curfew.

The program is intended to be supportive rather than punitive. The City Ordinance generally prohibits minors (under the age of 18 years) from being in any public area between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. seven days a week. The ordinance was adopted to promote safety of the City’s youngest most vulnerable residents from becoming participants or victims of crimes.

Officers from the Antioch Police Department detained a total of 10 minors. They were brought to the processing center at the police department and turned over to the staff of the REACH Project where the minors were counseled and released to their parents or guardians. Follow-up juvenile diversion services will be provided by REACH addressing decision-making skills and training, treatment for alcohol and other drug abuse, understanding youth and the law and applying principles of restorative justice.

This program was a success and future programs will be scheduled throughout the summer in an attempt to further reduce number of minors out after curfew and increase the accountability and responsibility of both the minors and their parents or guardians.

Violent crime has taken a downturn this year according to statistics gathered from Antioch and Pittsburg police departments. At the same time, violent incidents among and by young people appear to be rising based on reports in the media and from school districts.

• Recently, two men shot a young man dead in Antioch in the Sycamore neighborhood. The men are still at large.
• A young man was shot while sitting in his car in Oakley. Police suspect it is gang-related.
• Two young men who are connected to a gang were arrested for shooting a man on an Antioch street.
• A member of an Aryan gang fatally stabbed a father in Bay Point.

“While the number of total violent crimes may have gone down, media reports indicate that gangs are involved in a greater percentage of the crimes committed in East County,” said Contra Costa Supervisor Federal Glover.

Criminal violence in East County has attracted the attention of one of the top law enforcement officials in the state. Larry Wallace, director of the Division of Law Enforcement in the Attorney General’s office, will be the keynote speaker at a local anti-violence and anti-gang forum, Peace in the Streets.

“Being smart on crime, that’s a part of collaborating and working with local entities and other forms of law enforcement, other groups within the community … not just a lock-­’em-­and-­throw-­away-­the-­key approach,” said Wallace, who has been in law enforcement for 28 years.

While East County gang-related incidents pale in comparison to other parts of the Bay Area, Glover and the East County Gang Task Force want to make sure that it doesn’t get any worse.

Glover and the task force are sponsoring the Peace In The Streets Forum this Oct. 29, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Pittsburg High School. Also featured during the forum will be panels composed of the county and city law enforcement agencies as well as members of the school districts and local community-based organizations who deal with at-risk youth. The forum is open to the public.

Especially urged to attend are parents who want to prevent their kids from joining gangs, educators who want to learn the latest trends in local gangs and youth workers of the nonprofit agencies that offer services to parents and youth.

The forum caps a week of community events against violence. These include:

• Prayer Walk sponsored by New Birth Church in Pittsburg on Oct. 22. Corporate Prayer starts at 6:30 a.m. and the march will begin around 7:30 a.m. The route will follow the DeAnza Trail to Crestview Ave., the site of a recent shooting. For more info, call 925- 439-8989.

• Stop The Violence March & Festival For Peace sponsored by Do The Word Ministries on Oct. 22 at 10:30 a.m. Assembly starts at 10:30 a.m. at East 18 and A streets in Antioch to Contra Loma Park where the Peace Festival will be located. For more info, call 925-978- 4839.

• Town Hall by New Birth Church in Pittsburg, Oct. 24, 7 p.m.- 9 p.m. There will be a panel on safe communities featuring panelists from law enforcement, education and Supervisor Glover. For more info, call 925-439-8989.

Based on information shared by the gang task force, gangs are no longer just an urban problem, says Ed Diokno, who coordinates the task force for Glover. They are actively recruiting vulnerable young people in the suburbs. They use areas like East County as places to hide when the law clamps down on their activities in places like Oakland, San Francisco or Richmond.

“Parents and educators need to know the signs that their children might be at risk of being lured by the violent gang lifestyle,” said Glover. “None of us can afford to be bystanders.” “The good thing to know is, we are not alone. There are resources and help available. There are
people already working to stop the violence.

“We can reclaim the streets if we act as a community,” says Glover. “Hopefully, this forum and the events leading up to it will give the community the knowledge and resources to fight the street violence and gangs.”

Pre-register for the Peace In The Streets Forum at www.cccounty.us/supervisorglover or call 925-427-8138. Registration will also be accepted at the door. All the marches and the forum are free and open to the public.

Come join Antioch Police Chief Allan Cantando on Saturday, October 22nd from 9:00-11:00 A.M. in a casual setting to discuss public safety issues, crime statistics, etc. You will also receive information about Disaster Emergency Preparedness, which will be presented by Lonnie Karste of Karste Consulting, Inc. Open communication about community issues is encouraged.

The location for this casual “Coffee with the Cops” workshop will be held in the Antioch Police Department Community Room located at 300 L Street. Members of the Antioch Crime Prevention Commission will be in attendance, and make themselves available to answer questions with a focus on enhancing Neighborhood Watch programs for Antioch residents.

The “Coffee with the Cops” concept is a pilot program implemented by the Antioch Police Department in an effort to improve communication between the Police Department and the citizens they serve. These meetings will consist of a “one-on-one” type format with a member of the police command staff and members of the community. The format of these meetings has been designed to be informative.

The Antioch Police Department is dedicated to promoting the quality of life in Antioch in partnership with our community, by proactively reducing crime with integrity and commitment to excellence.

On October 8, 2011 6:33 p.m., Antioch Police Officers responded to 2327 Dogwood Way in Antioch on a report of man who had been shot. Officers found a 24-year-old Antioch man in front of a home with gunshot wounds. He was transported to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The following suspects were seen fleeing the scene: black male, early 20’s, short hair, 6 feet, 170 pounds; and black male 18-22 years old, 5-foot-7 to 5-foot-8, 150 pound.

Anyone with information regarding this murder or these suspects should call Detective Bittner at (925)779-6939.

At approximately 5:55 p.m. on October 7, a resident in the 4900 block of Parkgreen Circle called stating that shots were being fired near his or her home, and that people with guns were in the rear yard.

Upon officers arrival, one 36-year-old male was found at that location, suffering from two gunshot wounds. No other people were present. The victim was a resident of that neighborhood. The victim was transported to an undisclosed hospital where he is in serious condition but is expected to live.

The motive for the shooting was unknown, and Antioch Police are conducting a follow up investigation on this case.