On Tuesday, Antioch Police Chief T Brooks posted his first video message, known as a vlog, on the department’s Facebook page sharing good news about the increase in staffing to 120 sworn and reductions in Part 1 crimes.

Following is the transcript of his vlog:

“Hey, everyone! T Brooks here, YOUR Chief of Police in the City of Antioch.  During the past few weeks, I’ve had several community members contacting me in an effort to educate themselves about the police department.  And as I reflect back on several of these conversations, I realized they revolved around three specific topics:

• Police officer staffing
• Crime statistics, and
• Response times to calls for service.

So, I figured, ‘Hey! Maybe I can share this information with our loyal social media fan base? I mean, we do have more than 23,000 followers, and I’m sure many of you have these same questions and would love to hear the answers directly from me.’

Now in the past, when I wanted to share information with you, I’d type out a post for people to read.  And for those of you who know me, you know I can get pretty wordy with my posts.  I mean well and try to be as thorough and transparent as possible. But lately, I’ve seen a lot of people making videos to communicate their messages to the public. And I thought, ‘What the heck?  I’ll give that a try.’ So, here we go:

But before I begin, I want to establish a benchmark for the context of the conversation, and provide a little background on what helped us get to where we are now:

The year is 2012, and Antioch suffered its most crime ridden year in recent recorded history.  With more than 1,000 violent crimes reported, Antioch had the unfortunate distinction of being named the fourth most dangerous city in California.  Staffing at the police department was severely impacted due to the recession, and we were grossly understaffed.  At that time we didn’t have the resources or ability to do anything proactive to prevent crimes from occurring.  In fact, we struggled just to respond in a timely manner AFTER a crime occurred.

Our community, fed up with feeling unsafe, made a bold move.  In 2013, Antioch residents put their trust in our elected officials and police department when they overwhelmingly passed Measure C, a half-cent sales tax that, in part, had a goal of increasing police staffing to reduce crime and improve 911 emergency response times.  Then in 2018, with the expiration of Measure C looming, Antioch residents once again chose to tax themselves an additional half-cent, and approved Measure W.  And while Measure W had a broader focus on how funds would be used, public safety remained one of the identified priorities.

In short, seven years ago our community opted to invest in public safety. And we here at the Antioch Police Department took the trust you put in us very seriously. So, what’s the ultimate outcome of this investment?

Police Officer Staffing:

• Prior to the recession, Antioch PD was fully staffed with 126 police officers. But then reduced budgets cut our staffing to a low of 78 officers in 2012.  Thanks to Measure C and now Measure W, we currently have 120 police officers working to keep you and your families safe!  That’s a 54% increase in police officers – putting the Antioch Police Department staffing at a level we haven’t seen in almost a decade.

Response Times:

• In Antioch, response times are measured from the moment a dispatcher picks up the phone, to the moment an officer arrives on scene.  Back in 2012, the average response time to an emergency call for service reached a dismal 11 minutes and 4 seconds.  Today, our average response time is down to 7 minutes and 35 seconds – which means we’re getting to those most in need of help 31% faster than before!
• But not every call for service we go to is an emergency.  In fact, emergency calls make up only about 9% of all the calls we handle.  Approximately 48% of calls are categorized as urgent, 34% are considered routine, and 10% are informational.  Response times to these calls also saw a significant decrease.  On average, we’re now getting to urgent calls 41% faster, routine calls 77% faster, and informational calls a whopping 91% faster!

Crime Stats:

• As I mentioned earlier, the recession adversely impacted our community as well as our police department.  With the budget cuts we experienced, both police officer and non-sworn positions were defunded and crime surged in Antioch.  There were 1068 violent crimes, and 4757 property crimes reported in 2012.  But as our staffing grew and we were able to work proactively as well as reactively, as our response times to calls decreased and we were able to provide a higher level of service, and as we were now able to engage the community in ways that make our community safer, we are now in a much better place than we were before.  By the end of 2019, Antioch recorded its seventh consecutive year of declining Part I crime, with violent crime down 39% from 2012 levels, and property crime down 32%.  And this downward trend is continuing through September of 2020, with violent crime currently 10% lower than last year, and property crime 9% lower – which is definitely great news!

Now please don’t confuse my happiness at the fact we might see our eighth straight year of declining crime as being content.  Actually, I’m far from it.  We still have a lot of work to do to reduce crime in our community even further.  And I definitely don’t want to lose ground and go back to crime levels we saw in the past.  But with your continued support, along with the hard work and dedication of the amazing men and women of the Antioch Police Department, I believe we’ll continue making progress, and Antioch will be a safer place to live, work, and play.

So, there you have it, my first attempt at a vlog (as my kids called it).  Let me know what you think.  If you liked the video and want to see more – I can do that.  If not, at least I tried.  I hope you found this information helpful, and thank you for allowing me to be your chief of police!  It truly is My honor!

 

By Antioch Police Department

Please take a moment to help us welcome our two newest police officers to the City of Antioch family. Officer Pedreira and Officer Navarrette recently graduated from the 190th Academy Class at the Law Enforcement Training Center in Pittsburg. Here is a little bit about each of them:

Daniel Navarrette

Daniel, affectionately known as DJ, was born in Walnut Creek and grew up in Antioch. He attended Liberty High School in Brentwood, where he played football and baseball. After graduating high school, DJ attended Los Medanos Community College where he received an AS Degree in criminal justice. In 2015, DJ enlisted in the United States Navy. His job while in the Navy was working in intelligence. He was stationed at the NSA near Washington DC for three years. While there, he won the Sailor of the Quarter Award and was nominated for Sailor of the Year. DJ returned to California in November of 2019 after his service was complete. In his free time, DJ enjoys spending time with his nearly one-year old daughter, Frankie, and wife, Erin.

Nicco Pedreira

Nicco grew up in Brentwood, California with his two younger brothers, Tre and Cole. Nicco‘s father, Ponch, along with several other family members, are law enforcement officers which had a huge influence on the way he was raised. Nicco attended Heritage High School where he played football. After high school, Nicco attended Los Medanos College and worked two jobs. Nicco always knew he wanted to be a Police Officer, so he took this time to go on numerous ride alongs with different departments to find the right fit for him. Nicco found that fit with the Antioch Police Department. In his free time, Nicco likes to spend time with his first son, who was born while he was in the Academy.

In a video posted on the Antioch Police Department Facebook page yesterday, Chief T Brooks reported that this brings the force to 120 sworn officers and that it hasn’t been at that level in almost 10 years.

 

By Antioch Police

While you were sleeping. Thursday night Oct. 16, 2020 at about 11:00 pm, Officer Ibanez spotted an Audi reported stolen from San Francisco driving on Highway 4 in our city. He called for backup and our friends at the @Contra Costa Sheriff’s Office showed up to help. A traffic stop was attempted on Highway 4 near 242 in Concord. The driver failed to stop and led us on a short pursuit, which abruptly ended when he popped a tire near the exit to 680. The occupants fled from our infamous bracelet fittings into an open field, but were eventually captured and fitted nonetheless.

Inside the vehicle, officers found three firearms, including an AR-pistol, which the occupants were not allowed to possess due to prior convictions. One occupant was already on probation out of San Francisco for robbery and firearms violations.

Since they had already covered most of the distance to the County Jail in Martinez (before their tire popped), we provided courtesy transportation for those last few miles. Both were booked on charges of possession of a stolen vehicle, illegal firearm possession, and probation violation. Our hope was they could also tell others why driving a stolen vehicle through Antioch is not a good idea.

Special thanks to the fine deputies at the Contra Costa Sheriff’s Office for helping us with this incident!

Folks, we are seeing double-digit firearm recoveries over the last few days. Stay-tuned for an update on our efforts to keep Antioch safe.

#antiochpdca    CONTRA COSTA SHERIFF-OFFICIAL PAGE

 

 

By Antioch Police Department

The Antioch Police Department was awarded a $53,000 grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS).

The safety of everyone traveling on our roadways is the focus of a grant awarded to the Antioch Police Department. The grant will assist in the Antioch Police Department’s efforts to reduce deaths and injuries on Antioch roads.

We are excited to be working with OTS and eager to use these grant funds to improve traffic safety within our city. Traffic safety has always been a top priority for our agency and community. This grant will assist us in reaching our traffic safety goals.

The one-year grant is for the 2021 federal fiscal year, which runs from Oct. 1, 2020 to Sept. 30, 2021.

The grant will fund a variety of traffic safety programs, including:

• Patrols with emphasis on alcohol and drug-impaired driving prevention.
• Patrols with emphasis on awareness and education of California’s hands-free cell phone law.
• Patrols with emphasis on education of traffic rights for bicyclists and pedestrians.
• Patrols with emphasis on motorcycle safety
• Patrols with emphasis on awareness and education of primary causes of crashes: excess speed, failure to yield, failure to stop at stop signs/signals, improper turning/lane changes.
• Community education presentations on traffic safety issues such as distracted driving, DUI, speed, bicycle and pedestrian safety.
• Collaborative efforts with neighboring agencies on traffic safety priorities.
• Officer training and/or recertification: Standard Field Sobriety Test (SFST), Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement (ARIDE) and Drug Recognition Expert (DRE).

Funding for this program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

 

It’s one reason the APOA offers for not supporting them in the November election

In an email message sent out by the Antioch Police Officers Association on Monday afternoon, they wrote the following, based on the 3-2 vote by the Antioch City Council on July 28, although all five council members supported a feasibility study on the proposal. (See related article)

“… and it’s being supported by

Councilmembers Monica Wilson and Joy

Motts.

Mayor candidate Lamar Thorpe has a proposal to permanently house homeless individuals at the Executive Inn on E. 18th and Cavallo – an area that is already a crime challenge for the Antioch Police. But the problems only begin there.

The location is CLOSE TO HOMES, only 1/4 MILE FROM FOUR ANTIOCH SCHOOLS and the Antioch Youth Sports Center. And the cost to Antioch taxpayers could reach one million dollars or more per year.

The Antioch Police Officers’ Association believes this proposal could put citizens’ lives in danger and sets a precedent for Antioch becoming the magnet for the County’s homeless.

This proposal is but one reason we are NOT supporting the re-election of Councilmembers Monica Wilson and Joy Motts on November 3rd.

Thank you for reading this message.

Antioch Police Officers’ Association

Working to Protect the Citizens of Antioch”

Allen Payton contributed to this report.

Arrested for elder abuse, in jail since Oct. 2; Sheriff’s Office investigating

By Jimmy Lee, Director of Public Affairs, Contra Costa County Office of the Sheriff

On Saturday, October 17, 2020, at about 6:15 PM, a deputy sheriff escorted a Mental Health Clinician to speak with an inmate at the West County Detention Facility in Richmond.

As the deputy opened the door to the inmate’s cell, she found him unresponsive with a bed sheet wrapped around his neck. Deputies and jail medical staff provided life saving measures until an ambulance and the fire department arrived. The inmate was later pronounced deceased at the scene.

The inmate is identified as 42-year-old Gregory Lynds of Antioch. He was originally arrested by the Antioch Police Department and was booked into jail on October 2, 2020. He was being held on two felony counts of elder abuse (likely to produce great bodily harm or death), two felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon, parole violation, and battery on a peace officer.

The investigation into the apparent suicide is being investigated by the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office and Contra Costa Sheriff’s Office.

The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with any information is asked to contact the Investigation Division at (925) 313-2600. For any tips, email: tips@so.cccounty.us or call (866) 846-3592 to leave an anonymous voice message.

Claims Wright is “out of touch”…“with Antioch’s values” because of positions on issues his political party has taken, not him; Thorpe admits one attack was incomplete, referring to it as “A small error…”

By Allen Payton

During the continued battle for votes , in an email sent out on Saturday, October 10, Antioch Councilman Lamar Thorpe, a candidate for mayor, attacked Mayor Sean Wright giving misleading statements about two of Wright’s votes on the council, and injected more partisan politics into the race for the non-partisan position.

Following is the portion of Thorpe’s email that includes the attacks on Wright.

Date: October 10, 2020 at 7:39:46 AM PDT

Subject: WOW! Republican Endorsements…
Reply-To: Lamar Thorpe for Mayor! <lamar@lamarthorpe.com>

At the bottom of Thorpe’s email it reads, Paid for by Lamar Thorpe, Antioch Mayor 2020  FPPC: 1432877

Thorpe’s email refers to a postcard Wright’s campaign mailed to Democrat voters in Antioch the previous week with endorsements by local, registered Democrats with the words, “Mayor Sean Wright Shares OUR VALUES”.

Thorpe’s email reads about Wright, “WOW!!! Last week TRUMP REPUBLICAN candidates like my opponent Mayor Sean Wright wanted you to believe they were Democrats. They are not. Although I’m not surprised, he did vote against my police reform proposal, voted against housing homeless families, voted against cannabis retailing and manufacturing, and the list goes on.”

Thorpe admits the latter attack on Wright’s votes on cannabis businesses was incomplete, saying it was “A small error on my part.”

While Wright voted against forming the Cannabis Business Overlay Districts on May 22, 2018, then again on June 26, 2018 (see related articles, here and here), he voted for all four cannabis businesses that have applied for permits in Antioch. Wright voted with three other council members in favor of the first cannabis retail store in the city on April 23, 2019, located on W. 10th Street, with only Councilmember Lori Ogorchock opposing. (See related article) Then he, along with the rest of the council members voted for another retail cannabis store on W. 10th Street on June 25, 2019. (See related article) Wright also voted for a cannabis business on Wilbur Avenue which was approved by the city council on Sept. 10, 2019 on a 4-1 vote with only Councilmember Lori Ogorchock opposing. That location includes cannabis cultivation, manufacturing, dispensary and delivery. (See related article)

Regarding the police reform proposals, while Wright didn’t support Thorpe’s two-councilmember ad hoc committee on police reform, whose meetings could be held in secret and not required to follow the state’s open meeting laws, Wright supported having all five council members participate in forums on police reform and race relations in Antioch. Thorpe and fellow Councilmember Monica Wilson opposed that, and Thorpe went silent for the remainder of the council meeting when asked for his input and ideas on and who to include in the forums. (See related article)

Earlier this year, Thorpe proposed 13 reforms for the police department, including those that are part of the 8 Can’t Wait national effort, five of which, according to Police Chief T Brooks, that have been or are already being implemented. (See related article) Thorpe’s own press release about it admits two of the 8 Can’t Wait reforms are “already an Antioch policy”. (See related article) In addition, the first of the eight, “Ban police use of chokeholds and strangleholds, including the carotid restraint”, was recently banned statewide by the governor signing into law a bill on the issue.

The attack, while misleading, is accurate because the vote on forming the ad-hoc committee did include Thorpe’s five reform proposals. However, Wright did not support approving any of them before receiving input from the public through the forums.

Thorpe Explains, Admits to Incomplete Information

When asked about his email and why it contained information that was clearly false, Thorpe responded in an email clarifying his accusations.

“Sean did vote against my police reform proposal,” he wrote. “My proposal to establish a police reform ad-hoc (committee) was very clear and specific and was voted down in a 3/2 vote. Following is a quote from my press release, which you have cited on multiple occasions: ‘At the Tuesday, June 9, 2020, Antioch Council meeting, Councilmember Thorpe will call for the formation of a City Council Ad-Hoc Committee on Police Reforms to be composed of council members, legal advisers, police leaders, police union representatives, and community advocates. The role of the committee will be to examine potential long-term reforms in the following areas: 1. Demilitarize our local police 2. Increase police accountability 3. Improved police hiring practices 4. Excessive use of force 5. Budget appropriations.’ Here is the vote: https://www.antiochca.gov/government/city-council-meetings/06-18-20/”

“On June 18, 2020, the council majority opted for a ‘larger conversation’ that is now called ‘Bridging the Gap’ and seems to be rooted in the idea of police-community relations,” Thorpe explained. “Please note, after almost five months, no larger conversation has taken place because of the bureaucratic process, which we could have bypassed with my police reform proposal to establish an ad-hoc.”

“In terms of cannabis retailing and manufacturing, I’m talking about policy, not applications, Sean did vote against the cannabis policy and zoning overlay. I should have included the word ‘policy’, ‘legislation’, ‘proposal’ or ‘ordinance’ following that phrase. I did use these phrases on my website and campaign material. A small error on my part.”

“Here is the meeting where he voted no and specifically attributed his ‘No’ vote to cannabis retailing: https://www.antiochca.gov/government/city-council-meetings/05-22-18/,” Thorpe shared. “The Herald reported about it here: http://antiochherald.com/2018/05/22-ah03/”

“Had we moved in the direction Mayor Wright recommended, the council would not have been able to consider the cannabis retail applications that followed,” he stated. “These retailers have resulted in the creation of high wage jobs, over $1 million in new city revenue, thousands of dollars to support local nonprofits like Beat the Streets, and additional revenue for the police department.”

“We were in a rush to get that out and I should have included that information,” Thorpe added about the email message.

Attempts to reach Wright for comment were unsuccessful prior to publication. Please check back later for any updates to this report.

Hosted by The Yellow Heart Committee

Moderators include Assemblywoman Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, NBC Bay Area’s Candice Nguyen

Citizens will have opportunity to be a party to political leaders discussing sexual assault prevention and survivor empowerment

Zoom – This town hall is to allow survivors, politicians, and non-profit leaders to engage and brainstorm tangible policy changes and actions to support survivors. We look forward to holding a space to hear potent testimonies of the struggles victims have endured post attack, to listen to the demands of victims, and to address the flaws in our criminal justice system. This will be a platform for a conversation and a chance for leaders to reflect on the direct impact they could have on victims’ lives through their policy decisions.

“I knew we needed to get the people who can make change happen in the same room,” said The Yellow Heart Committee Founder N’dea Johnson. “Getting people together, especially during COVID, is never easy. But the work we’re doing, and the education we’re spreading, it’s just too important to wait.”

The virtual town hall is scheduled for October 17th, 2020 at 4 PM PST/7 PM EST. It consists of three panels: Urgency of the Issue, Reimagining Support for Survivors, and Addressing Necessary Policy Changes. In addition, there will be testimonials from survivors, and a panel of political figures. They are listed below.

Speakers:

US Congressman Eric Swalwell

US Congressman Mike Thompson

CA State Assemblymember Rob Bonta

CA State Assemblymember Shirley Weber

Panelists:

CA State Assemblymember Tim Grayson

SC State House Candidate Dr. Jermaine Johnson

Antioch City Council Member Monica Wilson

Oakland City Council President Rebecca Kaplan

President of Alliance For Hope International Casey Gwinn

CEO of Love Never Fails Vanessa Russell

President of SF Pride Carolyn Wysinger

Moderators

CA State Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan

NBC Investigative Reporter and Survivor Candice Nguyen

Suisun City Vice Mayor Wanda Williams

Event Details:

What: Virtual Zoom Town Hall

When: Saturday, October 17, 2020

Where: Zoom. Register Here: https://bit.ly/3mJ9yiv

For any additional information, please contact us at yellowheartcommittee@gmail.com

The Yellow Heart Committee is an organization that is mobilizing to help survivors of trauma through policy making and community outreach. For more information, please visit and get involved at https://www.yellowheartcommittee.com/