The following email was sent to Antioch residents on Monday from the Antioch Police Officers Association regarding their endorsement of Councilwoman Lori Ogorchock for re-election.

1. Councilwoman Lori Ogorchock helped locate funding to approve 20+ new police officers to deal with crime in our neighborhoods. Nichole Gardner was on Facebook supporting an effort to FIRE ALL POLICE OFFICERS, which would be devastating to our community.
2. Councilwoman Lori Ogorchock is working to disband homeless encampments and opposes Lamar Thorpe’s plan to permanently house the homeless in an Antioch motel. Nichole Gardner is leading the effort to bring more homeless into Antioch and is supporting Lamar Thorpe’s plan to house homeless in a motel close to homes and 1/4 mile from 4 schools.
3. Councilwoman Lori Ogorchock voted to accept a Department of Justice grant of $750,000 to bring School Resource Officers back into 6 of our Antioch schools. Nichole Gardner officially opposed this proposal.

As the police officers whose job it is to protect our community, we need leaders who will work hard to lower crime in Antioch – not make it worse than it is. That leader, we believe, is Councilwoman Lori Ogorchock. Please join us in voting for her on or before November 3rd. Thank you.

Antioch Police Officers’ Association

P.S. Please CLICK HERE to learn more about Councilwoman Lori Ogorchock.

By Sergeant Ted Chang #4362, Antioch Police Traffic Unit

On Monday, Oct. 12, 2020 at approximately 8:21 am, police dispatch received a call of a vehicle versus bicyclist collision on James Donlon Blvd. near G Street. Police and medical personnel responded immediately and located a 57-year-old Antioch resident nonresponsive and suffering major head injuries. She was immediately transported by helicopter to an area trauma center. Later that evening, she succumbed to her injuries.

The driver of the involved vehicle remained on scene and was cooperating with the investigation. Drugs and alcohol do not appear to be a factor in this collision. The Antioch Police Department Traffic Unit responded and took over the investigation.

This preliminary information is made available by the Field Services Division. Any further inquiries into the status of this case Any further information or additional press releases will be provided by the Traffic Unit.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Antioch Police Department non-emergency line at (925)778-2441. You may also text-a-tip to 274637 (CRIMES) using the key word ANTIOCH.

Search begins for his replacement

Randy Iwasaki. From LinkedIn.

Randell H. Iwasaki, the Executive Director of the Contra Costa Transportation Authority announced recently, his intention to retire from the agency.  Following is a statement from the Board Chair Julie Pierce.

“It is with a range of mixed emotions that I announce Randell Iwasaki’s (Randy) retirement from his successful and accomplished career at the Contra Costa Transportation Authority (CCTA). I am sad Randy will retire as CCTA’s Executive Director effective December 26, 2020; yet, I am immensely proud of the goals, recognition and innovations CCTA achieved in the ten years Randy has been at the helm of the Authority, and extremely grateful for the leadership Randy has demonstrated while managing this agency. His vision, as well as his ability to create, guide and inspire a remarkable workforce resulted in a small but mighty team who has made significant advances to improve mobility in Contra Costa County.

Randy and his staff have delivered on our promise to the public by completing major infrastructure improvements such as Highway 4 and the Caldecott Fourth Bore projects, while simultaneously pursuing innovative ways to improve mobility in the future. During Randy’s tenure, CCTA has become a leader in advancing new technology to solve real challenges faced by our residents. Notable achievements include establishing the nation’s largest secure, connected and automated vehicle proving grounds, securing legislation to pilot the first low-speed, multi-passenger, shared autonomous vehicles that are not equipped with a steering wheel, brake pedal, accelerator or operator on public roads in California, and more recently winning two nationally competitive grants to deploy innovative transportation technology from the United States Department of Transportation.

Throughout his tenure as Executive Director, Randy has ensured CCTA remains a responsible and prudent steward of public funds. For eight years in a row the agency’s management of sales tax dollars has been recognized with the coveted “Certificate of Excellence in Financial Reporting” from the Government Finance Officers Association. Last year, the Contra Costa Taxpayers Association also honored CCTA with a Silver Medal Award for Good Government.

On behalf of the CCTA Board, I’d like to express our gratitude for Randy’s extraordinary role in delivering so many projects aimed to strengthen the economy, protect the environment and enhance Contra Costa County’s transportation system. In the ten years he has served as Executive Director, he has accomplished much to improve the quality of life for our residents. We thank Randy for his dedication to this agency, and wish him all the best in his new adventures.”

The CCTA Board has appointed a sub-committee of the Board to lead the search for the agency’s next Executive Director.”

Iwasaki is the former Executive Director of CalTrans, the state Department of Transportation, said he plans to work in the private sector following his retirement in December.

The Forensic Services Division of the Contra Costa County Office of the Sheriff was awarded $408,853.00 in grant funding from the California Office of Traffic Safety. The funding will be used to purchase a Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometer (LC-MS/MS).

The new equipment can detect illegal drugs, prescription drugs, and over-the-counter drugs commonly found in driving under the influence of drugs (DUID) and drug facilitated sexual assault (DFSA) cases. The addition of this equipment will enable the Sheriff’s Crime Laboratory to provide a higher level of service to the agencies in Contra Costa County and the criminal justice system.

“We are pleased to receive this grant from the Office of Traffic Safety,” said Contra Costa County Sheriff David O. Livingston. “This will increase our efficiency and enable us to provide rapid results to law enforcement and prosecutors on DUID cases in Contra Costa County.”

The purchase of the new instrument, training, and method validation are anticipated to take up to one year. Funding for this program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

In an email on Sunday, the Antioch Police Officers Association sent out the following message to Antioch residents:

Voters may have received a mailer from Mayor candidate Lamar Thorpe claiming he is for greater law enforcement efforts in Antioch. THIS IS NOT TRUE.

There is a reason the Antioch Police Officers’ Association has endorsed the re-election of Mayor Sean Wright and NOT Lamar Thorpe. Mr. Thorpe’s vision for the future of Antioch will INCREASE CRIME, increase our HOMELESS POPULATION and lead to further blight in our City. Here’s what we know:

Lamar Thorpe is the leader in the effort to DEFUND the Antioch Police, which would be devastating to our effort to fight crime in our community.

Lamar Thorpe initiated the proposal to turn the Executive Inn Motel on E. 18th and Cavallo into permanent housing for the homeless. This motel is 1/4 mile from 4 Antioch Schools and the Antioch Youth Sports Complex. We think this will only attract more crime to this vulnerable area.

Lamar Thorpe voted against accepting a Department of Justice yearly grant of $750,000 to return School Resource Officers to 6 Antioch schools where we need them most.

In contrast, Mayor Sean Wright has added 20+ new police officers (we’re now at 118) to the Antioch Police Department. He opposes Lamar Thorpe’s homeless motel and voted to accept the grant to further protect our students.

What happens this election is extremely important for the future of Antioch. Please join us in supporting Mayor Sean Wright’s re-election. Thank you.

Antioch Police Officers’ Association

Homeless woman walking barefoot, with firefighters who were there to extinguish the fire in the tunnel beneath Hwy 4. Photos by Art Ray.

Firefighters extinguish fire in tunnel where she’s been living.

By Art Ray

It’s starting to get cooler at night if you have a place to sleep, you can thank God.

I responded to. a working fire in the underpass beneath Highway 4 at Century Blvd. in Pittsburg. When I got there I saw a young, homeless woman, and I do mean young. She was lying down on a nasty mattress behind some metal bars. The arriving firemen grabbed a saw and cut the gate open so they could put a hose on the fire.

What got me was that the young woman remained on the mattress with smoke pouring out of the tunnel. She didn’t have the capacity to get away from the smoke or fire. Finally, she walked out of the tunnel bare foot stepping on glass, rocks and all kinds of dangerous things. As she passed by me, I asked “where are your shoes?” to which she replied she didn’t have any.

The point of this story is not that I went and got her a pair of shoes from the store but that she has some demons that has her early, 20-year-old self, homeless and living under a highway. She didn’t even have the mental capacity to follow my directions and to walk the one block down to the store to meet me to get the new shoes.

Homeless woman painting her lighter with nail polish, the mattress where she slept surrounded by garbage in the tunnel, and a firefighter at the gated entrance to one side of the tunnel below Hwy 4. Photos by Art Ray.

I had to go driving around to find her. When I did find her, she was sitting on the ground painting a cigarette lighter with fingernail polish. When I walked up to her with the shoe bag she never even looked up to me when I gave her the new blue shoes she was fixated on the nail polish and lighter. That’s when I realized that’s there are bigger issues than being homeless. There are thousands of homeless people that are not thinking straight.

After dropping off the shoes I went to meet with the county’s homeless advocate to see if they could help the young sister. He told me he would leave his office and go find her as soon as he got done checking in another homeless person into the newly opened homeless residence the state just bought from Motel 6.

I’m saying all of this to encourage everyone to find a way they can help another human being instead of just complaining about the homeless problem.

Most police departments and counties have resources you can plug into. Maybe you have a warm coat or shoes you don’t wear anymore. Be a part of the homeless solution not a person that finds pleasure in complaining about the homeless. Trust this. Many of the homeless have issues they are battling in their heads. It’s getting cold out. Are you willing to find a way to get involved? Perhaps it’s through your church. Like they say, it takes a village. We are all our brother’s, or in this case, our sister’s keeper.

This is a story that I needed to photograph and tell. I included a picture of the nasty mattress in the filth someone’s daughter or sister was laying on when I arrived. Notice I didn’t include her face so she could retain some kind of dignity.

Art Ray is owner of Bay News Video providing video footage to Bay Area news stations and online media.

video footage to Bay Area news stations and online media.

The lady larcenist loot bags full of items stolen from the Walgreens store on Deer Valley Road on Sunday, Oct. 11, 2020. Photos by APD.

Two run, one had multiple outstanding warrants

By Antioch Police Department

What happens when retail theft suspects raid one of our local stores and start loading garbage bags full of merchandise? Read-on, and I’ll tell you….

On Sunday at about 4:42 pm, APD Dispatch received a 9-1-1 call reporting three (3) lady larcenists clearing entire shelves and filling bags with store merchandise at the Walgreens on Deer Valley Road. Our caller remained calm and gave a description of their getaway vehicle while APD swing shift officers raced to the scene. Officers caught them near the south side of the parking lot as they were inspecting their loot.

Two ran from the car (leaving behind the third accomplice) and officers gave chase. Both were detained without incident and brought back to the scene, where one decided to try her hand at a game of “Guess my Identity?” Our officers are experts at this game and quickly learned her true name, revealing her motive for fibbing. You see, it turns out she had several outstanding warrants from San Francisco County for (you guessed it!) burglary, theft, and child endangerment.

Antioch Police officers collect the lady larcenist loot bags full of items stolen from Walgreens on Sunday, Oct. 11, 2020. Photos by APD.

All three San Francisco residents were arrested on new charges of burglary, grand theft, and criminal conspiracy. Two adults were fitted with chrome bracelets and given a ride in our luxurious shuttle to the County Jail in Martinez, so they could tell others that Antioch isn’t the place for malfeasance. The third, who was 17 years old, received a future court date and was released to a relative (according to youth offender protocols). Several thousand dollars in merchandise was returned to satisfied employees at the store.

Retail theft continues to be a HUGE problem in California. What can you do if you witness a crime in-progress? NEVER place yourself in danger and get on the phone with 9-1-1 when it is safe to do so. Our exceptional dispatchers will first ask for your location, and then ask for suspect and vehicle descriptions. Oh, and if you’re thinking about coming to Antioch to victimize our businesses, we are powered by #AntiochStrong residents and business owners who won’t tolerate that nonsense here. #antiochpdca

Contra Costa District Attorney Diana Becton and Antioch Mayor Sean Wright. Herald file photos.

Filed felony looting case, refers low-level drug cases to behavioral health care system for treatment

Dear Antioch Residents:

“The most dangerous untruths are truths slightly distorted.” Recently, Sean Wright, the Mayor of Antioch has made repeated distorted untruths about the District Attorney office policies, and about my record as your District Attorney. To have an elected official, make distorted truths, and then hide his head in the sand and refuse to learn the true facts is troubling to say the least. I take transparency and accountability very seriously, as any elected official should.

Facts matter. First, the Mayor bought a political smear hit piece from a biased website about looting. He never reached out to me to find out what my office guidelines actually require.  The guidelines do not prohibit the filing of any looting case – in fact, just recently, we filed a felony looting case. The truth is, my office guidelines assist prosecutors in making the distinction between thefts and burglaries that merely happen while we are in the pandemic, and lootings which are substantially motivated by a state of emergency. The guidelines are on the District Attorney website. I encourage you to read them. (See related article)

Second, your mayor attacked our office policies regarding low-level, stand alone drug cases. (See related article) What he fails to mention is that initially these cases are referred to the behavioral health care system for treatment. Please do not forget the failed policies of the War on Drugs. Arresting citizens for possession of small amounts of drugs, taking them to jail, and releasing them without treatment ensures that these individuals will soon be arrested again, and so the cycle continues. The aim of my office policy is to stop chronic patterns of arrest, to connect individuals to behavioral health services, to reduce the burden on the court system and law enforcement, and to allow prosecutors to focus on more serious and violent crimes. Of course, repeat offenders can be charged, diverted or suffer additional consequences.  As the chief law enforcement officer for the county, I take my oath seriously to protect the public. However, clogging our criminal justice system with low-level crimes does not deter crime nor find equitable solutions for our community. I am focused on common-sense solutions that are fair and equitable, and good for the entire community. 

Here are some items to keep in mind during this election season. We cannot let lies get in the way of the truth, even during campaign season. The mayor is making this a political attack against me in order to bolster his campaign for re-election, and to take swipes at his East Bay Times endorsed opponent, Lamar Thorpe. Stand on our own record Mr. Mayor, and please stop trying to bolster your platform by making distorted claims about our office policies. During the election season, we hear from elected officials about their vision for their community. Unfortunately, despite his message of unifying the community, your Mayor is trying to divide Antioch and use our office as a foil and create a controversy when none exists. Examine the facts. Facts matter.

Sincerely,
Diana Becton

District Attorney, Contra Costa County