Chief Cantando Lays Out Reality with Antioch PD Staffing Levels

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Antioch Chief of Police Allan Cantando provided an honest yet amazing presentation this past Tuesday during the Antioch City Council meeting laying out the unacceptable reality facing the city—police staffing levels are comparable to 1995 staffing levels.

In 1995, Antioch had a population of 74,925 with 89 sworn positions. Today, the city has a population of 103,833 with just 88 officers with calls for service nearly doubling (47,677 in 1995 vs. 81,572 in 2012).  In doing the math, Antioch has increased its population by 28,908 people, while the police have actually lost 1 sworn position when compared to 1995.

When comparing to other cities. Concord has 151 officers (1.23 per capita), Richmond has 185 officers (1.76 per capita) and Fairfield has 119 (1.12 per capita). Antioch is dead last at just .98 per capita.

The Chief was honest in stating immediate goal is to get to 123 sworn positions with an end goal of 144 sworn positions.  The difficult part is trying to fund it. To get the 123, the Council needs to find or create $3.4 million in revenue. To get to the ideal staffing level, close to $6.8 million is need.

Given what the Chief produced; there is no doubt it’s a pretty scare times for Antioch. As the council looks to find ways to fund the additional officers, the city residents need to have a “come to Jesus” moment and decide how badly they want increased services from the police—remember, you always get what you are willing to pay for.

The public needs to get invested in their police department and become engaged while the council needs to get creative. Have the discussions about what citizens are willing to part with and what is off the table.

I would like to think the council will find a way to cut from the city budget a portion of the $3.4 million needed to get to the 123-officers and meet the public halfway before going for a parcel tax or sales tax measure—it would be an act of good faith and show they are being responsible with the people’s money. Present the public with the plan and should a tax measure pass, it triggers immediate cuts.

This is a very complex time for Antioch and I am not going to pretend like I know the answer, but I do know the residents of Antioch need to become engage with their police department which makes them partners in this solution.

Anywhere from $3.4 to $6.8 million will need to be raised and just like the Chiefs numbers, it’s not going to be a pretty solution and their will be pain, but public safety comes first because that is the road to recovery. However, like East Contra Costa Fire Protection District, the marketing campaign needs to begin immediately with the slogan similar to “public safety first”.

There can be no better place to begin the process than at the Community Forum will be held on Feb. 28 focused to discuss Public Safety

Here are screen shots from the Chiefs presentation, click to enlarge them as its 32-slides. After reviewing the slides, I’ve provided a council recap.

Discussion Recap

Wade Harper:  We wanted to get boots on the ground but it was cost prohibitive. Ridiculous is actually the word… we said let me see the numbers let’s do an analysis, what do we need? We are all adults, let’s give it to them straight and let’s figure out how we are going to pay for it…. One of the things we are going to have to do is come before the community and figure out the will of the people of how we are going to pay for it…. Everyone says we need more police. We agree! But what do we need them to do and why do we need them and you (Chief Cantando) have laid that out for us.

Mary Rocha: What people don’t realize is how much we have lost. Those who have lived here a long while know what we had. We had the traffic people, we had units that typically worked on certain issues and now we have none…. We understand we are behind the wall and we need to move it. We as a community has to be hand and hand with the police department…. I am hoping this is the beginning of information to the community and looking how to finance it.

Gary Agopian: You really set the table tonight for us… none of this is really new. (Paraphrasing, everyone is talking about it and asking what are we going to do about this)….  The chief is willing to be bone honest, this is no fluff and I appreciate that….  For a city our size and our crime, we need the 144 sworn officers. I am going to make a statement tonight that, that’s the number we need. Nothing less, because anything less gets us what we already have and that is not good enough. I want to ask this question. Is it $6.8 million to get 144 sworn? (Cantando estimated for $126 is $3.4 million)… one last question… if we are looking at a similar city would be Concord, Fairfield, do you have any feel for their crime staffs compares to staffing vs. us?

Chief Cantando: Looking at larger cities, Concord had 151, Richmond had 185, and Fairfield had 119. If you are looking at a per capita staffing ratio what we are authorized not sitting at, we are at .98, Concord at 1.23, Richmond 1.76 , Fairfield 1.12 per 1,000. That is amazing.

Gary Agopian:  I’m as conservative fiscally as they come. But I am convinced that Antioch, the central biggest home run it can hit, is staffing up its police department.

Tony Tiscareno: the data is scary; you are basically running your force basically at what you did in 1996 with half the population… we need to do something about this and I do appreciate you are reaching out to the community and reaching out to the council…. Again, how are we going to allow you to be at your full level? That is something as a council we need to address.

Monica Wilson: It is time for us to act and we do need more protection in this city. I would like to see this move forward. What are the long and short term benefits and the alternatives to make this happen?  I really want to support our police chief.

Planning Commission Applicants

Five applicants applied for two positions. The applicants were interviewed by the Mayor, the Planning Commission Chair and Mindy Gentry, Senior Planner of the Community Development Department.

The applicants were

• Kristal Hinojosa
• Gary Holman
• Robert Miller
• Dina Osakue
• Kay Power

Kristal Hinojosa and Robert Miller were recommended and approved 4-1(Agopian voting no).

According to the Staff report, Ms. Hinojosa is employed by the East Contra Costa County Habitat Conservancy as a permitting program coordinator/conservation planner and has lived in Antioch for 30-years. Mr. Miller is a real estate attorney while living in Antioch for 16-years.