Brentwood Crime Increased by 17.9% Last Year

During the April 9 Brentwood City Council meeting, the council received its annual Benchmark report from the Chief of Police which highlights that Brentwood Crime has increased by 17.9% which a majority of the blame put on an increase in assaults.

The City of Brentwood’s Benchmark Report consists of four major organizational benchmarks which includes, Response Times, Incidents of Crime & Crime Rates, Workload, and Clearance Rates.

According to the Chief, this report was the 5th one given to the council. The Chief stated that staffing levels are currently at 82-employees with 62 being sworn officers and a variety of specialty units. Out of the 62  sworn officers, 45 are patrol.

Response times:

Priority 1 calls involve immediate threat to life or crimes that are in progress (p1)

Priority 2 calls are high priority but do not elevate to the level of emergency (p2)

• 2008 – 4:31 (p1) and 5:44 (p2)
• 2009 – 4:45 (p1) and 5:45 (p2)
• 2010 – 4:44 (p1) and 5:54 (p2)
• 2011 – 4:48 (p1) and 5:46 (p2)
• 2012 – 4:50 (p1) and 5:32 (p2)

Incidents of Crime and Crime Rate (violent Crime)

• Murder – 1
• Rape – 4
• Robbery – 42
• Arson – 11
• Aggravated assault – 52
• Simple Assault – 524
• Total Violent Crime – 634

Up 37% and increased by 171 incidents – police department blames the simple assault category or  it would have dropped by 18 percent.

Property Crime:

• Residential Burglary – 184
• Non-Res Burglary – 56
• Theft – 835
• Auto Theft – 110
• Total property – 1,185

Total Crime – 1,819 compared to 1,543 which increased by 276 incidents or 17.9%.

Clearance Rates
which is the ability to close cases via arrests or by exceptional means.

• Murder – 1 (actual) vs. 1 (cleared) = 100% (FBI Average is 61%)
• Rape – 4 (actual) vs. 0 (cleared) = 0% (FBI Average is 37%)
• Robbery – 42 (actual) vs. 17 (cleared) = 40% (FBI average is 30%)
• Arson – 11 (actual) vs. 2 (cleared) = 18% (FBI average is 19%)

The chief reported to the council that they have assigned more officers to high burglary areas and worked with neighborhood watches. There are also  off duty officers from other cities who may live in the neighborhoods involved with preventative actions to reduce crime. The chief also reported that they had some big arrests recently after 3-people were arrested for burglaries who were “killing us”. The chief expects crime should be going down.

He reported that six minute response times are considered good, but they are doing great because they are under 5-minutes.

The council then got into a minor discussion asking for more insight on what potentially led to more assault cases which jumped by 195 cases between 2011-2012. The chiefs best guess was people called for shoving incidents as they encourage residents to call 9-1-1.

Councilman Gene Clare asked if there was a way to segregate data between age groups to see where its coming from or if outreach could be done to a certain group–the chief said it was similar across the board and nothing stood out.

Mayor Taylor asked about thefts and whether or not business had video cameras. The chief highlighted that some do and some do not have cameras while some are proactive with stopping shop lifters and some tell employees to let them go.  The mayor followed up to ask about a “sticker thing” to show they are on camera.

The  chief is looking to implement a “business watch” program to decrease crime. They are private, they can hear suggestions but not obligated. We are doing best to improve outreach.

When it comes to traffic issues, the Mayor stated Brentwood is a fan of speed.

” Brentwood is known as the speed city in Contra Costa, we just run red lights and stop signs. How many citations did we give?” asked Mayor Taylor.

The cheif responded with a number of around 5,400. He stated they were writing a lot of tickets and working a lot with community groups trying to campaign for people to slow down.

In the end, the council tried to get the point across that while Brentwood has boomed in terms of population, the police force has not increased and that the police department should be commended for using resources to the best of their ability.

Other Council Meeting Tidbits

Item C6  – Approve the appointment of Earl Medeiros and Catherine Palestro to a term on the Brentwood Advisory Neighborhood Committee (BANC).

Agenda Item D-1: A Resolution amending the City of Brentwood 2012/13 Cost Allocation Planand Schedule of City Fees as it relates to the implementation and timing of the Consumer Price Index adjustments for the Parks and Recreation Fees

This does not change fees or cost allocation plans according to staff. Looking to bring this to the council once a year and recommending these brought to the council in July when everything is reviewed.

Methodology: Programs

• Cost recovery for youth programs will recover direct costs plus 10% of Department  overhead for Brentwood residents.
• Cost recovery for adult programs will recover direct costs plus 75% of Department  overhead for Brentwood residents.
• All non-resident rates are set at 100% cost recovery with the exception of aquatic and City run youth sports programs which are set at 10% above the resident rate.

The program exceptions that do not have a non-resident fee are: recreation swim and lap swim, contracted programs that are online computer courses, fees that are set by an outside agency,

City programs that are funded through the City’s economic development grant, City programs for active adults 50+, and City programs offered in co-sponsorship with Liberty Union High  School District Adult Education.

City programs that are free of charge are: Concerts in the Park, Play Day, Christmas Tree Lighting, Park and Facility Grand Openings, and Movies in the Park.

Categories: Facilities

• Resident – this fee is the base cost used for a facility and is set based on the market price for like facilities.
• Non-resident – the fee is 10% above the resident rate.
• Commercial – the fee is 30% above the resident rate and is intended to recover most, if  not all, costs as the event is usually intended to be a profit making endeavor.
• Non-profit – the fee is 30% below the resident rate as the purpose is to allow use by local nonprofits who normally use facilities to raise money to go back into the community.

Does not change fees or cost allocation plans according to staff.

“Will any of the changes go through committee before brought forward” asked Councilman Barr.

Staff responded Yes.

Approved 5-0

A Resolution establishing fees for land use change request applications that are submitted in association with the General Plan Update, and  revising the City of Brentwood 2012/13 Cost Allocation Plan and Schedule of City Fees

I will be producing a separate article on this complex topic. It was approved 4-1 with Stonebarger saying no.

Receive and File the 2012/13 – 2021/22 General Fund Fiscal Model

In total, General Fund ongoing revenues (excluding Budget Stabilization and one-time revenues) are projected to increase from $38.3 million in FY2012/13 to $50.2 million in FY 2021/22, an increase of $11.9 million, or 31.1%. The largest dollar increases are projected to come from property and sales taxes, each of which is forecast to increase at an average annual rate of 4%.

…

At the end of the 2012/13 fiscal year, the City is projected to have a General Fund balance of $18.3 million, with an unassigned (also referred to as “reserves”) fund balance of $11.7 million.

This meets the City Council’s 30% unassigned fund balance goal, with the caveat that the City’s unfunded pension and OPEB liabilities must be carefully managed in the future. The City has continued to maintained strong reserves of 30% throughout this economic downturn. Although the City currently meets the 30% requirement, current projections indicate that the City will deplete the entire Budget Stabilization Fund over the next ten years while still falling $2.0 million short of maintaining a 30% reserve. This is due to the fact that for every $1 million in increased spending, $300,000 must be set aside in reserves in order to maintain the 30% ratio. Increased operational expenses of $12.7 million forecast over the next decade require that an additional $3.8 million in reserves be added to the current requirement.

Pretty dismal report stated Mayor Taylor.

The future may be bleak on some points stated Clare.