The City of Antioch is desperately in need of leadership that will help tackle a recent spike in violent crime within the city limits.
Over a two-week period, 16 people have been shot which has not only raised the fear factor of Antioch, but neighboring communities in Brentwood and Oakley. The recent spike in shootings now has all of Contra Costa County watching Antioch.
Unfortunately, Mayor Wade Harper has remained silent on the issue since his now famous April line that “things are getting better” just minutes after Antioch Police Chief Allan Cantando reported crime had been up 2.8% in the first quarter of 2014.
Since April 4, I’ve counted 29 people shot with at least three dead—four if you include the Hardy Nix Jewelry store shooting. These are frightening numbers, however, the council needs not run away from them, but instead admit there is a problem and then attack it head on with everything they can.
Many questions are being asked but the community receives little to no response to questions such as:
- Where is our City Council?
- What is our City Council doing about crime?
- Why are they not doing anything to prevent crime?
- Does the City Council even care there is a crime crisis?
The silence has been so terrible, Antioch Police Chief Allan Cantando came out with a message for the community—which highlighted the anger at the City Council for remaining silent.
According to Chief Cantando’s letter, during their investigation into all of these incidents in the Sycamore area, they have determined that many of them are gang and/or drug related while most of the time the victim or witnesses do not want to cooperate with police.
The telling stat which has been stated many times is that Antioch Police staffing is currently at 88 sworn officers with authority to hire up to 97 as the second largest population in the county. Unfortunately, when you compare it to other cities such as Concord, which is the most populous city, they currently have 148 sworn officers. Richmond, the third most populous city currently has 190 sworn officers.
I will not get into the Measure C fiasco on a starting line as many believe Antioch should be authorized for up to 140 officers instead of the current 97 authorized, but instead I will leave it with Antioch has some work to do in terms of hiring and finding resources.
The thing to remember is that arrests are up 11% and multiple proactive details having netted dozens of additional arrests not yet in the reported crime statistics which otherwise would never occur without a detail in Antioch’s crime ridden areas. Antioch Police have done a fabulous job with little resources in preventing a lot of crime but the numbers are spiking because there is so much crime.
I would not like to see what crime would actually be had police not been making arrests or holding proactive details, crime would be even worse off—for that, I say thank you to the police department.
I reached out to Mayor Harper Monday evening only to be told to revert back to Chief Cantando’s Facebook post about the crime. Upon a follow up, he said he would call me Tuesday. It’s now Friday morning and have not heard back.
According Susan Ameli, Mayor Harper responded to her email by sharing that a “Proactive Violent Crime Suppression Detail” is being formed—whatever that means. Others have shared a similar response about a Crime Detail.
Unfortunately, Antioch does not need a “suppression” of crime; it needs a complete abatement of crime. Nothing has formally been shared to the public about a Crime Suppression Detail.
Looking forward, Antioch is set to receive just under $1.3 million in additional revenue from the County based off a higher than expected assessed housing values. It would behoove the council to take a good portion of that money and give police the tools to succeed.
It would also go a long way to build up trust since the Measure C fiasco and the broken promises.
Mayor Harper ran on being a mayoral candidate who was going to be tough on crime. Unfortunately, his bark is louder than his bite. As a former cop, its mind boggling he is showing no urgency to resolve the problem and his silence is stunning.
Antioch needs a four point plan which essentially is the “Four E’s”:
- Engineer: Come up with a plan that creates an environment to succeed—this comes in the form of finding a way to change the culture and reputation of the city. This includes getting police the technology they need to be successful such as license plate readers, cell phones, computers, radio systems, to a formalized plan.
- Education: Begin a full blown outreach campaign to the community that highlights how citizens can assist the police department, highlight community programs for youths, and county programs to help with jobs. It also means working with homeowners/rentals to cut back vegetation, clean up neighborhoods, and create better lighting and line of site for officers. Take the neighborhood Watch Program and give those folks more tools. Highlight the benefits of working with the police instead of highlight the dangers of a “no snitch” policy on the street. Work on troubled neighborhoods to build a relationship on trust that police are there to help. Finally, with the City now collecting Measure C money through Sales Tax, a shop Antioch campaign needs to occur so police can accumulate more funding—it’s a simple as shopping at Lowes vs. Home Depot for sales tax revenue. People are leaving Antioch to shop because of a fear for safety which means they are losing valuable tax money.
- Enforcement: Antioch Police are doing a fabulous job with their limited resources. Unfortunately, there will come a time when burnout and fatigue begins as mid-summer approaches. The City should be making all efforts to bring in the California Highway Patrol, County Sheriff’s Office and other enforcement agencies to assist. For the County Sheriff, it can be as simple as when they go from West County to Oakley or Discovery Bay they be required not to use Highway 4 past Auto Center and instead travel through Sycamore/Mahogany through Antioch down E. 10th or E. 18th. That would add an extra vehicle multiple times per day as an extra set of eyes.
- Encouragement: As city leaders, the council must also become leading cheerleaders in the process by encouraging the community participation and a culture change. This starts with leadership while encouraging victims and witnesses to work with police. It also recognizes citizens for assisting police on a more frequent basis—publicly or privately.
In the end, it’s not entirely up to the Antioch City Council, City Staff, or certainly the mayor, instead citizens have to step up and take their community back as part of the process. The community does not need more talking point gibberish out of city hall, it needs action and results. Citizens should be packing city hall seeking a solution to crime from the people they elected to represent them–this is much more than complaining about crime, its time to resolve it.
Without a leader from City Hall, someone or some group is going to have to step up and take charge. Citizens have the power here because they can attend council meetings, speak on crime, picket, email, change the culture—it’s up to them, it can’t be all up to the council. The community has to understand that for all of the complaining, it also has a responsibility and take part in the process to create a culture change.
I would encourage Mayor Harper to remember that people would rather see a mayor present a plan, implement it and fail, as opposed to presenting no plan and remaining silent.
In the end, success is not determined by words or boots on the ground; it’s determined by good leadership which Antioch is certainly lacking at this time.
By Michael Burkholder
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45 comments
The Brentwood police department is highly overstaffed, a guy gets pulled over on a bike and 5 cop cars show up, this is a waste of our tax dollars. I see them on the side of the road “chatting” with fellow officers. Brentwood Police Department needs to give Antioch a hand the crime has already started spilling over into our town. Brentwood Police need to volunteer to help fight crime in Antioch and bring back a sense of community this area once had.
It doesn’t work that way Amber…for many reasons. Police Departments work for the citizens and cities that directly employee them. While they occasionally lend aid, they do not supplement it.
By the way consider that such a large police presence in Brentwood coupled with a zero tolerance policy deters the criminal element from doing their business here.
I’d rather have an over policing Brentwood than an under policing Antioch. Based on the subject and comments most of us feel that way!
If you post a comment on the mayor’s facebook page asking what he is doing about the crime rate, it gets deleted and you get blocked. He should be recalled ASAP.
Doing nothing is not illegal so we cannot recall anyone on the council. We had 3 candidates two years ago and you folks elected Harper. Either Mr. Agopian or Mr. Freitas would have been far better mayors than the one we have. Harper is a waste of time.
Get your rear ends down to council meetings and for Gods sake have a loud voice. Writing on blogs is ok, most of them do read this stuff, but going to council meetings is far better use of your time.
Can he get recalled for being incompetent? I’m sure there is something in the city law for this?
He can be recalled for anything.
It doesn’t have to be anything other than breech of trust. There technically is no threshold for a recall. Just fill out a few forms and gather enough signatures.
So simple a caveman can do it.
In that case, wasn’t it Hans Ho who said in a city council meeting that HE would be the first to lead a recall if the mayor and city council were to lose to public trust over measure C?
Where is Hans Ho now? … just saying.
I’m sure there are others out there who can step up to the plate on this recall.
Because the city council sucks and our city manager is more focused on a balanced budget than crime, I really am fearful they will make our chief the scapegoat for their lack of interest and urgency to fix the crime problem. I support our chief and police department but this council has to go.
Finally someone says what we are all thinking. That is why I love this site, they always have a pulse on the community for the right reasons. Our council needs to go starting with our mayor who really has been a huge disappointment even after I supported him. RECALL!!!!
Great commentary!
Political Correctness be Dammed!
Politicians and special interest groups that aren’t 150% behind a complete and hard core abatement of the cancer that has infected our community need to be seen for what they are, contributors to the problem for their own agenda!
This community; me and you, need to get behind the PD and let them do their job. Then support them when the special interest groups start screaming about how the Police stopped “my poor little baby for no reason”.
From the other side, you can’t expect the Police to be assertive and proactive if you don’t support them when the time comes. These are individuals with careers and families depending on their jobs just like everyone else. They shouldn’t be pawns in some political game.
Desperate times call for desperate measure…it’s true. If something isn’t done very quickly and very decisively this town will be lost and you might as well move.
THANK YOU MIKE. Now explain why this isn’t a “recall” situation.
We cannot allow them to blame this on Chief Cantando. They tied his hands and cut his funds.
If the chief had balls he would
Stand up and speak up for the citizens. I’ve never have heard him publicly say that he has asked for something and been denied. Once I hear him stand up and voice his Frustration of not getting what he has asked for then he still should shoulder some of the blame. The chief can also ask for outside help from CHP, DOJ, DEA, ATF and all of the other alphabet agencies. Once he has done this the you can level it all on the council.
Marty,
Lead the way!
Marty, a recall can occur for any reason. That is up to the citizens of Antioch to decide. To you it may not be a recall situation, but to others it may be. The people will have to decide for themselves.
i am 100% with you. this is NOT a cantando issue, this is also NOT a pd job evaluation/ performance issue, this is a failure of the past council, past city manager jakels now the sitting council and mayor failure issue. cantando was promoted, thrown into the water, and the council is standing on the side lines and tell the chief to swim. what most people don’t realize, cantando is just a “department head” within the city structure, with no say about money and hiring.
but i do wish the chief would not just present a wish list, i wish he would address the council, that the council is failing to give him the tools he needs, to protect the people of antioch. he needs to get up and protect and serve the people of antioch, NOT the council.
i also wonder what happens to the “crime fighting plan” from rocha and specially our mayor harper, which uses every opportunity to tell the people that he was a 24 year police veteran, took early retirement to be a “full time mayor and fix up antioch”
What do you expect when you elect a “Obama Wanna Be” with no back bone. You liberal folks in Antioch wanted to be “progressive” and put more emphasis on electing the city first black Mayor rather than elect an individual with the experience to get the job done. You drank the lets be politically correct Koolaid and now your choking on it!
Let’s be realistic. Strictly from a demographic point of view, the vast majority of individuals whose criminal actions and behavior that has helped establish Antioch as the crime capital of east county are young black men. Whites are afraid to say it out of fear of being labeled a racist. The truth is not racist, it’s simply the truth. Don’t believe me, review the crime & arrest stats. And for those of you who believe the answer to this crisis is more social programs, you are all drunk on stupidity.
If you really want to make a difference, organize and start marching in the streets. Crowd the city council chambers and demand action from your elected officials and if they do not comply contact every television media outlet in the Bay Area and publically embarrass them. Make their life pure hell. Be relentless and show no mercy. Make it your mission to destroy any hope of a future political career or higher office. Wade Harper has his eye on the State Legislature. He can’t manage Antioch, do you really want him making decisions that will effect our entire state?
If you want to turn Antioch around and make it safer for your families, it’s time to take off the gloves and open up a can of whup ass!
I completely agree 100% Excellent post. I can’t even add anything to it. Finally, someone else on this site that speaks the candid truth.
I lived in Antioch for 13 years until my family and I had enough and left. Since the majority of crime is being committed by young black men, Antioch needs someone from the black community to rise up without fear and speak the truth about who is causing the problems.
Well, when people have to start or justify a statement by saying ‘I’m not being racist” then you probably are about to say some racist stuff. Based on everything you rambled on about “wanna be Obama” “First black mayor” “Politcal kool-aid” and then your cohorts come on after you yapping about how black males are to blame blah blah. Yeah, you seem pretty racist to me. It’s absurd on so many levels but I won’t bother to explain them because they would likely go over your head. Quick question: When crime was happening in Antioch on Mayor Mary Rocha’s watch, were you on chat boards with the same recall rants? Hmmm…
Does anyone know how many signatures Wade Harper needed on his nomination application? We need the greater of that number or 10 signatures to serve him and start the recall process. I tried to find it on the website. Before I call the City Recorder to find out …I wondered if anyone knew.
Burkholder- Decent Article
One comment though regarding your “Enforcement” category and police burn out.
Lets not forget and keep in mind that the APD officers have been working with reduced staffing for over 4 years now. There is no traffic unit to write traffic tickets and handle accidents. There are no school resource officers to handle all school related incidents, and there are no pro-active suppression teams to work high crime areas and not handle patrol calls.
All of these additional officers and special units existed many years ago and helped manage calls for service and reduce criminal activity.
Today, its a bare bones, reduce staffed group of patrol officers that handle it all. Officers are working 12hr shifts and handling all traffic accidents, incidents and all calls at the schools, all calls for service, and still being required by their superiors to make more arrests and write more traffic tickets. This much smaller group of less than 50 patrol officers is handling the work of what about 70-80 patrol officers used to do.
Also keep in mind that due to due to short staffing issues, for the past several years officers are being forced to work work 16 hours days several times during their work week to make up for officers that are sick or on vacation. They are sometimes even forced to work on a scheduled day off to cover shifts that are short. This often times results in officers working tired and fatigued.
My point being that you state “there will come a time when burnout and fatigue…” Well, let me tell you that it’s not about “there will come a time”… Its already there !!! It has been for years now.
These officers will typically show up at your house completely burned out and exhausted but will always have a smile on their faces and pretend that they are enjoying whats going on and unfortunately thats just a mask they have to put on. These guys and gals have been busting their butts for years now making up for all the short positions and if you think that burnout out it on the horizon your sadly mistaken.
Hopefully the council and city manager will make some changes somewhere that will help everyone one out…
Michael R.
You are right on. Antioch pd went to a 12 hour rotation several years ago because of a violent summer and they have not looked back. Officers have had their asses kicked for years with more work piled on by crappy service enhancements crafted by the administration. The city is in a big hole and will never be able to crawl out due to the lack of money. It is amazing that they can find anybody that wants to work under those conditions
Can you spell C-O-W-A-R-D!!!!!! All of you “progressives” who live and breathe political correctness and drown yourselves in white guilt got exactly what you voted for.
Mayor, get your head out of your ASS, and stop being a COWARD !!!!!!!!
Believe me when I say Antioch elected officials don’t respect or respond to whining and complaining. They will only act when you threaten their political aspirations.
If you want to get Wade Harper and the councils attention you MUST turn their apathy into fear by putting their feet in the political fire and holding them there until the cry for mercy.
If you really want us citizens to help and do our part, untie our hands and bring back open carry or at least ccw. There will be fewer shootings when the other party might be armed. Yes I know I offend all you gun scared ppl. But those of us that want to help won’t because we may get shot because WE LAW ABIDINIG CITIZENS can’t carry legally.
The community needs to come together and protest like numerous of people have suggested. We all need to show our mayor we are all serious and fed up… You would “think” he would be forced to address us all instead of pussy footing around the violence subject . Yeah yeah yeah so we can hire more police…. That is not helping us now. If we all don’t stand up together, then we are all full of air… I say protest then start gathering signatures to boot his ass!
Yes, the only ones that can fix this mess with the City Council are the citizens voting out the old for new and there are several positions coming up. Tescorino and Harper both need to go and we need to be very careful who we elect this time. I’m voting for Lamar Thorpe and hope he will run; he is highly educated, is used to overcoming extreme challenges, etc., and will be an assets for straigtenening out the finance. Freitas doesn’t rock my world either. I can’t figure out how Harper won over Agopian.
No on Lamar Thorpe for me. I like to support my fellow Black brothas but Lamar lacks the experience.
I want someone that can do the job. Sorry but Lamar Thorpe will be a repeat of what we have seen and failed.
This article is why ECT is getting read, shared and talked about all over the place. Perhaps if there was this type of straight forward writing by the papers in the past it wouldn’t have got this bad. It is frustrating to see the fluff and regurgitated press releases I see in the other “news sources”. It isn’t rocket science but the writer states in plain language what many of us (that are paying attention) feel and believe to be true.
This problem began years ago before and as the real estate market bubble popped. Years of mayors and councils and city staff weren’t conservative enough and thoughtful enough to get ahead of things. If you look around at the rest of East County they aren’t hurting like Antioch- it is because of many years of poor management by their leadership.
This council and mayor inherited a whole lotta crap to have to fix but it has been at least two years since they all got elected (or appointed) and things are getting worse. Nobody wants to live in or even near Antioch because of the crime. People avoid spending money in Antioch because nobody wants to experience the crime that occurs there regularly. The fix would be to clean up the crime because then people would start to shop there again and people would consider moving their families there. If families began to invest in Antioch again then the schools would become safer and better which would attract more people to move to Antioch.
If tax revenue and property taxes improved, Antioch should not have the financial woes they have now.
It was really exciting and encouraging to see the council come together with measure C hoping to stop the cycle of crime that has been and will continue to lower tax revenue and property tax revenue. So many of us were so disappointed, disillusioned & angry with the council for not taking the previous existing police budget and adding to it with the all of the measure C money. I think we all feel scammed by the council and mayor and city staff.
With crime appearing to increase I find it crazy & stupid that these elected leaders with supposed aspirations to be reelected and/or to pursue a higher office wouldn’t see this as an opportunity to step up and show themselves as leaders. People like honesty. People trust effort and transparency. People want their leaders to succeed because then their community succeeds.
So council, city staff and Mayor Harper- please start with a straight forward and truthful analysis of current conditions and then please make priority #1 strengthening the police force and eliminating crime. It isn’t easy but if you are aggressive and focused you could do it in a relatively quick way. Look at Richmond & Pittsburg- they are seeing results. Call in county, state and federal leadership for help.
Pretending things are getting better doesn’t make it so. The measure C situation has created an atmosphere of mistrust. The way to fix things is to be bold, truthful and put the criminals on alert. Let’s not take any more crap- Antioch has potential to go one way or another and you are (like it or not) the one to tip it – which way will it go?
I for the life of me will never understand how the City Council let Sycamore become what it has become. It will take much more than a landlord tax to remedy. Two APD units are stuck there all day long just because of people loitering; what a waste of resources. Too many people loitering at the empty grocery store on Buchanan and Delta too. I feel for the Chief, we need to take back our town from these Seeno Council clowns.
Why do you feel for the chief. The chief is not getting his ass kicked daily like the officers. You should feel bad for the officers that sacrafice day in and day out for a community that half the time does not care. And another thing. There are not 2 officers on sycamore most of the time because they are running crazy trying to cover what ever comes up in the city. Those loitering calls get cleared pretty quick and then on to the next shooting.
Antioch will have financial woes for many years to come. We have 106 mil in unfunded liabilities and close to a 3 mil deficit in the budget.
Several members of this council were part of the last Mayor’s council and that is one of the problems.
Keep killing each other you piles of shit.
This is the best well written facts!!!! My son in law is a APD officer..and for all the APD officers 911 dispatchers…They are working very hard,to get these troubled people off the streets. Working overtime,and let’s not forget putting their lives on the line dealing with all this crime. Trust me when I say they care deeply about this town .I know a number of the officers including my son in law ,grew up in Antioch. The officers want their town back just as much as we do. We need more officers,and maybe we do need a new Mayor,and a whole lot of other changes. That’s when it is up to us as citizens of Antioch,to get out and vote,and stand up ,and do what we can. I love our home,we raised all our kids here. My husband and I don’t want to sell our house and leave. Time for Antioch citizens to stand tall!!!!
I can remember when citizens stood tall with the leadership of Gary Gilbert. We protested, had marches, filled city council meetings and actually won. Cleaned up many neighborhoods. That was UCBN. United Citizens for Better Neighborhoods. Gary has moved but we need another leader. We need to DO something. Even filling the council chambers on July 22 at 7pm is a start.
Amber…I LOOOOOVE the fact that when car is pulled over in Brentwood there are at least 2 patrol cars present. 12 years ago when we moved from Antioch (8 yrs in Antioch) to Brentwood, my daughter commented, “Brentwood will just be another Antioch in five years.” Well, guess what?? It hasn’t happened!! The Mayor of BW and City Council are proactive. So Amber, I WILL pay all my BW taxes gladly, and praise beyond measure the BWPD, yet pray that Antioch turns around/fully funds more officers. There are attempts and successes by the criminals to infiltrate BW, but most are solved.
My children attended Antioch schools, my last finished her years (7-12) in BW. I will say that Antioch elementary teachers are by far better as I teach in elementary and have many friends/colleagues in both districts. It all boils down to the kids you’re working with. I bring this up only because of the comment about young black men committing most of the crimes in Antioch. It’s that way in the schools, too. The disruptive and defiant behaviors are primarily from that segment. I’m not saying ALL YBM are that way, but it IS a majority, it occurs daily and they start young. It’s a culture of single black Mama’s not wanting anyone to address their boys and making excuses for them. Antiochans, Instead of having your heads in the sand, stand up! Recall the Mayor NOW and make sure the school district addresses behaviors NOW-not makes up one more coalition (or a special graduation) for a specific section of the population. Set your standards and expectations FOR EVERYONE!! Duh!!!
So let me guess: Your daughter wasn’t allowed to be in contact with or be friends with those god awful black kids huh? Yeah those black mamas as you put it? Yeah that never happens to white and hispanic girls. It’s just those yucky black people. Oh please! What’s even more scary is that she apparently married a cop. (you mentioned son in law) so that means her racist upbringing my be shared with her APD husband. That concerns me because to have racists behind a badge and gun is scary for black people in the communiity. But I guess that’s none of your business.
Residents of Antioch, please do yourself and all of the Bay Area a favor and remove your mayor from office. He is not leading the attack on crime and seems to think he can ignore it. All across the Bay its like Antioch residents are committing crimes. Without ECT, I would not know half of what is going on and while this scares me, I’d rather know that not know. I believe that until Antioch can control crime, nothing else will matter because no one will want to go there and no one will want to open a business or shop there. I am sure Wade Harper is a nice man, but a nice man is sometimes not a good leader.
I for one appreciate all the comments. The next city hall meeting is July 22nd at 7 p.m. I hope to see a lot of people come to that meeting hopefully with petitions in hand to do what we need to do to take back our city! I hope to see all of you there.
And all this time.. the Mayor has done what he has always been doing… Turning away and ignoring the issue!
To all the Antioch tax paying law abiding citizens… YOU ARE BEING PLAYED FOR A FOOL BY THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL.
They are confident and believe that Antioch residents are too stupid and coward to do a recall.
Look at how they fooled you with measure C! This is another one they will slip by you.
RJB I wouldn’t say the WHOLE council but certainly the three in the middle.
Yes I agree. I’ve always been a fan of A. I think M should speak up more, however, but maybe because she is new., but then again, she’s had enough time to acclimate herself.
once the crime element is entrenched, little can be done to remove it effectively,,,, case in point, Oakland. A community can vote and throw hard money at the problem, but again, look at Oakland. We have a court system that is ordering communities, like ours, to avail a portion of the tens of thousands of low level felons mandated for release, homes here… Out of area landlords are filling the need through section 8 and other subsidies… Antioch is just a bedroom community now, all of the good paying blue collar jobs on the waterfront are gone, so are opportunities for meaningful jobs for said released prisoners… maybe cheap housings costs are a magnet for crime…. Pittsburg has done it right,,, they tore down the waterfront shacks along Black Diamond, and built expensive homes… Antioch is taking bids to do the opposite around its waterfront… Pittsburg built brand new schools from the ground up, Antioch voted for expensive bonds to patch up outdated infrastructure… Whatever Antioch leadership is doing, it is not working… maybe there is a glimmer of awareness that Antioch should emulate the more successful neighboring communities that flushed out crime from their streets. http://www.city-data.com/crime/crime-Antioch-California.html
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