Photos: Antioch Police Net 8-Arrest During Proactive Detail

On the night of Wednesday June 5, we had the opportunity to observe a proactive enforcement detail through the Antioch Police Department which netted 8 arrests for various violations.

I wanted to wait a week to gather my emotions and let it really sink in of what I witnessed and fully comprehend the situation Antioch Police deal with on a daily basis and the dangers of their job–needless to say, I have mad respect for the boys in blue.

During a four-hour period, the unit worked a target neighborhood in Antioch in the Sycamore area and observed it through the eyes of the police department which is an education in itself. Lets just say, these officers are sharp!

I will not be sharing specifics about particular incidents and cannot share all photographs taken, but hopefully this will give you an idea of just how dangerous Antioch has become and why additional resources are needed to clean up the city.

There are some real dangers in Antioch which need to stop being sugar coated and instead truly talked about so the problems can begin to improve.

Nights Recap:

Upon arrival, the sergeant and I met up with his team and that is where the education began. There is something about watching officers in a staging area gearing up which instantly makes you realize the fun and games are over and it’s instantly real. I guess bullet proof vests, loaded weapons and a quick overview of the assignment will do the trick.

The first incident was issuing an arrest warrant.

As we approached the home, officers parked a few houses away and swarmed the home ensuring all exits were blocked in case the suspect tried to flee. Fortunately in this incident, there was no issue and the suspect was arrested without issue.

Let me just say that when you have nearly a dozen officers swarm the home, just give up because in most cases, you will lose the way these guys operate—every detail is planned and multiple back up plans are in place while the suspect has the element of surprise working against them.

Over the course of the next hour, the sergeant and his team patrolled the area observing the neighborhood in action and sharing some of the problem spots and pointing out “the usual suspects”.

After some additional observations, the officers moved in on a drug deal. As soon as the word “he has a gun” was said, all units jetted to the scene to ensure the officers safety. The suspect was apprehended without incident while another suspect was questioned but later released.

After a search of the area, we moved back onto patrol again observing some serious drug action and prostitution activity.  One positive, a stolen motorcycle was recovered where the suspect claimed he purchased a beautiful motorcycle for $300 (pictured below) and had not done the paperwork. Needless to say, he was arrested.

The team then tracked down a group of minors who were messing around on W.10^th and J Street for drug use. It turns out; one of the suspects had a warrant while another minor was a run away.

Shortly after that incident, the sergeant and I responded to a call of an officer needing assistance in the apprehension of another suspect who had a warrant out for his arrest. The suspect was aggressive with the officer until the sergeant arrived  where he ultimately realized he wasn’t going anywhere—but mind you, lots of foul language came out of the suspects mouth. It was another arrest.

After patrolling the area some more, the team moved in on a suspicious vehicle and questioned some folks. Turns out, the search took an automatic weapon off the streets where the vehicle was called “security” for a drug dealer.

One of our last calls was observing the rational used to pull over a vehicle full of “gang bangers” where it netted a large amount of drugs from one of the suspects—two of the four suspects were arrested.

Of course, as soon as my ride along ended, there was the stabbing off Delta Fair.

Closing thoughts:

The take away in this ride along was this was on a Wednesday night and some serious stuff went down.

We are talking about Wednesday night—not like it’s a Friday or Saturday night but middle of the week which puts things in perspective. These officers are working on a reduced team due to staffing and did an amazing job in ensuring Antioch was a safer city even if for a short time.

The team I saw was very smooth and calculated in all their actions. They were efficient and nothing was a wasted action—they don’t have that luxury of making a mistake or it could be deadly.

As the City Council moves forward with complimentary tax measures, it’s time to stop saying Antioch’s crime is “bad”, but rather start defining and show how it’s bad to get people to pay attention. Rhetoric will not sell this tax measure but reality will.

The pictures below are just a very small sample of the night’s activities, if you saw it with your own eyes; you would be amazed and shocked about what is going down in certain areas of Antioch.

I for one thought I had an idea of how bad Antioch was, unfortunately, I was wrong because it’s worse and will never question an officer’s motive when he is wearing that badge given what they can potentially deal with on a daily basis.

Here are some of the photographs from the last weeks proactive detail: