A war of words is erupting and accusations are being tossed around between the Antioch Police Officers’ Association and Antioch City Hall.
The following letter was released today by the Antioch Police Officers’ Association (APOA):
People of Antioch,
The APOA felt it was important to address several issues that our officers have been been dealing with and that you, those who live in Antioch, have likely felt the ramifications of. The issue is two fold and has been affecting our department for some time. These issues are staffing and messaging from our department.
The APD has been hemorrhaging officers for the better part of the last 12 months. Through injuries, attrition, the FBI investigation into a group of our officers, and a host of other issues, the APD’s patrol staff is currently staffed at 30 patrol officers. For perspective, the APD’s patrol staff had 65 officers available to work patrol in late 2020.
The reason we are addressing this now is because of the constant misrepresentations we see about our staffing levels and recruitment efforts being put forth by Mayor Thorpe. It cannot be said with enough emphasis that one of the major driving forces causing officers to leave our agency is the dangerous and irresponsible rhetoric coming from the Mayor. The Mayor’s constant negative comments towards our officers since the time of Chief Brooks has caused a large amount of officers to leave our agency because they do not feel the support from our city’s leadership.
Just as important, his behavior and rhetoric has also prevented current officers from other agencies from coming to work for our agency. Anecdotally, we have been told by lateral prospects all over the Bay Area that despite the signing bonus that the Mayor has offered, they will not work in Antioch because of the Mayor’s rhetoric against the police department. We have all heard the Mayor blame our staffing crisis on a national trend of an exodus from policing. Although it is true that staffing levels at police departments around the country are down, it is also true that APD’s staffing has hit critically low levels unseen by other departments in the area. Our neighboring agencies do not have the staffing crisis that we have and the APOA attributes much of that to the Mayor’s ongoing rhetoric.
Now, the APD’s recruiting team has been doing an excellent job hiring a good amount of new applicants and they are being put through the police academy as we speak. We know that help to our staffing levels are soon on the horizon and we are confident that the APD’s staffing levels will be back to where they were before. Chief Ford has also been implementing several positive changes and improvements to our training and procedures that will continue to improve our department over the long term. But to be clear, these positive improvements are happening despite the Mayor’s negative comments about our officers and not because of any efforts or programs he has been responsible for. No signing bonus can make up for the damage he’s done to our department but the officers represented by the APOA are resilient and will overcome yet this latest obstacle to accomplishing the mission of keeping the Antioch community safe.
To speak to the issues of keeping the community safe, most of you have likely heard about the burglaries which occurred recently at Antioch businesses and the subsequent apology which was released by APD administration regarding APD’s response. You were told in that apology that there would be positive updates to be released. Those positive updates to this point have not been released and the APOA has been informed that they will not be released because the Mayor has ordered APD’s leadership not to to release any further information regarding this incident. So we, as an APOA, will tell you that the person responsible has been arrested by alert and hard working APD patrol officers. Officers who responded to the original burglary were able to identify the responsible vehicle the night of the burglary and located the vehicle on February 16. They identified the driver as 34 year old Casey Beck and determined that he was responsible for multiple burglaries in the recent past. Beck was arrested and booked at the Martinez Detention Facility.
This update was prevented from reaching you because the Mayor ordered APD leadership from releasing it. We have been informed that this message has reached our department leadership through Chief Strategic Officer Rolando Bonilla. We have been told that Mr. Bonilla ordered the department’s Public Information Officer, Ashley Crandell, from releasing any further information regarding this incident.
This is an ongoing pattern that our department has experienced for years. Mayor Thorpe prevented Chief Brooks, interim Chief Morefield and now Chief Ford from updating the public with incidents occurring in the city. The APOA believes he has done this because he does not want our officers to be highlighted positively but rather wants an opportunity to craft the message himself to take the credit for the work our officers do. The APOA will not stand idly by and allow this to happen. We believe that it is important for the citizens of Antioch to know what is occurring with the city. The APOA does not answer to Mayor Thorpe and he will not silence our message. It seems the Mayor routinely forgets that Antioch is a General Law city which means we are governed by a city council of five and we have a “city manager” form of government. Despite this, the Mayor routinely tries to operate as though we are a Charter city with a “strong mayor” form of government. His actions are inappropriate on many levels.
We can assure the people of Antioch that our officers will continue to work diligently to keep you safe and the message of their work will reach you so that you are aware of what is occurring in the city.
and somewhere in the middle lies the truth…
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1) I don’t care for the Antioch Mayor, and…
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2) the APOA’s letter is too long, most won’t read it, and…
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3) unless the letter is on the Association’s Letterhead, many a person will wonder; What is an APOA???
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Somebody on another thread mentioned Antioch falling apart… I think they are probably right.
Your first sentence is not always true. Especially in cases of politicians and liberals.
agreed
Yup it is falling apart, been going downhill for years !
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More detail, is a long article
BUT before you read the article watch video in the article from Mike Barbanica City Councilman district 2.
https://tinyurl.com/yc4k6pc9
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Have been up in west antioch several times a week. This week saw city workers picking up garbage along roadways, Derelict vehicles are finally gone off Fairview drive. Years past that street appeared to have been paved with new type of sparking asphalt, . . . wrong was broken vehicle glass covering street.
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It’s shocking to see how many businesses are gone, broken windows, then plywood, then plywood gets ripped off and used for homeless condos.
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Thinkin’ Mike Barbanica should be antioch Mayor, then it might stand a chance.
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WOKE needs to be replaced with COMMON SENSE !
West Antioch? That’s a first. Barbanica is okay, I could see him doing a lot of trade offs with other council members, but if you’ve been in the area he’s not always truthful and I’ve called him out on this. He seems to be changing his behavior tho.
Anybody who knows Antioch knows that issues of impropriety and far worse, have been systemic in the APD, Antiich City Hall and CCC DA’s Office for many years.
In fact, I have a very dear friend whose son worked as a Antioch police officer for years up until approximately 2012. She told me that her son literally quit the department because he and other officers along with other City personnel knew that at least two and possibly more officers were involved in the murder of two unarmed young men in separate incidents after the men were apprehended by the officers. She said she was told that both of these young men (David Lopez and Joshua Peterson) had damaging information on these and other police officers and they were killed in cold blood for this reason.
It is also my understanding that the DA’s office has had incriminating evidence against these officers but has been keeping this information from going public.
Suspiciously, one of the officers involved in both murders has recently left the APD and is currently employed as a police spokesman in the Newport Police Department.
Give me a break! “ my cousin’s sister”s brother told me”. You ever play the telephone game as a kid???
@Knowitall, you have no idea what you are talking about. The APD, Antioch City Hall and the CCC DA’s office all are complicit in the absolute cover up of those murdered by these rogue police officers in Antioch. Conspiracies do happen, but too many people, including you, it appears, would rather bury your head in the sand.
Former APD officer, Joshua Vincelet, and current Antioch Detective, Matt Koch, know what I state is the truth. After all, they were the murderers. Look into the police reports and eye witnesses and you will learn why the cover up is ongoing.
@Sallyjorgenson you are the one who has no idea what they are talking about!
@Knowitall, oh really? Did you take the time to read detective/investigator Ralph A. Hernandez’s comment regarding his investigation on both murders?
I suspect you did, but facts and evidence don’t matter to you because who can’t allow youself to fathom that there are some very bad people in law enforcement who are capable of murder. Ignorance is bliss, huh?
Well it’s not a lie that APD has been shady. Lived in the area for almost 20 years and East CoCo in general is another world compared to these Centralians. If you know you know how APD use to run the city unlawfully, not it’s the mayor. Most people have lost hope, our districts don’t have leaders. Most people who yip tap and complain online never show up to city meetings. The chambers are shallow and cold. The people in the halve sides as a video posted by Deer Valley students once described Antioch said it.
Glad I moved out of Antioch 20 years ago!
me too… long gone. Ecstatic to be away from there.
I’m glad we never moved to Antioch in the first place! Once thought about it because of the big new homes being built but decide to stay in ClayCord… thankfully we’re still better off as a city.
I get very upset about all the misrepresentation against the police. The media seems to be the champion. There’s probably been 50 police officers killed across the country this year so far and you hear very little about it. But if one Thug, fighting with a policeman gets hurt, you hear all about it days on end. I would not want to become a policeman nowadays with whatever you paid me. The Liberals and the Dems in this country treat them like they’re the enemy, they also treat the criminals like they’re wonderful people.
@Badge1104
You are spot on. What people don’t realize without the police criminals will take over. The media is anti law enforcement and are pro criminals. They are also race hustlers.
People have a choice.
A) Support police and demand that criminals be prosecuted fully by the courts, and don’t flame officers when criminals get shot because they were not obeying commands (while shooting at officers)
B) Arm yourselves like it’s the wild wild west
Those are it, period. Pick a side.
@Commonsensor
Back the blue!!!
That’s not a mutually exclusive choice. I pick both.
Sally Jorgensen’s comments are on the mak, as are others posted. Especially about the two young residents who were unjustly killed by some of the Antioch Police/Detectives involved. I personally investigated the two separate killings and in my opinon and belief (having over 50 years of experience in these matters, to include over 33 years as a fulltime sworn Officer/Inspector, now retired) each amounted to unlawful Homicides at the hands of a few rogue APD Officers/Detectives.
I personally have filed complaints on these unwarranted Police killings with the CCC D.A.’s Office, Antioch Mayor and Council, former City Manager and Chief, the D.A. Becton herself, and Board of Supervisors. Many years have past now nothing has been done about it. It is an outrage and those doing nothing about it should be prosecuted where appropriate! Start with the crime of their being Assessories, doing nothing about it and in fact it seems purposefully protecting the involved Officers/Detectives according to laws. Ask them why they are doing nothing and it seems covering for those involved.
I fully support the many uninvolved APD Officers and Detectives, about 90% plus, and have for decades done so publicly. It seems however that they cannot resolve it either. Their lives have been endangered by these types of coverups and Police criminals. We all deserve better and also are veing denied justice for ourselves as well as those two who were shot to he’ll as if they were nothing! Complain to the aforementioned and demand that they prosecute all involved. I even asked for the D.A.’s Office to have expanded a Criminal Grand Jury to fully investigate and take appropriate actions where warranted, but it has not been done and it seems it is again ignored by the D.A.’s Office until we all die away waiting for justice. Who then will serve us all in these and other important matters?
Yes, the city of Antioch has been taken down the toilet and those residents who can are fed up and leaving. The majority of our elected leaders are to blame, as are others involved who are raking advantage of us with the blessing of the majority of our elected and paid employees. It must stop and be reversed, or it will spill over into our other cities and they too will be exposed to these events.
Hitler took over most of Europe, until stopped when it was almost too late. But not until millions were killed and millions suffered needlessly! These may not presently be affecting you out there but it will soon enough!
With the anti law enforcement mentality these days with the Progressive George Soros DA’s such as Becton, maybe there is not enough evidence to prosecute these officers. I’m pretty sure she would jump at the chance to prosecute.
@ Ralph A. Hernandez, I am very pleased to read your post and appreciate your efforts to not only finally bring justice to the families of the young men murdered by the two police officers, but for also holding the APD, Antioch City Hall along with CCC DA’s office feet to the fire making all of them accountable for their collective cover ups of these ruthless murders along with many other serious abuses involving other officers and City personnel.
I respect you and hope that other former or present law enforcement officers or City personnel finally have the courage and integrity to come forward and do the right thing.
I think many probably want to but they are in fear for their own safety or that of their families and or they don’t want to jeopardize their present jobs and or pensions.
Once you invoke Reductio ad Hitlerum, you’ve already lost the argument, and nothing you’ve said should be taken seriously.
But he didn’t invoke Reductio ad Hitlerum. He just used the Nazis as an example of the consequences of waiting too long to take action.
Not sure what to expect when you have a drunk perpetrator as mayor. I think the hood rat Tamisha Walker Harris for mayor haha
I believe the mayor of Antioch was caught driving drunk. Also I believe that he was the center point of an investigation into misconduct towards women that ended up costing thousands of dollars in a pay off. I don’t believe that these facts are characteristic of any person that should be in office, let alone a mayor. Back the blue! Never Thorper! Tamisha walker Harris for mayor lol