Posted on Wednesday, 7/30/2008 - 12:20 p.m. PDT — by Paul Burgarino
This was an issue brought up at the last Municipal Advisory Council meeting. There is a lack of Contra Costa County Sheriff's Deputies patroling in Bay Point. I'm trying to put a story together on it. Your thoughts?
Joined: Jul 2008
Current Posts: 3
BAY POINT-YES YOU CAN CHANGE A NAME BUT NOT THE PEOPLE. I HAVE LIVED HERE OVER 50 YEARS, HAVE SEEN THE GOOD, THE BAD, BUT MORE BAD. IN MY OPINION IT'S GETTING WORSE. SHERIFF'S MANPOWER HAS ALWAY'S BEEN THE EXCUSE. YES IT'S PART OF IT, BUT WHY HAS I GONE ON FOR SO LONG? 50+YEARS. I FOR ONE WOULD NOT MIND PAYING MORE TAXES TO HAVE A DECENT LAW ENFORCMENT AGENCY TAKE CARE OF THE PROBLEM. A AGENCY THAT WOULD NOT BLOW IT OFF. ALL THE BAD PEOPLE KNOW TO HEAD TO BAY POINT, WHERE WE CAN GET AWAY WITH ANYTHING. YOU CAN GO DOWN ALMOST ANY STREET AND BUY JUST ABOUT ANYTHING ILLEGAL. SOME TIMES YOU HAVE TO WAIT FOR THE CARS TO CLEAR IN THE ROAD(GETTING THEIR DRUGS) SO YOU CAN GET TO YOUR HOUSE. THE DEALERS LOOK AT YOU AS TO SAY HOW DARE YOU INTERRUPT MY BUSINESS. MAYBE IT IS FRUSTRATING TO THE SHERIFF'S THAT THAY CAN NOT DO THEIR JOB BECAUSE THERE IS NOT ENOUGH OF THEM, BUT WHAT ABOUT THE GOOD PERSON WHO HAS TO LIVE HERE AND IS TOLD BY A SHERIFF TO JUST GO IN THE HOUSE AND SHUT THE DOOR AND STAY OUT OF IT. I DO NOT WANT TO LIVE AS A PRISONER IN MY OWN HOME AS I HAVE FOR THE LAST DECADE +. I GO TO WORK EVERY DAY, THEY LIVE ON OUR PAY CHECK, HAVE A PLACE TO LIVE, NO WORRIES, NICE CARS, SELL AND DO DRUGS, STEAL, PAY NO TAX'S, HAVE MORE BABIES, AND HAVE MORE RIGHT'S THAN ANYONE. I COME HOME AND CAN NOT READ OR WATCH TV WITHOUT DRUGS BEING SOLD AND USED, THE TRUNK THUMPING, RACEING, AND JUST DISRESPECTFUL PEOPLE IN THE STREETS. THIS IS ALL VERY VISABLE, SO WHY THE BLINDER??? YES WE AS PEOPLE NEED TO STAND UP AND JUST NOT TAKE IT ANY MORE, BUT NOT EVERYONE WANTS TO GE INVOLVED. SOME MAKE THE EXCUSE THAT THERE IS A LANGUAGE BARRIER, THEY NEED TO UNDERSTAND THIS IS THEIR TOWN, GET INVOLVED, HELP!!! I AM AT MY HIGHEST FRUSTATION LEVEL.
Joined: May 2006
Current Posts: 166
It's not that the Deputies assigned to Gun Point , sorry I meant Bay Point, don't want to work. As a matter of fact, the men and women of the Sheriff's Department for years have been doing more with less. It's no surprise that there aren't enough Deputies where they needs to be, but that's not the fault of the Sheriff's Department. I'm no fan of Sheriff Rupf and I'd love to be able to blame him for the problems in the unincorporated areas of the county, but I can't. The fact is the County Supervisors are to blame. They expect the Sheriff to field a workforce on a budget that is simply ludicrous. Contra Costa County doesn't pay enough to attract the best of the best anymore and those that they do attract are forced to pay out anywhere between 15%-20% into their own retirement (which is way out of proportion to the private sector). Couple that with lack of raises and increasing medical coverage costs and you see why many are fleeing the department in droves. Other smaller departments are paying more money and have better benefits so it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out the problem.
BUT, that didn't keep our beloved supervisors from giving THEMSELVES a 60% pay raise!!. Their rationale was they were not paid as much as others in their same position. Well guess what? That can be said of many that work in many vocations for Contra Costa County.
So, Blaze, if you're really concerned about the lack of presence of law enforcement in Bay Point, I suggest you take it up with Supervisor Federal Glover. The Sheriff's Department cant make more deputies appear on the streets when the Supervisors are shrinking the department's budget every year. There's a strong possibility if the current trend continues that deputes will have to respond from other areas to calls for service in Bay Point because the money simply won't exist to fund a Bay Point deputy position.
As Supervisor Gayle Uilkema said of she and her colleagues in a 12/20/06 Oakland Tribune article "...We have huge responsibilities. We are larger than many national economies, and I feel the pay should be commensurate with the responsibilities..." Well Supervisor, that too goes for the Deputies, Nurses, Doctors, Librarians, Counselors, DDA's, Public Defenders, etc, etc that also work for the county. Things are only going to get worse. So the next time you see a Deputy trying to do their job, see if you can make it easier by lending a hand or giving them the information on some of the critters they're looking for. They can't do it all by themselves.
Blaze, if you're TRULY concerned and want to take action, contact the Bay Point MAC:
Vicki Zumwalt, Chair
PO. Box 5038
Bay Point, CA 94565
(925) 427-8360
Joined: Jul 2008
Current Posts: 3
I am not blameing all Deputies, I agree with you, it's the system. As I said I would not mind paying more tax for more officers (this was not a attack on the Sheriff's). I have been to the Bay Point MAC, I have called the sheriff's many times(I do listen to the scanner and wait until it seems that things are a little slower, so every time I call I feel bad). We have offered some officers pictures(no takers). I have talked to deputies that are new to the area and they come in wanting to kick a.., but end up discuraged, because there just is not enough of them. Also I have tried to get people involved that are my neighbors that feel intiminated, as they do not speak english that well. I also stated that one Sheriff said to basically stay out of it. Why get involved, they can't protect us. I have been intiminated several time, my house, yard and car has been damaged. My children are worried because when I do get involved and become visable they will shoot me. How can you get involved and yet stay transparent? By the way the last 2 times I have called 2 Deputies have responed within 5min. Good Job!!! But unfortuantly this will go on after they leave, and it's not their fault. The lanlord's are not being subjected to the law about drug dealing tennants and nuisance. That's a whole other issue.
Joined: Feb 2007
Current Posts: 46
Go after the landlords, Blaze. That's who should be blamed. They rent out their houses to anybody, don't do criminal background checks. This is a problem we've been dealing with in Antioch, too. We are fortunate enough to have a very proactive police department that stands behind our neighborhood watch groups in our joint efforts to rid the city of criminal tenants. But we've also got bands of neighbors getting together and suing landlords over the criminal actions of their tenants. You can take a landlord to small claims court and sue for $7,500 EACH (that's EACH NEIGHBOR) if you tell him you want the problem fixed and he doesn't. There is absolutely no reason to live in such a bad situation. The sheriff's department is stretched way too far to be there for you 24/7, so you've got to go after the landlords to make things right. Money talks -- 10 neighbors getting together and suing for $75,000 will definitely get the landlord's attention. And find someone in the neighborhood who speaks both languages so you can talk with your non-English speaking neighbors.
Joined: Jul 2008
Current Posts: 3
Thank you watchfan. Is there a way to find out who owns the properties, without going through 10 tons of paper work?
Joined: Oct 2007
Current Posts: 687
If you want a real scare listen to a scanner set just to the east county freq. and listen to how busy the deputies assinged to Bay Point are. There are 3 to 4 deputies assinged to Bay Point per shift, and they run call to call all day long, there is no way to do proactive police work with that going on. Yes some calls will get kissed off when you are dealing with that volume of calls. You can only do so much when you don't have the man power that you need to have to run a deparment with the responsibilities that come with the Sheriff's Department.
Talk to the deputies they will tell you what it is really like in Bay Point, don't just take the word of someone who may have an issue with the Sheriff's Department. If you are honest with them they will be honest with you.
Joined: Nov 2005
Current Posts: 19
First of all I want to preface any remarks I make by saying that the CCC Sheriffs office is one of the best in the nation and it's officers are exemplary. The problem is not enough of them serve the Bay Point Community.
The most common way to calculate how much work is being put into law-enforcement in any given area is through a nationally accepted formula which takes the number of officers assigned to an area and divides it by how many thousands are in the population. The formula is:
NUMBER OF OFFICERS/(POPULATION/1,000)
The result is expressed as Number of Officers per thousand.
Pittsburg for example has 60,000 people and 77 sworn officers. So 77/60 means about 1.3 officers per thousand. Baypoint has how many full time officers assigned to it? Baypoint has a population of approximately 20,000. I do not know how many sheriffs deputies are assigned to Baypoint, but from what I have heard the area is severely underserved.
This is not to say the Sheriffs Deputies aren't doing their job, on the contrary they are over-worked because there is not enough Deputies assigned to patrol etc.
More Police resources is another reason Baypoint would benefit from annexation into Pittsburg.
Cheers!
AJ Fardella
Director
http://ohcg.net
OakHills Community Group
Pittsburg, CA
Joined: Oct 2007
Current Posts: 687
You can not use those numbers for an unincorporated area like Bay Point, simply because using your Pittsburg example of 77/60,000 you are not talking about patrol officers, that is total sworn staff from the chief on down. So that is an unfair example, since there is no chief or command staff working or assinged to Bay Point. For a fair assesment you need to break it down further down to assinged patrol officers not just a total number, of sworn staff per 1000, at least make it fair. A simple phone call to the sheriff's field ops would more than likely get you the number assinged to Bay Point.
Would Pittsburg really want to annex all of Bay Point, I know this issue has come up before more than once if I recall correctly, and I don't think Pittsburg wanted anything to do with it.
Joined: Nov 2005
Current Posts: 19
It is a nationaly accepted standard used by IACP etc. As far as oranges and oranges, crime statistics speak for themselves, Bay Point Crime is up and Pittsburg's is down. Additionally Pittsburg's proximity makes it much more logisticaly able to respond in force when there is additional need in Bay Point and has historically done so to assist CCC SO. There are certainly more patrol officers on the street in Pittsburg per 1,00 residents as well. Not to mention all of the other staff positions and resources that would help eleiminate crime and clean up Bay Point, such as Code Enforcement Community Relations PPD's excellent camera system etc..
Bay Point Annexation is hardly out of scope or consideration. Ambrose Park just became a part of Pittsburg last month. I am a Pittsburg resident that supports annexation of Bay Point, it is a win- win. Pittsburg's City Manager is also supportive as are many Bay Point Leaders. The improvement of Police services for Bay Point residents is one of the huge benefits for Bay Point residents if the whole area were part of Pittsburg.
http://www.smartvoter.org/2006/11/07/ca/cc/vote/fardella_a/paper1.html
http://www.baypointca.org/
Cheers!
AJ Fardella
Director
http://ohcg.net
OakHills Community Group Pittsburg, CA
Joined: Oct 2007
Current Posts: 687
It is an excepted standard for cities which Bay Point is not. There is another standard for unincoroporated areas I don't recall the numbers or how it is arrived at. What I simply stated is that you are using a standard that is excepted for cities and applying it to a unincorporated area.
Crime stats are easily manipulated through reporting data. I know this for a fact, once as a young officer I was ordered by the senior sergeaqnt to change an attempted burglary to a vandalism since on entry was made to the property and it would look better on the FBI crime report. Not being a resident of either Pittsburg or Bay Point annexation is not an issue for me to be concered with. Although I am not sure what "win" Pittsburg would get out of the deal.
Joined: Nov 2005
Current Posts: 19
Appreciate your thoughts on the matter.
I live in the part of Pittsburg just above Bay Point nad have close friendships with many long-time residents of Bay Point. The deputies are great but there are just not enough to cover the arrea or the volume of calls. That's what residents have said to me and that's what you see when you drive through and see the suspect activity and areas where there is obviously no code enforcement going on.
You are right about stats, have seen similar manipulations of stats by various agencies, it's a shame. Stats are only as good as the verasity of the data. The old "garbage in, garbage out" axiom.
I love Bay Point, the people and the area. Bay Point is on the threashold of great things over the next 10 years. Without a doubt more Police Services will help that and give Bay Point residents better quality of life
Cheers!
AJ Fardella
Joined: Jul 2008
Current Posts: 18
I've lived in this community all of my life. I grew up on the corner of Willow Pass Rd. and Madison Ave. Arguably the roughest area in town. As a matter a fact, we started calling it Willow Swamps because of the swampy conditions of the area. 30 years living in this community has taught me a few things about this town.
First, the County doesn't give a damn about us.
Second, the Mt. Diablo School Board doesn't give a damn about us.
And third, the name "Bay Point" was just an attempt to cover up the mess that goes on here. The name itself sounds charming, but only if you live in the hills of Evora Rd.
So what's my point ? I think that West Pittsburg should be annexed by Pittsburg. The city of Pittsburg has done an outstanding job of cleaning up their streets and revitalizing their downtown area. They've installed video cameras around areas that in the past were high in crime. In return, we've seen the an almost complete turn around of the 10th St. area. I've also never, ever been harassed by a Pittsburg Police Officer. Sadly I cannot say the same for the Sheriffs who patrol West Pitt. I've been targeted at least a dozen times for merely having a bald head and brown skin. Maybe its' because most of the Sheriffs that come into West Pitt have the mentality that everyone in the community is a suspect. They could learn something from the Pittsburg PD who actually know their citizens and are in the community 24/7, unlike the Sheriffs we have here in West Pitt.
How long does West Pitt have to wait to get a high school? No long I hope. Pittsburg needs a new high school like West Pitt needs one, period. We've been fooled into thinking that the Mt. Diablo School Board is going to one day give us a new high school. That will be the day. Remember, we're the last in the food chain to get any funds by the school district. They have to take care of their richer neighborhoods first. Northgate, College park, YV, ect.
Wouldn't it make sense to merge with Pittsurg in order to get a new high school and our own police force? Heck yeah, it makes perfect sense.
I have no problem being annexed by Pittsburg. We were once shared the name with our neighbor. We, the citizens of West Pitt, often complain that we want our own IDENTITY. I am sorry to tell you folks, but we already have one. It's West Pittsburg. We are the West Side of Pittsburg.
No more GUN POINT !!
No more false promises by county and school board officials and part time citizens !!
We have the opportunity to make a change for the better by having our community annexed by Pittsburg.
Hopefully, it will be under the condition that we get our name back.......
Joined: Sep 2006
Current Posts: 186
I grew up in west pittsburg also. I went to ambrose and riverview then went to pacifica high . why do they call it bay point?that use to be a nice place to live.there was a bar on willowpass rd THE GOLDEN GATE CLUB. And a little store next door. along time ago next to ambrose school there was a grocery store called L &S STORE.
Joined: Mar 2009
Current Posts: 67
When I lived there (west pittsburg) there were always Sheriffs Patrolling, but not enough with Drunks and Prostitutes in full-view at the car wash at or near Dave's Liquors.
Driving through there a few weeks back, it looks a bit cleaner but still not a place folks go to shop or dine-out.
Funkateer
Joined: Dec 2005
Current Posts: 72
We have a ton of crime and no deputies in our neighborhoods either. I can't remember the last time I saw a deputy in Bay Point patrolling and I work nights. It has been several months, since the buget issue. The new Chevron hasn't helped matters either because now they are all down there. Someone should have made Chevron pay for their own dam deputy.