The Hillcrest Taphouse in the City of Antioch was burglarized early Wednesday morning and say an Antioch Police response took nearly 4 hours to respond.
Hillcrest Taphouse is not the only business to have been targeted by criminals, so far in 2023, Antioch Police have reported in their crime logs at 49 reported burglaries as of February 11. (Known burglaries only). In fact, the same vehicle is believed to have hit Cocina Medina the same morning.
Antioch Police staffing levels have been crushed in the past year going from a fully staffed 115 officers under Chief Tammany Brooks to 76 officers in October. In February, the department is at 73 active officers and the city has increased its hiring incentives for officers who join the Antioch Police Department.
The Hillcrest Taphouse took to social media sharing their experience along with a nearly 4-hour police response
Dwayne Gilliland, of the Hillcrest Taphouse, stated a total of five windows were broken and a door was damaged as a suspect made entry to the business at approximately 6:30 am.
“They tried the front door first. Then tried another door, attempted to break another window before a rock went through another window,” explained Gilliland. “I estimated about $1,000 in cash, another $2k in merchandise from around the restaurant, and $7k in damages.”
Gilliland explained he received a call from the alarm company after an attempted break-in from the front door when he observed a rock break the window and a male made entry. He told the alarm company to call the police as someone was inside.
“I watched for 10-12 minutes a man walking around the restaurant going through every cupboard, taking items, a computer, money out of drawers and left with two bags of stuff where he loaded it up in to a vehicle. The police never showed up,” said Gilliland.
After watching for 10-minutes, he said he then called Antioch Police dispatch who told him they had no officers available to respond, even though it was an active burglary.
“They said sorry, they would be there as soon as they could and said it was a non-emergency,” explained Gilliland who stated they finally showed up around 11:00 am.
The restaurant has since cleaned up the broken glass and windows have been covered, however, they are limited to only half the restraint being able to seat patrons.
“We can’t close, we have struggled to stay open. We can’t afford to close down so I put a board up in the window and we are open. We should get a new window in a few days,” said Gilliland.
He further explained that for as much as they try and support the city, was a chamber member, that they can’t get someone to come out unless there is an emergency.
“The guy was walking around with the alarm going off for 10-minutes and no one showed up. Its crazy,” says Gilliland. “Businesses should be a higher priority to police response because we support the community. You are basically telling us we don’t matter. Its hard to want to do business in the town when we don’t get the support.”
He pointed out he understood low staffing levels and if something else was going on, but to not show up during an active burglary on camera is “hard to swallow”.
“I was at Walmart the other day and a guy walks out with a TV, its complete lawlessness. It happens all the time of people grabbing stuff and walking out,” said Gilliland. “The community deserves better, the community has reached out to me today with a lot of sympathy. We are here for the city and its hard to do this stuff when they catch guys red handed, either don’t arrest them because they know its not going to be prosecuted, or they don’t even show up. Its hard to swallow. This is on the city for allowing lawlessness to happen. You dot everything you are supposed to do, the city doesn’t have my back.”
Councilwoman Lori Ogorchock is aware that many businesses are experiencing the same situations and encourages them to participate in the business watch program.
“We have began the business watch program again which meets once a month at the Antioch Polie Department,” said Ogorchock. “Its supported by the Antioch Police Department and Chief Ford.
The Antioch Police will host a community forum on Thursday, February 16 at 6:00 pm at Delta Bowl located at 3300 Delta Fair Boulevard. Members of the police department, to include Chief Steven Ford, will be there for you to meet and ask questions.
Antioch Police Department has released no information on the incident.
9 comments
I am sorry for their loss. However we should not judge the APDR until their duty log is released. As long as nobody’s life was in danger it was not an emergency. I am fairly certain that not all 73 officers were on duty at the same time. There is 3 shifts to staff that is approximately 24 officers per shift. Could be these officers were saving the life of your child, mother, father, sister, brother or other family members or friend. Went to the scene of an car accident, fire, shooting, domestic violence. Just think about this before making snap judgments.
They may have 73 sworn officers but that includes all ranks, detectives, narcotics, traffic, school resource, and any other divisions they have. Also includes officers on medical leave, vacation, away on training etc. Patrol probably has between 5 and 10 beat officers on a shift depending on time of day or night, far less than most people think. A robbery, shooting, death or other priority calls or arrests takes many of those officers off the streets for hours leaving only a few officers to respond to calls. I agree 4 hours is a totally unacceptable response time to a burglary in progress with the suspect still inside, but once the suspect was gone it became a lesser priority call depending on how many pending calls they had waiting for dispatch. No excuse for the terrible response time but I’m sure if the mayor or a city council member called 911 saying their home was being broken into on camera they’d break an officer free to respond. The mayor and city council needs to make it a priority to hire more officers to make sure everyone has decent response times to their emergencies….
Any description of the criminal? Does the dr. have anything to say? How’s bout de mayor?
It’s real simple. Hold them for responsibility, and alleviate the hardships caused by their blatant disregard to another. U don’t understand how the system turns blind eye to the REAL and often catastrophic position victims find themselves in after being violated criminally. The seemingly smallest of cases cause people to lose vehicles, homes, then jobs, their children… And there’s no kinda help out there that will cover the crime. Seems to conveniently fall in the little fine print that says **not covered… In simple English, it’s called system reform. It should be obvious by now that universal jailing is not the answer for everybody. But it doesn’t take a genius to realize that there are ways to teach, guide, train, and or otherwise provide somebody with the clear skills and life necessities of character that they may be missing and redirect them towards a better cause first for themselves and then for a manageable possible reentry. Sticking people behind a box and a gate for years on end does nothing but make them go crazy, and then you turn them out to the world again so they can let that crazy Go loose because they have no idea how to contain it after they have done so for however many years. I don’t know if it’s built on a put them in there and throw away the key mentality, but how obvious is it that it just doesn’t work? Somebody who seems troubled or is clearly showing signs of such, If you just treat them like a normal person without judgment and ask them. The things that they tell you are often times quite telling of a lot, and it isn’t really that difficult to create camaraderies with most of the general population who are lost and misguided. Some of these people have never had a proper display of how to act and be as a grown human being. Believe me, I’ve known the best of them in my lifetime. It’s a very broken system in so many facets and the way people handle others who are not so societal ready is the biggest inhibiting element of all. There should be a defined system on the ability to report any property or theft crime/ burglary, as well as the direct effect it will be causing for the victim. Those as a whole should be entirely considered in the so to say treatment plan of rehabilitating the perpetrator as opposed to slapping them on the wrist and waiting for them to build up a certain value. $1 to me could be nothing. To my neighbor, she needs it to last a week and if it doesn’t, then her entire world turns upside down starting with her child having to go to the other parent. It’s a downhill spiral from there and to no fault of her own, but it is maddening to say the least. It is so time for system reform and bringing in people who have a passion for purpose of what they’re working with would be a really good start. Santa Rita jail, there’s a terrible example of how to not do something the wrong way. If people are dying in your care the way they are there, and they can’t get out to get away from whatever it is that’s troubling that whole site, there’s a big problem. And the first thing you do with a big problem like that is readjust your staffing 100%. Obviously it’s hard to pinpoint, so everybody gets to go and be reassigned somewhere else. And you bring in those people that have a passion for purpose and you start over. Mark. My words, things would change and people wouldn’t be dying. But anytime you’re throwing in people that have a medical case such as drug addiction and withdrawals, etc, and you’re expecting a deputy to be on proper heightened awareness. As to the stages, those patients are going to go through? It ain’t never going to happen. Happen. They aren’t invested in it number one, and number two, it takes training and or direct experience. Direct experience, neither of which most of them have or at least legally should have by maintaining that position. Just saying… I know the fracture in the system but hey who am I? just one who worked in it and left because I couldn’t deal with how awful it was. I went there to make a difference in the system that should be there doing exactly that, and learned very quickly that it was not exactly the type of thing I would support and no longer could. I stand by and watch a system destroy the very demographics they are there to help. It was disturbing to say the least and if you open your mouth, you become a target. Administration is a joke and contra costa county, and it’s unbelievable how many people are pulling the CYA for the next guy and completely doing everything in their power to eliminate the ones who notice wrongdoings. These aren’t personal bothered issues of wrongdoings, they are true. Circumstantial witnessed events of people seeking help. Who are hassled and traumatized and abused from the system by the system about the system and all they’re trying to do is use the system for the very purpose it stands for. I can’t begin to tell you how incredibly disregarding it was. The health care direct from the physicians- fantastic. But that’s because the doctors come with that very passion I spoke of earlier. They are there for the humanitarian element and it shows top to bottom. I happen to have worked at almost all of the larger hospitals in the area as well, and I would pick county medicine over every single one of them including private practices that I worked for in the last 20 years. So not to confuse what is amazing and what is just not. Matter of fact, anybody who is in this system in any way shape or form, feel free to ask around. Around. I am not a lone ranger in this and I am someone who has been in the system as a victim of violence, went through the courts and decided to give back, so I thought, only to discover something completely different from what I had ever expected and became a secondary victim who could not possibly obtain anything that I was needing and eligible for when I had a disability at the same time as a 12-year-old and attempts of suicide do to her abusive father. The story goes on but I will just tell you I worked for it and I’ve been in it and I’ve had to use it. Every single way you could has been in front of me in a very intimate manner. The county is ultimately destroyed my life and that of my extended family and they should be criminally held responsible for some things that have happened because it is a flat out criminal act but nobody’s looking and nobody listens but somebody pays and that somebody has been me, my family, my extended family, my relationship, and the burn in my soul that the whole thing has continued to go on and people keep acting like things are just lovely. What I would give to be allowed a voice to the right person, please, sign me up. But since I’ve been warned that a target’s on my back if I say anything, this is as close as I get. Isn’t that incredibly touching?… If people knew what I know… That’s all I’m going to say. I’m so sick of having to stay quiet while I suffer. Still. It’s a burn that will never go away and directly attributed to my comment here because truly, contra Costa county accounting robbed me of my life and violated me so much that it was paralyzing and domino effect to others and that is not okay. It has been 9 years since I left. And I am in my first year of even being able to truly bring all of it together. Anytime someone is ready to go at the laws on statute of limitations, and changing them to open time for victims of any kind, not just rape, let me know. Know. Apparently victims are only a victim if they are sexually violated. I guess they don’t recover to a degree of being able to go through the trauma of the event. And those of us who are abused physically, emotionally, however, we become a victim or survivor are supposed to somehow indefinitely suppress our situation because nobody penetrated our body? Welcome to America, the land of absolutely nothing being equal. There’s really no such thing as a victimless crime. Anyway. Okay that’s all. Sorry, sometimes the littlest of things make me so internally heated. We can do better, but the sad thing is nobody’s trying anymore. But since I’m a firm believer nothing being impossible, I will keep on however possible…;) Since it’s the only reason I’m still standing! Have a great day everybody- sorry just venting!
An they’re utterly baffled as to why businesses are leaving Antioch.
Those wanting career in LE, can see why Antioch isn’t on their list of cities they’d be willing to work for.
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Bought first house in Antioch 40 years ago, city has gone down hill since then.
Blame belongs to former city councils, allowing high density housing and smaller square footage houses on postage stamp sized lots.
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Every parcel in a city has to have city services, costs of those services are at a fixed to rising costs usually due to labor and material costs. Smaller houses on small lots means lower property tax base. What happened during economic downturn when property valuations were revised downward resulting in lower revenue to the city.
WHO GOT LAID OFF ? ? ?
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Citizens of Antioch, you all might want to start showing up and providing a much higher level of ADULT SUPERVISION to keep things from getting any worse. Hubris, gets expensive.
It all goes back to Mayor Thorpe. He is into Defunding the police department. He fired all the police officers on schools campuses. They were all suppose to start at the beginning of the school year. There are not many candidates for positions. And why would they want to work for Antioch? Oakley refuses to send officers to Antioch to help out anymore. BUT I just saw the City Council all are getting secretaries to help out!! The money could of been spent on the Police Department. It’s just ridiculous, plus he got a DUI and he had to pay out a huge settlement for sexual harassment and hostile work environment. It was at his previous job for a board that has been in place since Los Medanos hospital closed in Pittsburgh. I know crime is up everywhere but Antioch is out of control.
Everybody needs to take in account the city manager, the Con man, he controls the city more than you think. He needs to answer the questions about lack of police and every other department. Don’t let this Con man off the hook. We know he wasn’t the best person for the job, we know his assistant was.
Frank, who was his assistant?
You want burglaries to stop you want people to stop walking out with TV’s from stores stop
Voting in favor of crime reform. Criminals have no fear of Oj I hasn’t anymore u less you kill someone you won’t see any jail
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