Home » Concord Police Chief Presents 2022 Crime Data

Concord Police Chief Presents 2022 Crime Data

by CC News

At the February 28 Concord City Council Meeting, Chief Mark Bustillos provided an update on crime statistics, staffing and where they were at as a police department.

Bustillos explained for the first time they get to compare NIBRS data vs. NIBRS data instead of the UCR data. The data provided in the presentation to the council was unaudited data.

He shared the unaudited data was showing rape, larceny theft, and arson were all down. However, burglary and vehicle thefts were up. He also shared Group A & Group B crime is now listed on their website—for example they can now see how many purse thefts they had, which were 8 in 2022.

He said the National Incident Based Reporting System now provides the community with a new level of detail in crime data (see crime data on website)

The chief also explained  the recent push for online reporting.  During the pandemic, Concord Police focused on getting residents to move to online reporting for incidents that were not deemed an emergency, or had no suspect, evidence, video or serial numbers.

“In a nutshell, it becomes an insurance report,” stated Bustillos. “It does add to are overall crime, but there is not really any follow up. But it does give us the picture of what is going on.”

Online reporting push is for the following incidents:

The crime is one of the following:

  • Child Custody, Documentation of Violation of Order
  • Garbage Dumping
  • Harassing Phone Calls
  • Identity Theft
  • Lost, Stolen, or Vandalized Property
  • Non-Injury Traffic Collision or Hit and Run Traffic Collision
  • Theft from a storage unit
  • Theft from an unlocked garage
  • Vehicle Tampering (Example: Keying or attempts to remove vehicle parts)
  • The crime occurred within the city limits of Concord, California

Bustillos went back to the reporting system and how the switch to NIBRS allows them to track particular thefts versus “something was stole” .

“Now we are able to look at the particular things and say what was stolen” explained Bustillos. “We are still in the process of how to manage the data and how to manipulate the data to look at trends, pull out the gross number we get from submissions. It’s a work in process. I hope next year we have a deeper drive to see how specifically things are tracked and done.

“We are still in the process of how to manage the data and how to manipulate the data to look at trends, pull out the gross number we get from submissions. It’s a work in process. I hope next year we have a deeper drive to see how specifically things are tracked and done,” explained

Monthly crime statistics are listed on the Concord website which are updated.

“We are working behind the scenes on a mapping function,” said Bustillos who said it could be available by next year. They are collecting the data and it will be there when it launches.

Calls For Service

  • 2019 – 125,810
  • 2020 – 110,382
  • 2021 – 105,336
  • 2022 – 104,389

The chief explained part of the reason for the drop was due to COVID, but as calls come in, when appropriate, Concord Police are advising the community to file online reports and not to tie up 9-1-1 with a non-emergency call—such as vehicle burglary.

Calls for Service Dispatched

  • 2019 – 125,813 calls / 88,844 dispatched / 37,266 not dispatched
  • 2020 – 110,381 calls / 75,972 dispatched / 34,410 not dispatched
  • 2021 – 105,336 calls / 66,968 dispatched / 38,362 not dispatched
  • 2022 – 104,389 calls / 67,311 dispatched / 37,078 not dispatched

The chief again stated the calls dispatched were going down because there were more more online reporting along with the Concord Reporting App – homeless encampments, graffiti, fireworks and code enforcement.

“Its taking calls off the board that are not dispatched, but followed up,” stated Bustillos.

Staffing Levels

  • Authorized Sworn – 139 Officers
  • Current Sworn – 130 officers
  • Off on leave – 8 officers
  • Currently in FTO – 5 entry level (graduated academy)
  • Currently in FTO – 2 lateral officers
  • Currently in Academy – 6 recruits

The chief explained at the time of the presentation, Concord had 9 open positions within the police department.

2022 Concord Police Highlights:

  • 1994 Homicide Solved: On Jan 26th, Concord Police detectives with assistance from the Salt Lake City Utah Safe Streets Task Force, arrested 55-year-old James William Grimsley for the 1994 murder of Terrie Ladwig. –  See Story
  • Arrest & Conviction in Fentanyl death of 14 year old child – Detectives were able to identify a drug dealer in Concord who was supplying the fentanyl laced pills. Alejandro Urias was arrested. — See Story
  • Kidnapping & Sexual Assault case solved – Officers arrested 27-year-old Michael Anton on charges of attempted kidnapping and sexual assault –  See Story
  • Arrest in Gang Related Attempted Murder
  • Targeted Robberies Solved

Council Comments:

Police Chief Mark BustillosMayor Laura Hoffmeister asked about cameras and camera registry to assist police.

The chief explained residents may go online and register their cameras so they can be contacted if something happens on their street—they do not have live access, but allows them to do follow up for evidence collection.

Hoffmeister stated even if signed up, residents do not have to opt in when asked by police to view camera system.

Vice Mayor Ed Birsan asked about ring cameras being placed on NextDoor and what people should do with surveillance of folks trying to get into a home. How should the community report it?

Chief said if there was no actual crime then it becomes difficult but if they think a crime was reported, then report it. He explained he understands these calls are important, they fall in a level 4 in terms of priority which is a slower response time.

Birsan asked about police gaining access to ring cameras and if that was true. The chief response was that people store it in the cloud and if they post online, they may take the images to assist in an investigation, but they do not have direct access.

Birsan asked about crime data being broken down by categories of victim or Districts. The chief responded they did not break it down by victims and its not yet broken down by Districts because they cover crime across the entire city.

Birsan asked about homicides and if there was a trend. The chief responded over the last few years it was evenly distributed between a couple gang related, a couple transient, or a domestic violence.

“I wouldn’t say one is more than the other but it breaks down pretty evenly,” stated Bustillos.

The chief was asked to explain burglary vs. larceny – burglary is the house/commercial which is locked and someone breaks in. A larceny breaks into car, stealing change, iPhone charger, bicycles and things stolen from open cars.

Councilmember Carlyn Obringer asked about response times and the industry standard. Bustillos explained they are looking for that range between 6-7 minutes for all priority 1.

“Is it fair to say that because we have had reduced staffing the last few years that it has led in part to our longer response times?” asked Obringer.

The chief responded, “absolutely” which is impacted when multiple calls come in which causes other calls for service to wait and that increases response times.

Obringer was hopeful the response times will go down as more officers come on board.

Councilmember Dominic Aliano asked as the department increases with more officers if certain segments of the police department will return.

The chief said once the 7 officers complete FTO, they now have the ability to fill 7 vacancies in different areas of the police department that are currently vacant—such as motor unit, detective unit, street enforcement team, CIU. He hopes to backfill positions. He called the “wildcard” being just because they have 6 recruits in, doesn’t mean they will get 6 officers due to attrition rate being 40%.

“If I start with 10 in the academy, I maybe end up with 6 in a good month or year,” stated Bustillos.

Hoffmeister confirmed they do have over-hire available which the chief says once they get near 130 they will be doing that.

Aliano followed up about what is the number of officers Concord should have given the population.

Bustillos says for 130,000 population, they should have more but stated it was a complex response because of modern day policing and what does it even look like with all the changes to the industry. He called technology (cameras and equipment) as a force multiplier. They also have a crisis response team coming on board in the future.

According to City manager Valerie Barone, she credited Concord Police for helping the county understand the needs and that the County is ready to set up 13-teams Mental Crisis Response Team (MCRT)  by April for community crisis response teams, so that police can focus on higher level calls. When the program is fully running, it will be near 24 MCRT teams throughout the entire county for reasonable response times.

Obringer asked about drone technology. Bustillos stated the drones are used monthly and have helped solve crimes, cleared houses, utilize drones that can communicate with someone at a distance, success in finding lost youths in open space, missing person cases or looking for suspects. He says they are a force multiplier.

Obringer asked about human trafficking and why it was not included in the data. Bustillos stated they do have human trafficking, but its not being collected in the reporting system—including two recent cases. He stated it was most likely being included under prostitution or a sub-category.

Councilmember Laura Nakamura asked about how much narcotics are being seen by Concord Police.

Bustillos stated they are seeing narcotics daily. He did not provided the data.

Nakamura questioned the 833 drug calls. Bustillos stated that was possession but in Contra Costa County that drug use is decriminalized and will not be charged by the Contra Costa County District Attorney. So when you see someone on drugs, they will most likely not get cited. While still illegal to be under the influence, the reality is a patrol officer will go find someone else violating the law—he called drugs a daily problem.  They will write a report and take them to jail but the charges will be dropped with the current legal system.

Nakamura asked about stolen firearms from homes. Bustillos stated 8 firearms were stolen from homes in 2022 but the majority of firearms and that people are arrested for are ghost guns. He stated firearms are being recovered weekly.

“Again, we make the arrests, but what happens after is unfortunate,” stated Bustillos. “We will try and go federal rather than county. You might get a day in jail in Contra Costa County, but you may get 5-years federal.”

In terms of traffic, Bustillos stated in the past they used to have 11 traffic cops, today they only have 3 traffic cops. He stated there are vacancies, but their focus is on patrol and responding to calls.

Birsan asked about treatment of encampments of transients.

Bustillos explained they use a complaint-based system and officers do not self-initiate. They use a Concord Connect App to respond to reports of encampments. He said just because someone has an encampment doesn’t mean the police department will move them. They will observe health and safety, narcotics or criminal activity. They do it while making contact, which they know a majority of them, remind them of the rules and to keep camp clean with no needles, no feces around the camp, no piles of food, and no open flames,, Then they inspect and if they find violations or criminal violations the camp will be notified and tagged, abated after a period of time.  They also offer services and sometimes it’s a ride to services to help them get plugged into county services.

For the Power Point Presentation, click here

For more stories on the City of Concord, visit our Concord Section

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