On Tuesday, a meeting between the City of Antioch and local merchants resulted in License Plate Readers coming soon to Downtown Antioch.
The cameras will serve two purposes which is to catch those participating in sideshow activity and second to assist police in locating stolen vehicles. The move comes as Antioch has been hit with multiple sideshows in recent months while residents have dealt with 328 stolen vehicles since May 28.
For the second time in weeks, a meeting occurred between local business merchants in the downtown area to address crime and sideshows issues. This included the Antioch Police Department, city staff, and councilmember Mike Barbanica–previously, it was announced that the gate to the Antioch Marina boat launch area would close at 9:00 pm.
After the meeting, it was shared that Sean McCauley, will be purchasing multiple License Plate Readers for his properties in the downtown area—including Smiths Landing Seafood Grill and Monica’s Riverview. The goal is to cut down on both sideshows and reckless driving. They will also begin bringing in private security to patrol the parking lots.
“Merchants like myself not going to continue to put up with this type of behavior,” said McCauley. “We are not only going to capture the license plates, but we are going to seek restitution for those who damage property in Antioch.”
McCauley said the sideshow activity is hurting business which makes it harder to get the community to patronize the downtown area or do business in the city of Antioch.
He did not provide specific locations of the cameras, how many, or timelines, but said it will cost him between $20-$50k. He called this similar to a public-private partnership to address an issue and cameras could be placed in as many as seven downtown parking lots.
Antioch City Councilmember Mike Barbanica confirmed the meeting and what McCauley would be investing in, but pointed out he believed the city should be paying for the cameras.
“While I appreciate Sean McCauley funding his own License Plate Cameras, I believe this cost should not fall on business owners, but rather the city. Therefore, I have requested it come before council as soon as possible which could take 90-days, but I hope it comes before council sooner,” said Barbanica. “We have identified that there is a problem so I think the city should be responsible. I have also requested cameras at all the city owned lots north of 2nd Street.”
Barbanica called the discussion at today’s meeting with the community productive because it was a good decision about what License Plate Readers can and could not do but he hopes it would help police identify people driving stolen vehicles or those participating in sideshows.
As of Tuesday, there was no date set as to when McCauley would install the cameras or when the item would come to the Antioch City Council for discussion.
Previous Stories:
- Aug 9 – Antioch Mayor Claims Sideshows and Crime is Down
- Aug 6 – Antioch Sideshow Damages Water Main, Vehicle Also Enters Delta Waters
- July 5 – Hundreds Gather for Fourth of July Sideshow in Antioch
- June 26 – Stockton Taskforce Target Sunday Sideshow Activity
- Jan 12 – Antioch Police Tow 2 Vehicles, 1 Citation in Latest Sideshow Response
- Dec 14 – Brentwood Police Chief Comments on Recent Sideshow Activity
- May 16, 2022 – Antioch Mayor Says Council Will Take Up Policy to Target Sideshow Spectators
- May 15 , 2022 – Antioch Police Respond to Two Sideshows, Officers Vehicles Attacked
- May 3, 2022 – Pittsburg City Council Agrees to Fine Sideshow and Street Racing Spectators
9 comments
600 plus vehicles stolen this year in Antioch.
WHY had city not already installed license plate readers downtown and elsewhere?
They had no problem installing them in area of high density housing behind Lowes.
City should install license plate readers in front of Police station since latest incidents happened a block from it.
Does city not have the money or would purchase and work order to install take six months?
Meantime should Antioch be renamed Fallujah on the Delta?
Management of Antioch is beyond pathetic perhaps Contra Costa Grand Jury might consider examining actions of city council and city staff !!!
They should put these two clowns on Pay-per-view, having a conversation about this. The amount of stroking that must have went on is comical.
3 years ago the city council shot down the idea of cameras. Shocking.
Is it time for a no confidence vote for the entire city council?
Cameras are long overdue. More than 12 years ago staff from Antioch visited the Pittsburg Police Department’s camera operations in hopes of replicating a similar program in our city. Pittsburg’s operation had been very successful in identifying illegal activity and keeping their streets safe. At the time, Antioch PD had plenty of room with surge areas in the facility designed for expansion as our community grew. There were even federal funds available for implementing the program here. So, what happened? The Council squashed the idea. Too much money, had to hire staff to monitor the cameras and the list of excuses went on and on. Antioch has seldom been proactive when it comes to funding and implementing programs that would benefit the city. And here we are talking about cameras. Business owners and private citizens should never have to foot the bill for something like this. It is up to city leaders to plan for and take steps to keep our community safe. Antioch’s motto, a day late and a dollar short. Council is spending millions on vagrant services while the safety of our community suffers. Somethings wrong folks and we all know what it is. We need EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP, we don’t have it.
With this council, it’s unfortunate that stemming crime isn’t being given the top priority it warrants.
Merchants seem to realize what city can not seem to grasp if customers fear for their safety they will stay away and businesses will go broke.
“The sideshow took place in the area of Lone Tree Way at Bluerock where residents were greeted to non-stop tires smoking, ground level explosions and fireworks. It was also reported Antioch Police response took more than an hour to arrive.” https://contracosta.news/2023/07/05/hundreds-gather-for-fourth-of-july-sideshow-in-antioch/
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There are not enough Police on streets of Antioch and that has been apparent for many months.
If members of council and mayor can not resolve the on going lawless situation quickly they should do the right thing and resign.
Let’s see how long it takes for them to be shot out.
remember all that funding from measure c that went to the encrypted scanner that antioch so badly had to have . it was over 1 million dollars to get an encrypted scanner and antioch is the only city who doesnt allow people to hear what is going on .
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