Antioch Crime Commission Could Get Fancy New Name

The Antioch City Council agreed to keep its Crime Prevention Commission, however, under a possible new name and mission.

An ad-hoc committee will be formed at a future meeting to help create its mission, goals and potentially return under a new name–public safety and community resource commission.

Councilmember Tamisha Torres-Walker questioned the success of a neighborhood watch.

“I’ve never seen neighborhood watch programs make communities overall safer and for most instances the lack of training on implicit bias causes these types of programs to profile black people, people of color and poor people,” said Torres-Walker. “Rather than providing resources or support.”

She urged that crime prevention is about getting to the root cause of violence in communities, addressing the issues and bringing resources. She supported an ad-hoc committee to define the future mission, but wanted a name change to “public safety and community resource commission”.

Councilmember Lori Ogorchock said she would be open to the change but said she believed the crime commission did a lot of good for the community and allowed residents to have help within their community.

“They helped a lot of residents,” said Ogorchock. “its another set of eyes and strengthened the neighborhoods in which the neighborhood watches were in.”

She believed they should keep the commission and agreed to look at it to better organize it.

Mayor Pro Tem Monica Wilson wanted to keep the commission but the problem in the past was there was no mission or vision and they needed to better define it.

“I don’t want to see it go because there has been some good things that it has done in the community but it needs to be better defined because I think at times they were often at a loss and spinning their wheels of what they needed to do,” explained Wilson.

Mayor Lamar Hernandez-Thorpe said these commissions were only as good as they make the mission clear, but the council never provided oversight of this commission.

“Those are our commissions, they serve at our pleasure,” said Thorpe. “What concerned me about this commission, particularly in 2020, it became a political tool. A very active political tool around putting together the reform ad-hoc committee, some of the reforms councilmember Wilson was talking about during 2020 and that really left a bad taste in my mouth because they serve at the pleasure of the council, not the Antioch Police Department or their political interests. I was dismayed by a lot that I saw.”

He also said he was not going to ignore that they did do a lot of work with organizing neighborhood watches and value in educational workshops.

The direction was provided to prepare a resolution for an ad-hoc committee to propose the future mission and purpose of the Antioch Police Crime Prevention Commission.

Background:

The 7-member Police Crime Commission has not met since September 20, 2021 due to lack of quorum at meetings. The crime commission, which focuses on crime prevention, has not met as the Mayor and Antioch City Council has not sought out applicants for the committee as all but Chairperson Matthew Dawson (June 2024) have had their terms expired.

The Police Crime Commission / End of Term

• Matthew Dawson – 6/2024
• Dwayne Eubanks – 10/2021
• Nichole Randolph – 10/2021
• Robert Munton – 10/2021
• Clyde Lewis, Jr – 02/2023
• Vacancy – 06/2023
• Vacancy – 10/2024

Some of the issues they tackle include:

• Neighborhood & Business Watch Implementation
• Antioch Noise Ordinances (review/make recommendations)
• National Night Out
• School Watch and Care Program

Although the Police Crime Prevention Commission has not met since 2021, Neighborhood Watch and National Night Out continue to exist outside the purview of the Commission through the Antioch Police Department staff and Volunteers in Police Services (VIPS) program

Most recently, former city manager turned mayoral candidate Ron Bernal, shared the Antioch Neighborhood Watch program was once 200 groups strong in the City.

This commission suffered the same fate as the Antioch Economic Development Commission who had also not met since December 2021. They also had a lack of quorum at the time with just 3 of 7 spots filled. At its March 2023 council meeting, Mayor Lamar Hernandez-Thorpe explained it was a deliberate decision and claimed it was because the role of the commission was not well defined and unfair to staff.

It is recommended that the City Council direct staff to take one of the following actions:

1. Initiate the candidate application process to fill the vacancies on the Police Crime Prevention Commission;
2. Prepare an ordinance to dissolve the Police Crime Prevention Commission;
3. Prepare a resolution for an ad hoc committee to propose the future mission and purpose of the Antioch Police Crime Prevention Commission;
4. Take no action

If the City Council elects to retain and reactivate the Police Crime Prevention Commission, the fiscal impact would include staffing costs for the time dedicated by the Antioch Police Department staff liaison, the City Clerk’s Office staff, and the City Attorney’s Office staff.

Editors Note:

The Antioch Police Crime Commission is different from the Antioch Police Oversight Commission as the Antioch City Council has been focused on police oversight, not crime prevention in the city.

Previous Story:

• April 22 – Antioch to Discuss Future of Antioch Police Crime Prevention Commission