Updated on Coffee with the Chief meeting

 

Coffee with the Chief was held at Coffee Nutz on Foothill inRialto. It was a great time sitting down with Chief Farrar and Captain Deanda. About 15 – 20 people were there to openly dialogue about their local community. It began with the chief introducing himself and it took little time for people to dive right in. Owner Andy Carrizales was one of the many in attendance. There were also members from the Human Relations Board, two massive Neighborhood Watch groups and regular residents.

The President and Vice President of the Human Relations Board were there to get some answers on the possibility of a Chili Cook Off between the Fire Dept. and Rialto PD.

Chief Farrar said that he had not received their contact requests. With reference to the Cook Off and it would depend on if the city was going to have their battle of the badges this year where they do have a chili cook off. The matter would be further researched and an answer would be given at a later date.

Linda Chapman from the Human Relations Board announced that a customer service survey was done on Rialto PD and that the results and report were in the works.

 

Chief touched on some of the ways the police department was using resources wisely and keeping things like SWAT, The Helicopter Program, and Drug and Gang Enforcement available to the City ofRialto. Using these functions in conjunction with neighboring cities likeColtonandFontanaallows the costs to be shared and intel to flow more freely.  Figures were also shared on what our K-9 program has accomplished. In the last year they have seized 1.2 million dollars in property and taken 1 million dollars in drugs off the street.

Chief also spoke about the effects of the state’s Early Release Program on local communities and crime. Rialto PD has one adult and one juvenile probation officers assigned toRialto. Having this resource, Rialto PD hopes to stay on top of the early release inmates and be there to enforce their probation rules when they break them.

 

Chief spoke about the importance of getting graffiti off ASAP and would check into complaints that TAGS were staying up for 5-6 days after being reported. If you have graffiti that isn’t being removed after you call it in you can call Public Works Official Tim Sullivan at (909) 421-7229.

 

Many ways to foster positive relationships between our police and the youth were discussed: They included small community afternoons to reach out to the youth in a more positive manner in conjunction with the Area Command Meetings, having game trailers out at the meetings might draw more families and give the parents the ability to sit and get important information without worrying if their kids are bored, having hot dogs, chips and a drink could eliminate the need for families to cram dinner in before coming to the meetings.

 

Finally the topic that I enjoyed the most was the fact that this chief’s goal was to be more transparent than any before. Capt De Anda said he directed Sgt’s to go around to people in the community and give them some information on what is taking place (in their neighborhood after an incident) so that people’s fears and imaginations wouldn’t run wild and the community would feel like they are a part owner in public safety working alongside the police not separate or against them.

 

These meetings are a great way to get involved, have a voice and be more informed about what is happening in the community. I would invite everyone to come out to the next meeting on July 10th. It is time well spent.

Neighborhood Watch has helped reduce crime in San Bernardino neighborhood

Looking at the examples of how this program works in other communities is a good way to see the value in supporting these programs. Local businesses can offer all types of things to help bring the stragglers out of their houses and into their various community meetings. Elected officials attending these meetings regularly & integrating other agencies that work with yours to the meetings and programs helps show people in the community all the resources available to them. this type of knowledge is power.
Below is a great example of how a bad community can be turned around with the right type of effort.
SAN BERNARDINO – When Tim Callaghan moved into his Conejo Drive apartment nearly three years ago, some of his neighbors were halfway house tenants, suspected drug dealers and prostitutes, he said.Those neighbors are gone now, and crime has dropped in his neighborhood.What’s the source of the dramatic change?

Neighborhood Watch, he said.

“If you want the homicides to drop, if you want the break-ins to drop, you have to give the police a little help,” he said.

It’s a program that has been around since the early 1970s, and focuses on bringing together residents and law enforcement to prevent crime and improve communities. But not everyone is sold on it, some don’t trust law enforcement and others are discouraged to join due to language barriers.

Callaghan, 46, a sales associate at Games for Fun, says he often runs into people who are dubious that the program works.

“A lot of people have this black cloud image, that if they call, nothing’s going to get done,” he said.

His group began with three members, who worked together to observe and write down suspicious and criminal activity in the area.

They talked to the city about cleaning up a pile of house rubble left behind from the Old Fire at the end of the street. They reported a dangerous hole in a bridge over Cross Street.

Callaghan took it a step further by installing surveillance cameras in the area and installing burglary alarms in his apartment. He also attended San Bernardino Police Department’s community police academy – a seven-week course that teaches residents about the department.

Police came in, made arrests, served search warrants and cleared residents out of homes where criminal activity was taking place.

City workers cleaned up the burned-down house and fixed the hole in the bridge.

The number of crimes occurring in the neighborhood has dropped from 21 in the first quarter of 2011 to 12 in the same period this year, according to police statistics.

When residents around him saw the progress, his group grew from three members to 15.

“He stepped up, got a few people, who got a few more people and now it’s just rolling,” said San Bernardino police Lt. Paul Williams.

But the process hasn’t been without some challenges.

An elderly couple living on Conejo, who are members of the group, reported suspicious activity to police several months ago. That call resulted in police arresting several people, Callaghan said.

The same night, someone busted the front windows of the couple’s home. Another window was broken three weeks later. Callaghan and his neighbors worked together to replace the windows and report the crimes to police.

The vandalism stopped after they contacted officers.

San Bernardino Police Chief Robert Handy said he began holding regular meetings with Neighborhood Watch leaders when he started with the department. Police use those meetings to teach residents how to improve their neighborhoods, report illegal dumping, code enforcement issues and other matters.

“The more residents get involved, the more improvements the residents can make and we can make,” Handy said. “We’re much stronger together than we are separate.”

For information on how to start a Neighborhood Watch group in San Bernardino, call Diane Holmes at the Police Department, 909-388-4918. Reach Melissa via email or call her at 909-386-3878.

Read more: http://www.sbsun.com/ci_20769946/neighborhood-watch-has-helped-reduce-crime-san-bernardino?source=most_viewed#ixzz1wkVi4ePF

Neighborhood Watch Group Helps Solve 7 Burglaries

Below is an article a community in San Rafael, CA  that by using this app and a strong Neighborhood Watch they are directly effecting crime in their community.

We will be posting an interview with Gordon Jones with Guardian Watch a cell phone app that allows communities to better communicate with each other and EMS personnel on what going on in their area the website is:

http://www.guardianwatch.com/

http://www.facebook.com/GuardianWatch

Also Check out:

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001441607142 – Flores Park NW

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rialto-Residents-for-Rialto-Fire-Department/145275045567795

http://www.facebook.com/groups/309058217201/ – Residents for Rialto PD

http://www.facebook.com/RialtoPD

After five months and three community meetings, the Terra Linda and Marinwood Neighborhood Watch Program is helping officers solve crime, according to one of the group’s organizers.
Since the creation of the neighborhood watch program in December 2011, the number of calls dispatchers received has increased and homeowners are feeling safer, said organizer John Buckley.
“At our first meeting, there was a sense that everyone was in crisis mode,” he said. “But now we can tell it’s working.”
Dispatchers at Tuesday’s meeting told attendees that the neighborhood watch group’s calls had a hand in helping to catch three suspected burglars in early April. Two Terra Linda High School students and one graduate were arrested on suspicion of breaking in to the school’s storage container where they stock candy and snacks for athletic events.
During their interviews, the three confessed to several other burglaries in the Terra Linda, Marinwood and Santa Venetia areas, totaling seven incidents.
“Essentially we helped solve seven crimes,” Buckley said.
In one incident, the teens broke in to Buckley’s neighbor’s house but when the homeowner returned, they stealthily fled after stashing a laptop and vodka in the yard. Once they confessed, they returned with officers to the house to locate the items.
Terra Linda and Marinwood neighbors first began their watch group in December after a wave of home burglaries in the area.  At a meeting in February, retired San Rafael police officer Tom Boyd described these neighborhood’s as a “burglar’s paradise” because the properties are surrounded by open space and trusting residents are making it easy for crime with unlocked vehicles and open garage doors.
The neighborhood watch’s website has been tracking incidents in the area to keep people informed.
According to the website, a neighbor came returned to her home on Golden Hinde on Feb. 14 and found that the front door was pried open by a crowbar. Her Wii, iPad, iTouch, passports, several credit cards and other items were stolen.
The site also lists a failed burglary in Marinwood on March 9, where suspects broke into a locked garage side door. When they discovered the 91-year-old homeowner inside, they cut the power and fled. In March, a man was arrested on suspicion of two gas station armed burglaries in Terra Linda. In one case, a Union 76 Station clerk attempted to fight the suspect and was struck in the head several times with the weapon.
Although the meetings’ attendance dwindled since the first in December (the first meeting drew over 200 people when this week’s drew 35), the website has served the community well, Buckley said. Some of the content garnered as much as 6,000 visitors, 12,000 page views and now over 250 people have signed up for email updates.
“It just shows that the campaign is really working,” he said.
The next neighborhood meeting will be in the fall and will address emergency preparedness.

San Bernardino PD Fails

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (KABC) — A pregnant San Bernardino woman is asking for the public’s help to catch a repeat burglar.

Danielle Helmick believes the man has broken into her home four times in the last four months.

She was able to catch the suspect on camera after setting up a surveillance system in her home.

Helmick has filed a police report, but she hopes someone might recognize the suspect and help put him behind bars.

 

    (Copyright ©2012 KABC-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)
Now they wont show this on the news but they will put it on their website.
This is a shinning example of how San Bernardino PD operates. They only respond to the many shootings in their city. They don’t know their city, they don’t respond to calls in a timely fashion. I have been near assaulted twice in their city and in one circumstance I actually had the suspects place of business and license plate and the dispatcher told me if they were gone then it wasn’t a big deal anymore. The Mayor doesnt care he is to busy fighting like a big child with the other big children in city government there.
I don’t let my family go there even with me and I advise my extended family to shop and do commerce elsewhere because safety just isn’t there.

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