Posted on Thu, 03/20/2008 - 14:02 — by BBrentwood
What is it with these lowlifes, that drive up and dump a load of trash on city streets. Between 9:15 and 9:30 this moring a late model American minivan, faded paint-eggplant color pulled over and procedeed to dump old tires and a pail of junk, at the curbside. A short hispanic male, 5 5' with a winter knit pull down hat, burgandy, jumped out and dumped it right while cars were going by. Not able to call it in right away, I pulled over and called the non-emergency front desk at BPD, was told dispatch had to take the call, so was rerouted to Antioch, after being put on hold 4-5times by a dispatcher, I simply gave up after asking her if I was inconvenincing her. It was not an emergency, but whats up with the Dispatch unit......it would only take 2min max to take the info., I was in my car and on a cell and did not have hours to waste, relaying some simply information for law enforcement...... We are constantly told to report crimes then get put on hold forever by the dispatch unit...it wasn't even a shift change....but called in during the middle of the morning.....
Ended up calling the Mayors office and emailing the info to the Brentwood Police Department when at my computer. The Mayors office took the info immediately---great customer service by the way. Hopefully it got taken care of one way or another.
Residents in that area may want to keep an eye out for the eggplant colored, late model van if they see it in the area.... Last year our crime watch group was able to nab another illegal alien dumping a pickup truck full on City property Grant Street/Empire way. BPD arrived rapidly at that time while the guy was still there, again in broad daylight with cars going by.
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Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 546
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That's an "Attaboy" for reporting this ASAP. We shouldn't have to put up with this bullcrap. I hope Mayor Taylor passed on your report with an admonishment to the powers-that-be that didn't think you report of an urgent nature. Again, kudos to you, BBrentwood, keep it up!.
Roy Gursky http://gurskyranch.com
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 239
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"you report of an urgent nature", not sure what your refering to
The non-emergency line was called which is appropriate, in case you don't know the difference. Your out of touch, the dispatch problems have come up several times at community meetings with BPD. In case you were un-aware, Brentwood does not have their own dispatch unit, yet. The service can be hit or miss, depending on the dispatcher you get. Who said anything about the call being urgent?? Those are words coming out of your mouth. My post is explicitly clear. Your sarcasm has been noted.
Kudos back to you for picking up the trash along Apricot Way when racing around in your golf cart :} on city streets....
"Oh what a tangled web they weave, when they set out to deceive"
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 546
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You just reminded me....haven't done the sweep of the streetscape this week!
Roy Gursky http://gurskyranch.com
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 306
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Did you stop to think before you go on a rant about dispatch that just maybe something else could have been going on? I don't know how well staffed the APD dispatch center is but if something critical is going on in either Antioch or Brentwood, they can get busy real quick there may only be 2 or 3 dispatchers in the office at any one time answering phone calls as well as radio traffic on a couple of different channels. Having worked dispatch as a light duty assingment I can tell you for a fact it is not an easy job, and an illegal dumping complaint is not going to be a priority call, yes you are going to be put on hold as 911 emergency calls come in for both cities, fire and police. Lets not forget that the state passed a law that requires emergency calls to be answered within a certain number of rings. Shame on you for not calling dispatch directly instead of the front office, and then complaining about getting the run around. If this is such an insult to you did you get a license number for the van? The real question you should be asking your city leaders is since Brentwood has had their own police department for almost 60 years now why do you not have your own radio channel as well as dispatch center in that huge building you have over there? Why did no one think that maybe we should have budgeted for this years ago?
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 239
Report BBrentwood
"Oh what a tangled web they weave, when they set out to deceive.
Cleaverly veiled but not quite good enough. Can you not read?? Reiterating, the call was non-emergency, after four times being put on hold, It was easiear to just hang up and do it by email, it was mid-morning...no one was busy. The "taxpayer funded" dispatchers, are hit or miss, most times they are professional, but not always....... Thats why the public can complain, up the line to the Police Chief if their are problems, but you probably do not want the general public to know that. Good police chief's welcome feedback and make changes.. Police departments are not infallible, if your actually worked their you know the problems I referred to.
Initial contact with the Dispatch unit is the first impression the public gets when they contact any police department, if there are problems or attitude, it reflects on the entire Police Department turning people off. This told to me by a Police Chief years ago.......... That Police Chief knew the importance of customer service and Police relationships with the public at large
Being on a cell phone in my car I did not have alot of time to waste. The info would take maybe 2min max to relay , not a big deal. Your entitled to free speech just like every other" taxpaying" American. When things are not working and our taxes are paying for the service, your damn right, I'll complain, which is different then ranting....obviously you don't know the difference.
Your response is biased due to your connections with your former employer. Do you know what BIAS is?? In case you were unaware, across the US, Police Chiefs are fired periodically to reform entrenched behaviors.....Like in Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, Miami, Los Angeles......, sometimes dispatch units reorganized or re-trained. Corruption was so bad in Chicago, they just hired an ex FBI agent as the new Police Chief to clean up the Department and make major reforms..., closer to home---Oakland comes to mind, its vice unit shut down after some officers were arrested in neighboring San Leandro at an uhmmm massage parlor with a van full of seized money/guns in the parking lot. I can go on but will just bore you. Have a great day, I will :}
The old tires and trash picked up rapidly here in Brentwood by our Public Works Dept. One problem solved.
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 306
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I am convinced that you know everything that is going on in both Antioch and Brentwood at all times. How do you know that nothing was going on? It was mid morning, oh that explains it nothing ever happens in the morning. Lord forbid that your 2 min call should be put on hold for some type of emergency that could be have going on, I don't know what was going on but I can bet that your non-emergency problem was not the only thing that was being dealt with (probably why you were put on hold a couple of times). I am not saying that this is not a problem, but to think that, that was the only thing that could possibly be going on is just plain foolish, and to dump on someone because you called the wrong place in the to begin with, is wrong. Just for your information the vast number of residential burglaries are commited durring the daylight hours usually before noon.
Oh and just so you know I have zero connection to Antioch or Brentwood PD, other than knowing officers who worked there. So maybe you should just put a plug in your attitude. Yes I am biased I admit it, but then again I know what actually goes on in a dispatch center as well as how busy the guys and girls on the line are evidently you don't. So just go back into your gated community and bury your head back in the sand, Brentwood is not Hillborough. I guess you just don't understand that non-emergency means just that, and emergency line calls take priority, so who is it that can't read or is comprehend?
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 546
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You may want to look at what was going on at the time you tried to get through. This link is most useful, pick the date and then look for the time of the incident. Unfortunately, the log does not appear in chronological order.
http://www.ci.brentwood.ca.us/department/pd/reports/index.cfm
I've put this link up as one of my "Favorites" at the top of my browser....
Roy Gursky http://gurskyranch.com