Officers' Union Claims Pleasant Hill Violent Crime On The Rise
PLEASANT HILL (CBS SF) - Members of the Pleasant Hill Police Officers' Association say recent statistics reveal a disturbing trend: violent crime is on the rise in the East Bay city of 33,000 people.
"Last month alone, Pleasant Hill had a drive-by shooting resulting in a homicide, and an alarming number of citizens robbed at gun point," association President Officer Todt Clark said.
The association represents the city's 54 police officers and 911 dispatchers.
On Feb. 12, a 21-year-old man was killed in a drive-by shooting in what Clark said is a quiet neighborhood.
The same week, an attendant at a Chevron gas station was held up at gunpoint, a resident walking on Golf Club Road was attacked and robbed at gunpoint by two men, and a 20-year-old man was shot and robbed behind an elementary school.
The following week, shoplifters fleeing a department store at the
Sun Valley Mall fired shots into the parking lot before they were apprehended by police.
Crime statistics looking at the year-to-date totals for February of this year indicate that violent crimes are up 89 percent compared to the same period last year. There were 27 violent crimes in January and February 2011, and there were 51 violent crimes in that two-month-period this year.
Clark said, "I have been a police officer protecting Pleasant Hill neighborhoods for 21 years, and I have never seen violent crime like this in our city.
"Our police officers are stretched to the limit dealing with episodes of violent crime we have not previously seen in Pleasant Hill."
Property crimes—including burglary, larceny, auto theft and arson—were up 6 percent.
Overall, crime was up 6 percent compared to the same period last year.
"Our residents are ... seeing Pleasant Hill become front-page news for incidents of violent crime," Clark said, adding that the city's police officers "are working hard and value the safety of our residents."
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