The Benicia Herald

By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter

More than 30 people met with Benicia Police Chief Andrew Bidou Thursday morning to hear him describe department operations and to discuss bicyclists, skateboarders, Neighborhood Watch programs and the need for downtown foot patrols.

It was Bidou’s first “Coffee with the Cops” public meeting, patterned after similar community outreach gatherings in other towns. The police chief was surprised by the turnout.

“I expected, honestly, five or 10 people,” he told his audience while even more residents climbed the stairs to First Street Cafe’s second floor.

“We want to hear from you, to better effect services to your neighborhood,” he said. “We’ll stay here until you’re done.”

Before fielding questions, Bidou outlined changes that have been made to keep up the level of services despite the loss of two sworn positions in the department. Modifying the department’s organization has let two school resource officers, one at Benicia Middle School and the other at Benicia High School remain on duty.

In addition, traffic officers have been merged with patrol, he said.

Other changes include authorizing more decisions to be made in the field. Bidou said in the past, a caller would speak to someone in patrol, and the matter might be transferred to a detective in investigations. However, if the caller uncovered a new development overnight, the case might not have been reviewed by a detective causing a delay.

By encouraging decision-making at a lower level, Bidou said he is hoping Benicia Police will provide better service more quickly.

Crime is down statewide, he said, and Benicia’s statistic “are extremely low,” However, he’s noticing a trend that could indicate crime may start to increase, “except in Benicia.”

Traffic-related topics dominated the audience’s inquiries, from skateboarders and younger bicyclists who don’t wear helmets, to adult cyclists who ignore stop signs, red lights and other traffic controls.

Benicia police carry bicycle helmets in their patrol cars, and other helmets are kept at the police station, specifically so they can be given to children, especially those from low-income families, Bidou explained. The Solano Transportation Authority underwrites the cost of the helmets.

Giving a child a helmet is one thing, and making sure the helmet is worn is another, he said.

“In some ways, the problem is insurmountable,” he said. “We do take it seriously. It’s not a money issue. You’d be surprised. We need to figure out how to affect the parents.”

Juvenile probation officers won’t deal with children younger than 12, the audience learned. Some residents would object to the department issuing tickets to children of grade school age, although the department does write tickets for bicycle riders’ violations. “The Police Department gets caught in the middle,” he said.

“Maybe we could work with the school district,” Bidou suggested, proposing citations that would involve the school resource officer. “There’s got to be a solution,” he said.

Bidou said his department has been working with the Benicia Bicycle Club to encourage adult bike riders to observe the same laws that apply to those piloting other vehicles.

“They’ve improved how they stop,” he said. However, cyclists from other cities who ride their bikes into Benicia are prone to drive through stop signs or other traffic control devices without paying them any mind.

Drivers using their cell phones was another problem audience members cited, with one suggesting that the names of scofflaws be published to shame them.

Bidou said he didn’t want to “get in the business of hanging people in the town square” about calling or texting while driving. He also discounted public education as an option. “Does anyone not know you can’t do that?” he asked. “But I’ll drive around and see 10 people doing it. It’s prolific. We do the best we can.”

Others asked about specifics on cell phone use in a car, learning that speakerphones were just as legal as remote earpieces, so long as the phone itself was not in the hands of the motorist. But holding the phone, even when it is away from the ear, is not, even if the phone is being used as a navigational device.

Justine Surgeon, a 2008 graduate of Benicia High School, worried that younger drivers in particular were guilty of such activities, including texting.

“We do ‘Every 15 Minutes’ every two years,” she said, referring to a dramatic program designed to discourage young drivers from driving while intoxicated.

She suggested a similar program could incorporate what she called “The Last Text” before a young driver dies or is injured in an accident. “A lot of accidents are because of cell phones,” she said.

“It’s an epidemic,” Bidou agreed, and suggested to Volunteer Coordinator Patti Baron that cell phone and texting might be included in future “Every 15 Minutes” and other educational programs.

One woman told Bidou she was walking her dog in a crosswalk when a truck driver criticized her for being in the crosswalk, although a few seconds remained flashing on the signal that indicated how much time she had to finish the transit.

Baron described the city’s various Neighborhood Watch organizations.

“Once a week, I go to a brand new neighborhood group,” she said, encouraging other parts of the community to call her and start a group. If a group from a long street asks her to organize them into a Neighborhood Watch group, she said she would encourage the street be divided into a few sections.

Some residents suggested increasing ticket fines, not only to change behavior but as a way for the department to raise revenue.

“I’m glad you brought that up,” Bidou said. “It’s a misconception that citations are a revenue generator.” The department gets about $15,000 a year from tickets, even though the department issues its fair share. However, much of the fine amount is given to court costs, Department of Motor Vehicles and other agencies, rather than staying in Benicia.

“There’s no revenue generating strategy with citations,” he said. In fact, the department is trying written warnings that may have the same psychological impact as tickets, but don’t involve a trip to the courtroom, he said.

Dogs were another topic, especially those allowed to run unleashed or on long leashes.

Jim Conlow described seeing a man clad in shorts, carrying an 18-month-old baby as he walked on the sidewalk. Someone was walking a dog on a long leash, and the man tripped on the leash, falling to his knees on the sidewalk, and scraping the backs of his hands as he attempted to cradle his child. “Both knees were bloody, and the backs of his hands were bloody,” Conlow related. But the dog walker admonished the fallen man, “You ought to watch where you’re walking.”

Gretchen Burgess, a dog advocate who assisted in writing Benicia pet laws, said a dog’s leash could be no longer than six feet. “Bungee leashes are illegal,” she said.

Residents learned that the popular air soft guns that shoot plastic pellets are popular and readily available, but despite the quantity of plastic pellets seen around Benicia, they’re illegal to shoot in the city.

They also learned that Benicia receives more mutual aid from neighboring agencies than it dispenses.

Bidou said some residents may get the impression Benicia sends more officers to Vallejo, because they see local patrol cars in that city. But officers are more likely to headed to court, serving warrants related to crimes committed in Benicia or going to training sessions, rather than supplying aid to Vallejo.

A tragic exception occurred only a few hours after the coffee gathering, when Benicia sent units to Vallejo after a veteran Vallejo police officer was shot fatally after a bank robbery.

Bidou invited one resident, who said she had been pulled over without cause and treated rudely after getting off work late, to come to the station to examine tapes made of the incident.

Police cars have cameras and microphones that document each incident, he said, and that documentation can be reviewed if a resident has a question about a traffic stop.

Angela Fortain lamented the decline of a “telephone tree” downtown merchants once used to notify each other of shoplifters or other problems.

Tom Hamilton said a new merchants’ group was developing an email list that could be used to warn a large group “with a single click of a mouse,” and Bidou said his department was working on engaging social media to do the same.

However, not every merchant is sitting in front of a computer all the time, Fortain said.

Residents asked how they could help Bidou’s department.

“Be our eyes and ears,” he said. “The standard measure is one officer for 1,000 people. We’re four or five for 28,000.”

Residents can help by locking their homes and cars, and by reporting anything suspicious, he said.

He reminded the audience that even though “everybody’s hurting right now,” Benicia is fortunate. “We’re able to maintain services others can’t maintain.”

Unlike many areas, “a lot of people are connected to this community. They’re Benicia High School graduates. Their families are connected here,” he said.

“I did 20 years in Newark. I worked on task forces in Oakland and Alameda.” In larger areas, he said, officers are given a narrow focus. By contrast, Benicia officers handle everything “from traffic-related to homicide and everything in between.”

The coffee talks are expected to be scheduled once a month, and the department is planning to have them at sites throughout the city.