Piedmont police chief reflects on city’s latest crime report

In an interview after recently presenting the Piedmont Police Department’s quarterly report to the city’s councilmembers and residents, Chief Jeremy Bowers emphasized some of the central components of real-time law enforcement.

“One thing is to understand (that) the issues and circumstances leading to criminality are not ones that we can solve by simply arresting our way out of the issues,” Bowers said. “They’re complicated, dynamic, socioeconomic, historical and dependent on the crisis we in our society find ourselves in. Often in law enforcement we’re playing catch-up, although we prefer to be proactive.”

What is vital and must always be remembered when looking at crime data, he said, is that “these numbers are individuals who’ve been victimized and traumatized. These numbers are people.”

The report included updated crime statistics with summaries for the years from 2007 through 2022 and comparisons to 2023’s third quarter. It also included the impact and plans for expansion of the automatic license plate recognition (ALPR) program, information related to an eight-point “crime response plan” that Bowers introduced at the Sept. 18 Piedmont City Council meeting.

His report also listed examples of how the Police Department coordinates and collaborates with local, county and regional law enforcement agencies and citizens to improve city residents’ safety and well-being. At the meeting, Bowers said crime had been “trending in not-good directions,” such as robberies that historically follow sporadic trends but that have gone up in 2023. He said these robberies are highly disturbing because they have also included violence.

Larceny crimes fell, in contrast, a drop Bowers attributed to fewer vehicle break-ins by criminals seeking catalytic converters and improved prevention measures. After a regional task force used ALPR data in long-term investigations and issued warrants, Piedmont catalytic converter thefts, 65 of which happened in 2022’s fourth quarter, had dropped to just 5 in 2023’s third quarter.

Bowers said that as the number of ALPR cameras around town has increased, information from the devices has helped officers recognize and “get these folks out of our city.” He said that unfortunately his department is seeing increased danger to officers as perpetrators become more dangerous — sometimes crashing into police vehicles in their efforts to escape.

“Technology is not a panacea but (rather is) one we’ve leveraged to prevent crime, not just facilitate investigations,” he reminded councilmembers.

Touching again on technology during the interview, Bowers said that using it to improve crime response means hiring and relying on highly trained staff beyond sworn officers, such as dispatchers and mental health first-responders.

“We’re gonna be looking at engaging with a consultant and looking holistically at the city and how it’s changing,” he said. “Every city in the state is having to add affordable housing. There’s going to be increased demand for police services when you add more people.

“We’ll be looking at next-generation 911: How many dispatchers will we need? A dispatch center has evolved leaps and bounds from when I started in the police profession in 1996. People in the public will be streaming videos and text memos. What is the impact on support staff?

“Mental health activities: Do we have enough incidents where we need to hire a clinician or partner with another community to share resources? The sheer number of sworn officers: With increase in crime, do we need to hire more officers? We want to make decisions in a data-driven way because you want to be impactful, but in reality it’s expensive. You want to be efficient, effective and anticipate demand.”

In the meantime, the department is responding to immediate demands and priorities through implementation of the eight-point plan mentioned previously. To maintain and anticipate upcoming vacancies among the budgeted 21 sworn officers, several candidates are in academy training. Two officers who serve in animal control positions in Emeryville will eventually be reclassified as community service officers who will then support sworn officers with duties such as parking enforcement and directing traffic.

Bowers said that during this holiday season, when crimes increase, more officers would be ideal but that hiring must be in the budget and takes too long to be immediately helpful. Instead, he said the department is adding overtime hours to increase its police presence.

“More uniforms, more marked vehicles are visual deterrence. Using covert means of prevention takes training and time, so for now maximizing the visual (deterrence) makes potential criminals think twice.”

At this week’s council meeting, Bowers planned to request nine more ALPR cameras and supporting technology at Piedmont locations identified as hot spots. Data from existing cameras was studied to determine anticipated traffic flows in town or used in task force investigations.

“Once a criminal hits the next street coming up, what is the likely path? Officers have been using ALPR since 2013, so they’re very good at helpful recommendations. With larcenies like the catalytic converters and working with county partners, search warrants were served at homes where 100 or more converters were confiscated.

“And because residential burglaries are more exposure for criminals we’ve seen switchover to vehicle break-ins. We apply the same ALPR. The amount of crime we’re preventing is substantial but hard to prove, which is why we report out in (the number of) ALPR incidents.”

Particular challenges come with addressing under-reported crimes such as sexual assault and domestic abuse, he said. The group Bay Area Women Against Rape has provided awareness education to the department.

“Demystifying the reporting process is key,” says Bowers. “Hugo Diaz, our youth officer, works with schools to do education about the dynamics of healthy relationships and abuse. We can connect people with service providers and remind ourselves we can never communicate too much.”

Bowers says engaging with the public in-person, online and often, is critical and that building trust requires public town halls, living room conversations, neighborhood meetings attended by residents, the public safety committee, police officers or himself.

He says the council and community have been receptive to his call for two dispatchers and have funded one position. In March 2024, a ballot measure will come before voters for extending the parcel tax to support a second position and related city services.

“The council’s and community’s support and Police Department and county partnerships make my job, a tough job, easier,” Bowers said in expressing his appreciation. “We can’t be insular, so we’re continually building relationships. What I love about law enforcement and why I value being part of this profession is we are a team.”

Lou Fancher is a freelance writer. Reach her at lou@johnsonandfancher.com.