Safety

Community garden robbed of tools, not hope

More than $700 worth of power and carpentry tools were stolen from a locked shed at the Happy Lot Farm and Garden run by Andromeda Brooks. Brooks reported the theft to the police Dec. 6. Happy Lot Farm and Garden is a patch of land on the corner of 1st Street and Chanslor Avenue designed one year ago to give residents the chance to grow their own chemical-free food. Prior to becoming a food haven, the 14,000 square foot lot…

Three shootings over the weekend, none resulting in homicides

Three shootings occurred in Richmond over the weekend. None appear to be gang-related, police said, and all of the victims are expected to live. On Friday, shortly after 8 p.m., police responded to a call for a shooting on the 3400 block of Richmond Parkway. A man was transported to a local hospital with gunshot injuries to his abdomen. Police have one person in custody. The second shooting occurred around 8:30 p.m. Saturday at the 2700 block of Macdonald. A…

Contra Costa passes realignment budget

Contra Costa County officials approved a budget of more than $20 million at a meeting in Martinez today to both continue operations in the jails, probation department and courts, as well as develop community partnerships geared around reentry. More than a year after California transferred responsibility for low-levels felons to county jurisdiction, the Community Corrections Partnership (CCP) unanimously approved $15.4 million of the total budget to continue operations and expand some county departments. The move came just in time before…

Domestic Violence in Richmond

More than 12 million men and women were victims of rape, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner in the United States in 2010, according to the Centers for Disease Control, and Richmond hasn’t escaped the problem. Richmond Police Lt. Bisa French estimated that the RPD sees 20-30 domestic violence cases a month. STAND! For Families Free of Violence, which works with victims in Contra Costa County, receives more than 15,000 clients a year, said Gloria Sandoval, the group’s…

Mayor honors memory of homicide victims

Mayor Gayle McLaughlin invited the community to the Richmond Public Library Friday night to honor the memory of this year’s homicide victims. More than 30 people attended the event. Chairs formed a circle providing a public forum for the mayor and the attendees who had stories to share about the year’s 18 homicides. “It’s people owning the neighborhood together,” McLaughlin said on ways to decrease crime and violence in the community. She focused on communities taking personal responsibility, being more…

Identity theft on the rise in Richmond

The white-collar crime of identity theft, which has increased dramatically nationwide in the last decade, has not spared Richmond.   Richmond Police Detective Jeffrey Whitson calls Richmond one of the identity theft epicenters of the West Coast. With the technological advances that come with smart phones, online banking, and other exploitative tools, Whitson said he’s getting far more cases across his desk. “It’s an epidemic,” Whitson said. Whitson said that from last November to the present he has seen more…