Council appoints members of Water Rate Committee

Dixon Police Chief Robert Thompson briefed the Dixon City Council on the Dixon Police Department's Annual Report on Tuesday.

Thompson spoke about the completion of the police department's new Public Safety Training Center. It features a classroom, a 25-yard pistol range, and a 50-yard rifle range. It will be used to practice de-escalation, less-lethal interventions and situational judgment.

When it comes to crime in 2022, overall citywide crime decreased by 3% compared to 2021. A lower number of crimes were reported in the categories of vandalism and theft.

Although crime declined as a whole, the department did see an increase in extortion, fraud, and obscene materials crimes.

In 2022 there were 1,791 case numbers for crime and incident reports and 18,448 officer-initiated or calls for service.

Overall, there was a decrease in arrests by 12% compared to 2021. There were 468 total arrests in 2022.

The city saw a slight increase in traffic, parking and other citations of 3%.

There was an increase in the number of traffic collisions by 14%. Whereas 2021 saw 114 accidents, 2022 saw 130.

In 2015, the state of California passed the Racial and Identity Profiling Act, requiring data be submitted to the Attorney General's

Office. Dixon PD was approved to start submitting this data to the California Department of Justice on Jan. 1, 2022.

In 2022, the average number of stops per month was 200. Of those stops, 43% were white, 38% were Hispanic, 12% were African American, 3% were Asian, 3% were Middle Eastern/ South Asian and 1% were Pacific Islander.

“Looking at this pie graph, it appears consistent with the makeup of our city,” said Mayor Steve Bird. “I think that's important to recognize.”

On average, 127 males and 73 females are stopped each month.

An officer's No. 1 reason for stopping someone in the city is for a traffic violation. These stops include moving violations, equipment violations, or nonmoving violations.

“The crime data in Dixon continues to show an exceptionally low crime rate, certainly compared to our neighbor cities and similarly sized agencies throughout the county,” said Thompson. “This is coupled with the fact that our violent crime rate is exceptionally low. That is in part because of the high level of awareness people in this community have, but also because we are more of a bedroom community. We are a place where people live and as a result, we are insulated somewhat from some of the commercial things you see happening in other jurisdictions.”

In other news, the council nominated and appointed the five members of the Water Rate Ad Hoc Committee and set its first meeting for April 6.

Vice Mayor Don Hendershot nominated Planning Commission Chair Jack Caldwell. Councilmember Thom Bogue nominated Mike Ceremello. Councilmember Kevin Johnson nominated Herb Cross. Councilmember Jim Ernest nominated former Woodland Water Assistant Manager and current Vacaville Utilities Operations and Maintenance Manager, Jeremy Cox. Bird nominated Frank Drayton.

Ceremello, who was in attendance, did not accept the position on the committee, despite the nomination from Bogue.

“I see this committee as being very unbalanced,” said Ceremello. “I'm not going to make inferences as to how open-minded or close-minded they are. At this point, I can not serve on this committee unless there is a representative of the group that filed for the water rate repeal.”

“I just want to make sure this is clear,” said Bogue to Ceremello. “I struggled hard because of your position in wanting to help that district out so much. I wanted to make you a part of this process and you're very clearly declining the opportunity, yes?”

Bogue then decided to replace Ceremello as his nomination with Christopher Fong.

Caldwell, Fong, Cross, Cox and Drayton were unanimously appointed by the council.