Citizens, Police Mobilize Against Solicitors

Local police issue alerts, meet with neighbors to discuss tips for dealing with aggressive solicitors.

  The better weather of late spring and summer brings an influx of door-to-door solicitors to Lamorinda neighborhoods and residents, Patch is told, are teaming with local police to ward them off. Walnut Creek police issued an alert for neighbors to better understand the legalities of dealing with door-to-door solicitors, and Moraga Police Chief Bob Priebe is meeting with at least one neighborhood group weary of hard-sell, front porch sales pitches for everything from magazines to meat. The most frequent violations, police say, are for solicitors who saturate neighborhoods without first obtaining a permit from the city, and many residents mistakenly believe the person on their doorstep has undergone a criminal background check. That is not …

•  1 Comment
• Photos (3)

The Crime Files

Granny Scam Works Again -- This Time for $5,100

One of the most nefarious cons around is aimed at a Moraga resident and works -- again.

  Sigh. This almost hurts too much to write about. If you read us you know about our campaign to inform caregivers and relatives and seniors about a particularly insidious scam aimed at the elderly. Well, the con men have done it again. Moraga police were dispatched to an address on Sullivan Drive on May 4 and contacted a pair of grandparents who had just become the latest victims of the so-called "Granny Scam." Officers determined that someone posing as the couple's grandson contacted them by phone and convinced them he was in trouble -- in Canada -- and that he needed them to send money via Western Union to a location there or he would never see the light of day. Another sigh. The kindly couple did as they were asked, wiring $5,100 to an…

•  1 Comment
• Photos (1)

A Wee Bit Drinky In the Morning

"Old Blue Eyes" did some of his best imbibing in the wee small hours of the morning, and wrote about it. But he pretty much stayed at the bar, and never said anything about driving his kid to school after having a few belts.

  On Friday, at approximately 7:40 a.m., a Moraga police officer pulled over a 35 year-old local woman travelling south on Moraga Rd. near Devin Dr. -- for driving while talking on a cell phone. Police Chief Robert Priebe said the officer making the stop approached the driver and noticed that in addition to driving while using her phone she allegedly exhibited "objective signs of intoxication" and the officer, concerned about the safety of the driver's 13-year-old child, conducted an in-field test which led to the motorist's arrest at the scene. Police drove her 13 year-old child to school -- the driver's destination at the time she was stopped -- and took a breath sample from the motorist, which indicated a .15 percent blood alcohol …

•  10 Comments

Chief Christensen Reaches Out To the Neighbors

If your street is being used as a drag strip by speeders, Lafayette's new police chief wants to hear from you.

  In City Manager Steven Falk's "Friday Summary" Lafayette Police Chief Eric Christensen recounted his early days making neighborhoods safer as a young patrol officer with a radar gun. "I was once approached by a citizen who told me she was afraid that someone would be injured or killed by traffic in her neighborhood," the chief writes. "She told me that neighbors were speeding uncontrollably down her street without concern for the children who played in the area. I agreed to take a look at the problem and, the next day, parked my patrol car in front of her house, turned on my radar unit and went to work. She was right." Christensen said his work that day quickly took on the aura of spectator sport, with the frustrated neighbors turning …

•  29 Comments
• Photos (1)

Chris Nicholson

9:51 am on Wednesday, May 9, 2012

So if I could prove that overall safety would be improved by deploying scarce police resources to other activities (versus traffic enforcement), you would nonetheless favor traffic enforcement? Should we reduce speed limits by 10mph, double the number of speed traps, give them quotas and raise taxes to pay for this? If not, how did you decide that that would not be appropriate? Just trying to …   more ›

Rock n' Rollover In Orinda Sunday

Two cars collided on Camino Pablo in Orinda Sunday morning, pitching one onto its roof. A member of the Patch Militia snapped a picture while cruising past on his morning bike ride.

  One person suffered an apparently minor facial injury Sunday when two cars tangled on Camino Pablo near the entrance to Orinda BART at around 7:30 a.m., pitching one of the cars onto its roof. Patcher Benson Chan was cycling past and snapped a quick shot of MOFD personnel at work.  

• Photos (1)

Joaquin Moraga Intermediate Student Brings Explosive Device To School

The Walnut Creek police bomb unit was called to Joaquin Moraga Intermediate school Friday after a possible explosive device was found on campus.

  Moraga police say a 13-year-old student brought a 4-inch long explosive device to Joaquin Moraga Intermediate School Friday and was discovered showing it to other students by school staff. The device, described as like a pipe bomb in appearance, was taken to an office and Moraga police were called at 2:45 p.m.  School hours had ended just minutes earlier. When police arrived, the device was inspected, the area secured, and the Walnut Creek Bomb Squad was called to respond, according to Moraga Police Chief Bob Priebe. The Bomb Squad verified the contents of the device and qualified it as an explosive, Priebe said. The device was disassembled and removed from campus. Possession of the explosive device on school grounds is a felony and the …

•  42 Comments
• Photos (3)

Andrew L.

11:14 am on Tuesday, May 8, 2012

One of the reasons we have a "litigious society" is that people got tired of exploding soda bottles, etc. taking out fingers and eyes.   more ›