BY DANIEL MCGLYNN //

2008 saw the usual spree of assaults, drugs, paper crimes, and shoplifting that are normal in El Cerrito. “The majority of crime in the city is property related theft,” said El Cerrito Police Commander Michael Regan, “usually burglarizing homes and autos.”

Statistically, according to the serious crimes reported by the El Cerrito police department to the State of California, there was roughly the same amount of crime in 2008 as in 2007. The reported offenses average a little over a hundred a month. One crime noticeably absent from the 2008 numbers was homicide. “There were no homicides last year, and that makes me happy,” said Regan. There were two homicides in El Cerrito in 2007. Read the full story

BY N’JERI EATON//

Silvia Figueroa worked at The Red Onion, a popular El Cerrito burger institution, for over 10 years before buying the restaurant with her husband Alfredo in January 2006. Just four months after they celebrated their first anniversary as owners, Alfredo was gunned down during an armed robbery. Read the full story

BY DANIEL MCGLYNN //

If you took 24 crimes that happened in El Cerrito in the past two weeks – broke them into categories like theft, burglary, sexual offense, etc., then color coded those crimes and stuck them on a map – you would start to see some patterns in the recent criminal activity. Read the full story

BY N’JERI EATON//

Proposition 5, the Nonviolent Offender Drug Rehabilitation Act, or NORA, will let voters decide whether to send drug offenders to treatment facilities instead of prison. In El Cerrito, it is an issue that has sparked a debate especially between two groups. On one side, are drug policy advocates who believe NORA will provide a comprehensive treatment program. On the other side, law enforcement officials who fear that Prop 5 will prevent offenders from being prosecuted.

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