SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Howie Ditkof announced Tuesday he is resigning as the Del Paso Boulevard Partnership Chairman.
"Since I do not believe that my efforts at helping improve this area has any chance of success I am resigning as Chairman and as Board Member of the Del Paso Partnership effective immediately," Ditkof wrote in a statement.
In his resignation, Ditkof made a number of claims about the Sacramento Police Department and city services, including delayed response times to crimes in progress and refusing to provide "the essential services of public safety and cleanliness."
His resignation comes just days after a burglary at a body shop near his building. Sacramento Police confirm a burglary happened on the 900 block of Arden Way on May 28.
Ditkof said his alarm went off at 2 a.m. and the alarm at ACD Collision went off around 2:30 a.m., but Sacramento Police responded to the area around 5:25 a.m.
"Three hours to respond to two alarms at adjacent businesses. I thought at the time: this is wrong. It just reinforces that the city of Sacramento is not prepared to provide basic public safety for services for businesses and property," Ditkofsaid.
Sacramento Police Department officials sent ABC10 the following statement:
"The Sacramento Police Department recognizes the harmful impact property crimes, such as burglaries, have on our business community that owners and employees work so hard to build. Our businesses have every right to be upset over their occurrence. Our department utilizes a call priority system when responding to requests for police assistance, including alarm calls. Most of the time, our department receives more calls for service than officers available to respond. At times, the high volume causes unfortunate delays in officer response times. The men and women of the Sacramento Police Department work tirelessly to answer those service calls as quickly and safely as possible. Moreover, in recent weeks, we have increased our patrols in our business districts along Del Paso Boulevard, and our North Problem-Oriented Policing Team is investing considerable time in working with our business community. Moving forward, we will continue evaluating our response strategies and working with our business communities to protect life and property while solving problems."
"The City has had an alarm ordinance with permit fees as early as 1985. The alarm permitted was adopted to reduce the number of false alarms within the city. The Sacramento Police Department receives more than 26,000 security alarm calls each year, of which approximately ninety-seven percent (97%) were false," Sacramento PD added. "If an individual or business does not pay for an alarm permit, their account is placed on a suspended status. This means the police department will not be dispatched to alarm activations unless there is confirmation of a crime or attempted crime, beyond the alarm activation itself. Panic and robbery alarms do not apply to suspended status."
Tim Swanson, spokesperson for Sacramento, sent ABC10 the below statement:
“The city has learned of Mr. Ditkof’s resignation and would like to thank him for his work on the Del Paso Boulevard Partnership. While the partnership is an independent legal entity separate from the city, it shares in the city’s mission to protect and enhance the quality of life for residents and businesses. As part of its ongoing commitment to local neighborhoods, the city has allocated $5 million of American Rescue Plan Act funds to North Sacramento and currently is operating a $2 million grants program to help North Sacramento businesses improve their buildings and spur new investment.”
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