Saturday, May 4, 2024

Apple Gets Free Use of Emeryville Police Cars in Security Deal

Apple Corporation, Worth $2.8 Trillion, Gets Free Use of Emeryville Police Cars

EPD Officers Get Overtime Pay for Security, Courtesy of Apple 

But

Taxpayers Pick up the Tab for the Extra Wear and Tear on the Cars


The Apple store at the Bay Street mall recently entered into a mutually beneficial security agreement with the Emeryville Police Department wherein the corporation pays the City of Emeryville in full, for any cops who volunteer to pick up overtime pay to guard the store but the agreement does not compensate for use of City owned police cars, the Tattler has learned.  The EPD officers who sign on to become Apple security guards use the same City owned cruisers they use while on regular City time.  Apple mandates the guard duty requires officers to be in the store or to sit in their car in a specially designated police only parking spot directly in front.  For that, Apple is willing to pay for one officer at all times during business hours 10-8 pm M-S and 11-6pm Sunday.  EPD officers, wishing to bolster their income, have been filling up almost every time slot offered by Apple according to officers questioned.

There's an EPD officer and car at the Apple store
whenever the store is open.  What do we call
them when they're working the security detail?
Officer Blart?

Officers wanting to accrue more overtime pay than what they can get through the Department can sign on for Apple duty before or after their Emeryville shifts.  The offer has turned out to be quite popular for the officers who note the job is considerably easier than what the Department expects of them.

One officer who wished to remain anonymous, told the Tattler the free use of the patrol cars is warranted in their opinion because Apple doesn’t have exclusive use of the cars while they are being used for the security detail.  The agreement does provide for free use of the City’s police cars but the police are permitted to go after a perpetrator, with the car, if they see a crime being committed close by, the officer said.  Alternatively, they can take the time to radio other officers on patrol to go after a criminal they see.

A check of rentals for police cars in the Bay Area revealed prices usually start at $300 per day for a retired but still ‘fully loaded’ Crown Victoria police car with lights and sirens.  A currently operational vehicle, like what Apple is getting, would rent for more than $300. 

The costs associated by extra wear and tear on the vehicles for the Apple agreement is paid by Emeryville taxpayers.

Apple, who did not respond to requests for comment about this story has a market cap worth of at least 2.8 trillion dollars according to Google.


8 comments:

  1. I respectfully disagree. There is a value to having a viable Apple store in Emeryville, and crime has been rampant lately. The Police Car is parked. What else would that car be doing; probably it would be parked somewhere else. It is acting as an effective deterrent.

    Brian, I suggest you take a deep breath, and try to envision this whole situation from a different perspective. You might surprise yourself.

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    1. OK, I took a deep breath and I tried to envision this from the perspective of Apple and I’m seeing how they like the agreement as it is. I’m not surprised they like it though.

      What do you disagree about? The security agreement? The public’s right to know about the agreement? I don’t know why you’re unhappy.

      Delete
  2. I also don’t know why I should be outraged about this. So Apple is paying for the cops time, and Emeryville is paying for the “wear and tear” of the cop car? What wear and tear? It’s parked.

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    Replies
    1. Apple hires the police to drive our cars to and from their store, rent free.

      Delete
  3. It's good to know these things as I thought (I see incorrectly now thanks to Brian’s exposure) that Apple would be paying for the security in full. Yes. We need Apple at Bay Street. Yes. They need our business and everybody wins if they pay a fair share of security.

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  4. This deal opens the door now for anybody to be able to use Emeryville’s police cars for free. If a company is filming a movie or commercial and the script has a cop driving around, they can pay for the officer’s time but the use of our cars must be offered for free. Any other use of a police officer by a private company must also come with a car, gratis.
    It’s a pretty sweet deal. Everyplace else charges for use of public property like this. Emeryville is very generous with the taxpayer’s assets. I'm wondering what the taxpayers get out of this though.

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  5. To see if this police presence is a deterrence to theft, check this video posted on X the day after this Tattler story: https://twitter.com/PicturesFoIder/status/1787196291551826207

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  6. I recommend B dog put in some OT!

    ReplyDelete