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During the meeting, resident Bob Flasher took these excellent notes, which he has generously agreed to allow me to post to all of you.
The basic story is that almost every unfortunate thing that could go wrong did. What went right was the calls from the Cukors to Berkeley Police (BPD). All calls, whether non-emergency or 9-1-1 go to the same group of operators in the same dispatch/communications room. Calls are then evaluated and assigned a priority number. What priority they get depends on specific criteria. If a situation escalates, the priority changes to reflect this.
As soon as BPD got the call that an attack was taking place, they immediately dispatched officers to the scene, code 3 (lights, sirens, and speeding through traffic signals when safe). By the time they arrived, the murder had taken place. The fire department arrived shortly after the police, as they were assisting at a house fire way down on Vincente. An ambulance arrived shortly afterwards. The police arrested the alleged perpetrator at that time, just a block away.
Unfortunate timing:
It was unfortunate that the perpetrator chose this residence for the crime. Since he walked to the scene, he could have stopped anywhere else, where other neighbors might have seen what was taking place and lent a hand.
It was unfortunate that two similar incidents took place at the same time, with one of them a block away from the first available officer. If a 9-1-1 call hadn't come in, he would probably have been dispatched to the closer incident first. The BPD has to prioritize their calls and all of them aren't emergencies.
No one was at the firehouse as they were all assisting at a fire so it wouldn't spread up into the rest of the hills. A housefire in the hills is potentially way more threatening to many lives than a suspicious character in one yard.
The Occupy Oakland protest march into Berkeley drew police attention to that event. But at no time does the BPD fail to respond to emergencies, regardless of what else is taking place.
Even if BPD had responded to the second call (about how the suspicious person had returned to the property), they wouldn't have arrived in time to stop the crime.
Lessons learned:
Crimes happen. Police don't have ESP and can only respond once the crime is taking place. The same goes for the fire department. Until something catches fire, for example, they don't know about it. No number of police or firefighters can prevent crime, fires and medical emergencies. But they are willing to try.
Stay safe. If you can report a crime safely, do so. If not, leave the area first. Go to a nearby home if you can't get to your own house. The dispatch center leaves this decision up to you. There is no ironclad rule to either stay inside your home or leave, that will ensure your safety. You know the situation much better than someone trying to piece it together from your description over the phone.
If you dial 9-1-1 from a cell phone in an emergency (or when you think you might have an emergency, which is perfectly okay), the call goes to CHP in Vallejo, who will ask you a series of questions and then call the Berkeley Police. Then the BPD has to ask all the same questions to make sure they have the correct details, address, etc. You can avoid this delay by dialing the BFD emergency number instead: 981-5911. They suggested putting 981-5911 on speed dial so all you have to do is press "9," and your phone will dial them without you having to search through your contact list. Speed of response is of the utmost importance, whether for a crime or a medical emergency.
While you are answering the questions of the 9-1-1 dispatcher, they will have already dispatched an officer or fire engine, depending on what type of emergency you are having, prioritized based on the other events taking place simultaneously. They can do two things at once. So, if it's safe, stay on the phone until all the questions are answered. The more details you can give, the more details the responding officers or firefighters will receive on the way to the incident. Accuracy helps--not hysteria. The more accurate and complete your information, the more likely the incident won't end in tragedy.
The BPD is re-evaluating the size of their beat patrol areas. Ours is one of the largest, based on crime stats from about 20 years ago. Things have changed a bit since then. Our area is the highest in property crime in the entire city now, out of all 18 beats. In addition, many of the streets in north Berkeley are wiggly and lead to longer response times. As a result, our beat area may be smaller in the future, leading to faster response time.
If you have ideas about different ways the BPD can prioritize calls, they are open to suggestions. Keep in mind that every call can't be an emergency, or all they would do is race around town and have no time for patrol and other functions. They already respond to about 3400 emergency calls per year. If you want to share a suggestion, their non-emergency number is 981-5900.
Always lock everything! Doors, windows, car doors, etc always need to be locked. Over 50% of the burglaries in our area are through open doors and windows. Our Chief of Police has locked his wife out several times when she was gardening. If he is that safe, we should be too (as long as you remember to apologize afterwards). Why tempt people? Nothing should ever be left in view on a car seat. Everything should be hidden out of sight in the trunk, including when you are at places you might consider safe, like parks. Criminals often sit in park lots, waiting for people to go on a hike. Then as soon as you are out of sight, knowing that you will be gone for awhile, they case out the car to see if there is anything of value visible. | 
