San Joaquin County hospital worker finds car vandalized after Thanksgiving shift
SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY — Several workers and staff members at one local hospital are fed up with coming back to their cars after a full shift, only to find them broken into, or stolen.
Employees at the San Joaquin General Hospital say they want change and are calling on the county to make it.
The county said they're going to review the security measures in place for the hospital and the safety of workers and patients.
While there is security on the property, and gates to get into staff parking lots, for a lot of workers, it's not enough.
On Thanksgiving night, after working a full shift, an employee at the San Joaquin County General Hospital came back to their car on bricks, tires and rims gone.
They parked in staff parking.
"Workers are upset, like that's an understatement," said Desiree Collins, the Local SEIU 1021 Chapter Board President for San Joaquin County.
Collins said county workers have been putting up with things like theft, vandalism and even assault on county parking lots on their way to and from their cars.
"And now at the hospital, their tires are being stolen. Pretty egregious acts by people," she said.
Even though the parking lots have a third-party security contractor and gates for designated parking, Collins said it's not enough.
"Some departments have said that the security is not there to protect the employees but to protect the property itself, it gives an unsettling feeling," Collins said.
So what can change? CBS 13 is getting answers.
"My first reaction was you see this car jacked up on blocks," said Steve Ding, District 4 County Supervisor. "They're in dismay, they're upset, so I said I'd get to the bottom of it."
County Supervisor Steve Ding said now the county is looking into reviewing the security measures in place at the hospital.
"Let's review everything," Ding said. "There were comments on there about the security arm to the parking lot not working correctly, I said I wanted that analyzed."
Adding security, or fixing gates, however, costs money.
"There's not a bigger priority than the safety of the employees, and if we need the money, we will find it," Ding said.
But for Collins and the thousands of people she represents, it's not just about the hospital staff.
"Administration building, the courthouse," Collins said. "We get complaints all the time of people being assaulted walking between the parking lots even just walking from the curb to the building."
One employee told CBS 13, off-camera, that there is a sort of survey going around to gauge concerns and find out what priorities employees have.