11 Jun Antioch Lets Police Stick With PR Firm Said to Help ‘Bury Bad News’

The Antioch City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved without discussion a consent calendar item contracting with a controversial firm to handle public relations for the Police Department. (Screenshot captured by Samantha Kennedy / The CC Pulse)

By Samantha Kennedy

Public engagement and media relations for the Antioch Police Department will continue to be handled by a public relations firm that has previously faced criticism for allegedly helping agencies avoid accountability and transparency.

The Antioch City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a one-year contract with Cole Pro Media for $96,000 to continue to enhance “comprehensive public engagement and ensure inclusive stakeholder input,” according to the staff report.

The contract, which was passed as part of the consent agenda without discussion, comes as the city looks to mend community-police relations and fix the department’s image following the texting scandal, where several officers sent racist, sexist and homophobic messages, which resulted in an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice.

Cole Pro Media first began working with APD over a year ago, when interim chief of police William “Brian” Addington headed the department and simultaneously served as the company’s chief operations officer.

“During this time, we have worked closely with city leadership to improve community trust through clear, timely and transparent communication,” the company said in a document outlining its scope of work.

A 2021 investigation by the Vallejo Sun and The Appeal found that the Vacaville-based company, which also has worked with the cities of San Pablo and Pittsburg, helps “bury bad news, advises [police departments] to remain silent about damaging revelations, and drafts scripts and responses excusing police use of force.”

For Pittsburg, that meant advising Addington, then-chief of police for the Pittsburg Police Department, in 2020 not to address a lawsuit for the death of Humberto Martinez, who died after an officer placed him in a chokehold that has since been banned, if the $7.3 million settlement remained “mostly quiet” on social media.

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The attorney for Martinez’s family, Michael Haddad, told the Vallejo Sun in 2021 that because the lawsuit showed “structural problems” with the department’s handling of certain restraints, he felt Addington’s response was an attempt to cover up his “personal substandard leadership.”

Addington served as the interim police chief for the Antioch Police Department from February 2024 to January 2025, and simultaneously served as Cole Pro Media’s chief operations officer for several months, according to his LinkedIn profile. Addington’s time with the company totaled over two years after leaving the Pittsburg Police Department.

After leaving PPD, Addington founded his own consulting company, WBA Consulting and Investigations, which also contracted with Antioch for $225,000 in January.

Pittsburg and Antioch are some of the more than 50 agencies the company has worked with. In Pacific Grove, the firm’s contract was ended early in 2021, months after the firm drafted talking points that told the elected officials to tell the public: “continuing to bring this up has become counterproductive and does not allow us to move past this as a community.”

The talking points were in response to an officer who had “controversial decals” on his vehicle at the time — the Three Percenters and LGBT for Liberty, Guns, Beer and Trump — and Parler posts that included “F- Black Lives Matter.”

In Antioch, the company will receive $8,000 per month for recommendations on engagement tools and platforms, social media strategy and support media relations and messaging support, staff training and crisis communication guidance, according to a report from Capt. Desmond Bittner.