Cop who helped solve Dugard kidnap case to be honored by Brentwood

Allyson Jacobs is going to be recognized by her hometown for helping bring Jaycee Dugard back to her family.

Jacobs and Lisa Campbell, patrol officers at UC Berkeley, helped set the wheels in motion that led to the discovery of Dugard 18 years after she was abducted and the arrest of her captors Phillip and Nancy Garrido.

Jacobs, a UC Berkeley patrol officer, will be honored by the Brentwood City Council on Sept. 8 for her role in solving the case.

"She's a hero in our eyes; we want to honor her and do something special for her having enough instincts to catch something that a lot of people had missed," Mayor Bob Taylor said Tuesday. "Brentwood's a family-oriented community where we care for families and kids."

The council meeting will be at 7 p.m. at Brentwood City Hall, 708 Third St.

The city likes to honor its great citizens, Taylor said, and Jacobs is "very thrilled to be honored."

"We want to treat her as part of the family, so hopefully a lot of people come out," he said.

Campbell and Jacobs thought something was odd about Phillip Garrido, who lived in unincorporated Antioch but grew up in Brentwood, when he walked into the UC Berkeley police station three times last week to discuss a permit for an event on campus called "God's Desire."

With information willingly supplied by Garrido, Jacobs looked up his criminal history and found he was on federal parole for kidnapping and rape.

"I thought this could be something way more than we bargained for," said Jacobs, who has two sons ages 4 and 6. She called his parole officer.

Especially disconcerting was the appearance of Garrido's daughters, ages 15 and 11, the next day. Authorities say Garrido fathered the children with Dugard.

"They were so robotic and not like girls of 11 and 15," Jacobs said at a news conference on Friday. "If it wasn't for them, I would have just talked to him and that would have been it."

Jacobs said the parole officer was at first skeptical when she told her that Garrido had two children. But she got a call back two days later.

"He was talking real fast about a kidnapping 20 years ago, the FBI and what a good job I did," Jacobs said. "I couldn't believe this was something so huge."

By Paul Burgarino
Contra Costa Times