EPD Holds Annual Promotion and Awards Ceremony

This is a press release from the Eureka Police Department:

EPD New Hires

On the morning of February 14, 2020, the Eureka Police Department held its annual Promotional and Awards Ceremony at the Sequoia Conference Center. Following an inspection of all uniformed sworn officers, the ceremony began at 8:30 AM with an introduction of the Department’s numerous new hires and the administration of their Oath of Office. From June 11, 2018 – present, EPD has welcomed over 22 new members to our family. These dedicated men and women are as follows:

Catherine Rees, Communications Dispatcher

Kaitlin Burke, Communications Dispatcher

Laura Altic, Communications Dispatcher

Dennis Gagnon, Parks/Waterfront Ranger

Jeremy Sollom, lateral Police Officer

Joshua Horn, lateral Police Officer

Dillon Huffman, Police Officer (sponsored through the College of the Redwoods basic police academy as a recruit)

Dimitrios Tagaropoulos, Police Officer (sponsored through the College of the Redwoods basic police academy as a recruit)

Jereme Mullen, Police Officer (sponsored through the College of the Redwoods basic police academy as a recruit)

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Spencer Barrett, Police Officer (former EPD Police Explorer sponsored through the College of the Redwoods basic police academy as a recruit)

Tanner Duke, Police Officer (former EPD Police Explorer sponsored through the College of the Redwoods basic police academy as a recruit)

David Wilm, Police Officer

Ty Craig, Police Officer

Jayme Clark, Police Recruit (sponsored through the College of the Redwoods basic police academy as a recruit)

Ronald Sligh, Reserve Officer

Chandler Baird, Reserve Officer

Carly Balk, Evidence Technician II

Coleen Sandberg, Police Records Specialist

Mackenzie Coutts, Police Records Specialist

Kenneth Donithan, Community Services Officer

Max Michael, part-time Property Technician

William Springmeier, part-time Parking Enforcement Officer

The following members were recognized by Chief Stephen Watson for their recent promotions:

Officer Wayne Rabang, promoted to Police Sergeant (effective May 2020)

Officer Jon Omey, promoted to Police Sergeant (effective May 2020)

Sergeant Gregory Hill, promoted to supervising Detective-Sergeant of the Problem Oriented Policing Unit (POP)

Officer Nicholas Darby, promoted to POP Detective

Officer Joseph Couch, promoted to POP Detective

Sergeant Terry Liles, promoted to supervising Detective-Sergeant of the Criminal Investigations Section (CIS)

Chief Watson was then honored to present a very deserving member of our family and community, Judy Sousa, with the Department’s prestigious Valor-Service Challenge Coin Award. From the award citation:

EPD is committed to promoting community-oriented policing concepts and positive relations with the public we serve. We further this purpose by acknowledging valued citizens and groups who commit acts of extraordinary kindness or valor, unselfishly give of themselves to help others, or perform other good deeds that go above and beyond the normal courtesies society expects.

To this end, we commissioned the minting of a special “challenge coin” to be awarded to deserving individuals who give of themselves in an exceptional NEWS RELEASE

manner. This unique full-color coin represents the Eureka Police Department’s cherished values of VALOR, SERVICE, and COMMUNITY and may be displayed proudly. Through her selfless labors over the years, Judy has truly exemplified the meaning of “service” and “community.”

The many examples cited of Judy’s generosity and selfless spirit include her support for the Department’s annual Shop with a Cop event, co-administering the City’s Neighborhood Watch program with over 3,000 members, and sewing autism awareness seatbelt covers for families of individuals with autism. These brightly colored covers will assist first responders in their interaction with individuals where quick identification of autism would be beneficial. Judy was also recognized for her great dedication, loyalty and care for the men and women of the Eureka Police Department.

Following Judy’s recognition, Detective Richard Bise, Chair of the Awards Committee, presented the Department’s remaining awards as follows:

Life Saving Award:

Officer Mark Meftah

Excellence Award:

Detective Corrie Watson

Special Agent Dustin Nantz

Katie Hill, Executive Assistant to the Chief of Police

Amanda O’Neill, Police Records Manager

Unit Commendation Award:

Criminal Investigations Section (CIS)

Sergeant Patrick O’Neill

Senior Detective Ronald Harpham

Senior Detective Amber Cosetti

Detective Richard Bise

Detective (retired) John Gordon

Community Safety Engagement Team (CSET)

Sergeant Leonard LaFrance

Ranger Drake Goodale

Officer Ryan Swanson (Mobile Intervention and Services Team)

Officer Brian Ross

Ranger Dennis Gagnon

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Homeless and Mental Health Liaison Pamlyn Millsap

Team 2 Patrol

Sergeant Stan Harkness

Officer Mark Meftah

Officer Stephen Linfoot

Detective Nicholas Dalby

Officer Ryan Swanson.

Life Saving Award

The Life Saving Award is given for the direct saving of a human life by applied knowledge of life saving or rescue techniques in a situation which does not threaten the life of the employee.

Excellence Award

The Excellence Award is given for any action that brings credit to the individual, the Department and or/fellow employees through outstanding job performance.

Unit Commendation Award

The Unit Commendation Award/Ribbon is awarded to two or more members who perform an act or a series of acts over a period of time which demonstrate a high degree of teamwork and professionalism and which result in the attainment of departmental goals, or who brings credit to themselves, or the department through outstanding job performance.

Following the presentation of the awards, Chief Watson gave the following closing remarks to the assembly:

“EPD, we have accomplished much together over the past year. We’ve hired 22 fantastic employees since June of 2018. As of February 1st, our sworn officer positions are all filled and Patrol should soon enjoy full staffing levels. Dispatch is within sight of being fully staffed for the first time in many years with only two positions left to fill, and we’re moving quickly on these. (A fully staffed Dispatch center is a priority for us.)

Over the past two-plus years, we’ve substantially upgraded our equipment and facility; started a number of successful new crime fighting, prevention, and investigation programs; enhanced our community outreach and partnership efforts; implemented a new CAD/RMS system; and we are currently in the middle of a complete radio system upgrade that will leave us with state of the art communications equipment and infrastructure—among many other achievements. NEWS RELEASE

Our Records, Dispatch, and Criminal Investigations Sections are truly the envy of the rest of the region and set the standard for others. Patrol, POP, CSET, CSOs, Property, Animal Control, Evidence Technicians, Parking, administrative professional staff…you have all managed to continue to elevate the high level of service we provide to our community. You make your community proud. And let us not forget our amazing volunteers who so generously and humbly give back so much to this department and our community.

Let’s take a brief look at 2019 in review:

THE EUREKA POLICE AND FIRE COMMUNICATIONS CENTER:

Handled 126,496 phone calls (an average of 346 a day), including:

1. 30,536 9-1-1 calls

2. 95,960 inbound and outbound administrative phone calls

Dispatched 76,910 total police (87%), fire and medical (13%) incidents (an average of 211 a day)—an 8% INCREASE from 2018

PATROL & SPECIAL TEAMS:

Handled and generated 67,253 police incidents (average of 184 a day)

1. 42,715 calls for service

2. 24,538 officer-initiated

a. An increase of 4,488 (22%) compared to 2018

REPORTS:

8,401 reports were taken (and processed by Records)

ARRESTS AND CITATIONS:

EPD officers made 4,579 total arrests in 2019

1. 1,068 Felony

2. 3,511 misdemeanor

3,522 individual jail bookings – EPD officers made more than double the number of custodial arrests of either of the next two closest agencies (and significantly more than the next two agencies combined, 1,393 by APD and 1,661 by HCSO).

2,661 citations issued (traffic-71%, EMC-10%, other 19%)

NEWS RELEASE

CRIME:

Violent and property crimes are trending down overall in Eureka (Part 1 crimes reportable under UCR including murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, and vehicle theft)

10% overall reduction in 2019 Part 1 crimes compared to 2018; 2019 was 7% lower than the average for last 3-years (2019, 2018, 2017)

Violent crime, including robbery and aggravated assault, saw significant decreases in both 2018 and 2019 compared to 2017

1. 25% reduction in robbery reports in 2019 and 2018 compared to 2017

2. Much of this is likely due to the successful arrest and prosecution of multiple prolific armed robbers as a direct result of the excellent work by CIS et. al.

3. 15% reduction in assault reports in 2019 compared to 2018

While 186 vehicles were stolen in Eureka in 2019 (a 10% reduction compared to 2018) , EPD had a 94% recovery rate

Residential burglaries declined by 33% compared to 2018

The Eureka Police Department enjoys a strong relationship with our community today because of you and the care and professionalism with which you proudly serve.

Every generation faces its challenges but today, especially in California, serving as law enforcement member is harder than ever. At a national level, there is a deficit of respect for the men and women who put their lives on the line daily for others. We face the fallout of ill-conceived laws and soft, defense-minded judges that have functionally reduced or eliminated any real consequences for many criminal behaviors. Budgets are tight, resources limited, and we are increasingly being asked to “police the gaps” in a broken system as we deal with the fallout from a titanic range of societal infirmities such as widespread homelessness, drug abuse and mental illness.

Many people seemingly can’t decide what they want us to be, or perhaps they want us to be everything—warriors, priests, guardians, counselors, educators, social NEWS RELEASE

workers…even magicians able to sprinkle pixy dust and wave a magic wand to instantly solve all of society’s problems.

So, yes, our jobs are harder than ever. However, EPD, you are up to this challenge. Policing is demanding but never forget it is also a noble calling, deeply meaningful, impactful and rewarding. And yes, you are still law enforcers but today you are also so much more and you should take pride in that.

The following is posted prominently on the wall outside the Patrol briefing room and I want to share it with you here:

“Doing our job is more difficult than ever. Still, we have a job to do and it is more important than ever that we do it with pride and integrity. We will overcome our challenges together by relying on our training and dedication to the ethical and lawful performance of our calling.”

What you do matters. There is never a day that I don’t wake up with a sense of meaning and purpose in life. Always remember that how we treat people matters. It is not just what we do, but how we do it that counts. It’s a truth that people often care more about how they are treated than the outcome of their interaction with the police. Each individual contact is another opportunity to give people a new experience, positive or negative. Treat these interactions as an opportunity to make another deposit into the public’s trust bank.

Finally, when I retire years from now and look back on the sum of my career, what I will be most proud of will not be my personal and professional accomplishments but rather you—the people I had the privilege to recruit, hire, promote, support, mentor, lead, and work side by side with in our shared calling.

So, go forth and protect and serve, EPD. And know that I have your back while you have my respect and appreciation.”

The Eureka Police Department would like to thank Eureka Volunteer Patrol member Jack Hopkins for his fine photography during this event. EPD would also like to thank the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office, California Highway Patrol Humboldt Area, and Fortuna Police Department for their assistance with emergency patrol and dispatch services in the City during the ceremony.

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