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Working with the Community
SNAP Program
When disaster strikes, you may be out of the area and away from your family. Have you made arrangements with your neighbors to check on your family while you are away? What will you do when a catastrophic event occurs in the city? Have your prepared yourself and your family to deal with disasters? Think about it; do you have enough drinking water safely stored for each member in your household? Who will check for gas leaks? Who will take care of your pets? Have you made arrangements with family members as to where you would meet if you are separated from each other?
As we have witnessed during previous disasters, people initially have to rely on each other for help in order to meet their immediate life saving and sustaining needs. In an effort to prepare you and your family, the Office of Emergency Services provides SNAP (Sunnyvale Neighborhood Actively Prepare) training throughout the year.
The purpose of this hands-on training is to provide you and your family the tools and skills to be sufficient for a minimum of 72 hours following a disaster. This training is free and open to all residents. It is designed to be a fun, interactive learning experience. The Spring session begins Thursday, April 9, and will run for seven consecutive weeks at Public Safety headquarters, 6:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m., in the classroom and at Fire Station #2.
The sessions include:
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Disaster Preparedness/ Understanding Your Utilities
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Incident Command System
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Disaster Medical Operations Parts I and II
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Critical Incident Stress Management/Understanding Terrorism
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Fire Safety and Suppression
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Communications/Safety Assessment/Light Search and Rescue
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Light and Rescue Drills/Exercise/Graduation
Email Cherel Sampson at csampson@ci.sunnyvale.ca.us or call the Office of Emergency Services at (408) 730-7190, TDD (408) 730-7501 for more information. |
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Target Gives DPS Grant for GPS Devices
Target representatives (on right), present grant check to DPS representative (from left to right): Heather Tannehill, Lt. Rennie Irizarry and Capt. Doug Moretto
In December, Public Safety was given a $1,500 grant from the Target Corporation that will be used to purchase Global Positioning System (GPS) devices for the Investigations vehicles.
This opportunity came about after a great investigative effort led to the arrest of multiple suspects and the recovery of thousands of dollars in stolen property. DPS worked with Target Loss Prevention to bust a ring of janitorial staff that was stealing property after hours.
Through Target's Law Enforcement Grant Program, which gives back more than $2 million a week to local and national non-profit organizations and agencies, DPS was invited to apply for a Friends in Blue grant. Since 1990, the Target Law Enforcement Grant Program has supported local law enforcement agencies by providing more than $3 million in grants to help support their efforts.
DPS is proud to develop strong relationships with the business community and looks forward to continued success working with Target and others to keep this a great community in which to live, work, play and shop! |
Your Local
Sunnyvale Crossing Guard
Name: Estela Ruiz
School: Cupertino Middle School
Sunnyvale Location: The Dalles Avenue and Wright Avenue
Helpful Hints: "Always walk your bike across the street."
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Explorer of the Month
Corinne Abernathy has been a member of the Sunnyvale DPS Explorer Post since 2004.
She is a Criminal Justice major at SJSU. Corinne's hobbies include snowboarding, motocross, soccer, and hanging out with friends. Corinne also coaches soccer at Homestead High School.
Her leadership skills recently earned her a promotion to Explorer Lieutenant. Corinne is an awesome leader, and she excels in everything she does. |
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Ringing in the New Year
with New Laws
Click on the California Highway Patrol (CHP) link below to read about new motorist laws in effect this year, 2009.
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Holiday DUI Statistics
With the 2008 Holiday Avoid Campaign concluded, we would like to take a moment to recognize the outstanding effort put forth by the members of our organization to keep impaired drivers off of our roadways.
The Traffic Safety and Enforcement Unit coordinated a DUI checkpoint and three saturation patrol operations.
During the period of December 12th through January 1st, the Department of Public Safety arrested 49 DUI drivers. There were no DUI-related fatalities on our city streets and only one DUI-related collision that resulted in an injury.
For more information about the Avoid Program and arrest/accident data from around the state, go to: www.californiaavoid.org. |
SUNNYVALE DPS UPCOMING EVENTS
JANUARY
Thursday, January 1
Happy New Year!
January 5-28
Basketball Shoot-out Qualifiers
Sport event for 7th and 8th graders in Sunnyvale schools
Tuesday, January 13
New Parent Project Class Begins
To register, call (408) 730-7140,
TDD (408) 730-7501
Wednesday, January 28
Challenge Team Meeting
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For questions and comments about the Sunnyvale DPS newsletter Beyond the Badge,  you can e-mail us at: pubsfty@ci.sunnyvale.ca.us
© 2009 City of Sunnyvale, CA
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 Message from the Chief
As we begin the new year, I think this is an appropriate time to look back at 2008 and the work performed by Sunnyvale's Public Safety officers and support staff. I think the statistics might astound you.
During the year, we responded to 60,017 police calls for service. We wrote 13,384 reports ranging from simple thefts, to burglaries, to traffic accidents, to other criminal conduct. We wrote more than 14,780 traffic citations and 7,976 parking citations. Our officers arrested 3,319 persons for criminal offenses.
In the Fire department, we responded to 1,913 emergency fire events and 5,371 emergency medical events.
Our average response time to urgent police events was 3 minutes, 59 seconds, and our response time to urgent fire events averaged 4 minutes, 12 seconds.
I believe Sunnyvale's Public Safety officers and support staff deserve our thanks for a job well done! There is a lot of teamwork that goes into each and every call for service.
I think we also need to acknowledge the connections that we made with our community in 2008--in all, we supported 28 schools, 24 neighborhood associations, and reached out to neighborhoods and businesses to provide crime prevention education, disaster preparedness classes, and even our first parenting class.
Our goal of providing world-class public safety services is fast becoming a reality. I think you will agree that Public Safety does its best to meet your needs at every turn. In thanking our officers and support staff for their fine work, I would be remiss if I did not thank each and every community member for your strong support. Here's to a safe and wonderful 2009!
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Public Safety Gets New Fire Engines
DPS acquired four new fire engines in December, replacing older ones purchased in the late 1980s. The new fire engines were built in Holden, Louisiana, by Ferrara Fire Apparatus, Incorporated and delivered by the company the first week of December.
The new fire engines have several features that the older ones did not. Some of the new features are:
- Front bumper attack lines that allow fire personnel to put out vehicle fires on the freeways safer
- Class A foam systems that help extinguish fires quicker and reduce water damage
- A diesel particulate trap to reduce vehicle exhaust emissions.
The new engines will be placed at Fire Stations 1, 2, 3 and 4. All of them should be online and on the streets by mid- to late February. | |
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Sunnyvale Fire Muster Teams
PSO Brian Wilkes and PSO John Crouch have been hard at work this summer competing up and down the state on the Sunnyvale Gun's 'n' Hoses Fire Muster Team.
Trying to bring back to Sunnyvale a long-standing tradition in the fire service, Wilkes and Crouch traveled with their families and competed at five different musters on PSO Wilke's 1929 American La France fire engine. They started off the year with their first muster in Murphy, and then traveled to Firebaugh, Madera, Elk Grove, and Lincoln. Each trip was a fun weekend with friends and family, camping out and enjoying the social time with other teams.  With only two people on Sunnyvale's men's muster team, PSOs Wilkes and Crouch had to rely on a lot of "mutual aid" from other teams throughout the summer schedule of competition. Their hard work paid off for them when they received Second Place at the state championship!
Although Wilkes and Crouch proved not to be very efficient at the old Bucket Brigade competitions, they were able to break the clock in the Motorized Pumper class! The Sunnyvale women's muster team also brought home some trophies from the state championship.
 Fire muster competions will start up again in June. Wilkes and Crouch are always looking for more people to come to these events and have a good time, and follow the motto of the California Firemans' Muster Association,"Fellowship Through Competition."
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| Sunnyvale's Bike Patrol Program
The Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety has had an active Bike Patrol program since 2000. Putting police officers on bicycles is actually a very old idea that has made a strong comeback in the past decade. Bike Patrol was started over 100 years ago in an attempt to find a less expensive alternative to the mounted horse patrol. Bicycles were cheaper to purchase than vehicles and did not have the high maintenance cost of horses. Eventually, these bicycle patrols were replaced with motorized vehicles. However, in the past ten years the use of bikes has seen a phenomenal resurgence because of the increased effectiveness and increase in fuel costs.
 PSO Rose and PSO Cortez on Bike Patrol
Bike Patrol has many benefits. Bicycles can be used in heavily congested areas or in urban areas. Downtown areas, business districts and parks seem to be the most common areas for Bike Patrol officers. They can respond much quicker than a patrol car in these types of settings. Bike Patrol officers are also used to for festivals and other public events held in Sunnyvale.
Bike Patrol officers have the advantage of stealth and speed when conducting surveillance investigations. It is very easy to hide the bike and the officer in order to watch persons conducting suspected criminal activity and then to respond quickly from these hidden places. Bike Patrol officers can be relocated to remote areas by vehicle and then patrol that area on bikes. Some examples of this tactical technique include: searching for missing persons, targeting areas where burglaries are on the rise, and assistance to emergency operations.
Additionally, in this age of "community policing," a Bike Patrol officer is much more accessible to a citizen than a patrol car driving by. DPS Bike Patrol Program instructor, Officer Shannon Griffiths shares the following:
"Bike Patrol is a natural component to community-orientated policing. Bicycles offer an enormous benefit in terms of efficiency, effectiveness and positive public contact. The Bike Patrol officers are able to interact and learn what is happening in the community by having direct contact with the citizens. As the city of Sunnyvale grows, I see community policing on bikes as a significant component of law enforcement."
Another benefit of Bike Patrol is that using a bicycle also attracts children. Children can relate to police officers on a bicycle because they, too, ride bicycles. This attraction affords the Bike Patrol officer the opportunity to create a learning situation where officers can discuss proper helmet usage and safe riding techniques. The officer also demonstrates good safety techniques by riding with a helmet and proper lighting and reflectors.
To be qualified to perform Bike Patrol operations, an officer must attend a bicycle training class. During this training, the officer is taught: advanced riding skills, defensive and offensive riding strategies, general bike maintenance and suspect contacts.
Being a member of the Bike Patrol is a collateral assignment. Currently there are over twenty Sunnyvale Public Safety officers that are trained in bicycling operations. During a patrol shift, those assigned officers may use the bike to patrol areas of concern within their beat.
We currently maintain six specially-equipped Specialized brand patrol bikes. These police bicycles are equipped with police lighting and a siren. They, essentially, share the same authority as a patrol car. By law, a Bike Patrol officer can initiate a traffic stop on the roadway.
Patrolling by bike gives officers many advantages over the traditional vehicle patrol. Being visible and approachable is just two of the many advantages. So, if you see a Public Safety officer on their bike, stop and say "hello." |
Volunteer Highlight--
Robert Locke Robert Locke received the Mick McDonald Volunteer of the Year Award at
the annual Santa Clara County Emergency Managers Association banquet
last month.
Locke, who has served on the Sunnyvale Neighborhoods Actively Prepare (SNAP) Committee (a community emergency response team program) since 2000, was recognized for his valuable contribution to Public Safety and his community.
The Mick McDonald Volunteer of the Year Award is bestowed upon individuals who give noteworthy and extraordinary service to the Santa Clara County emergency management community. Locke was recognized for unselfishly giving his time to the city of Sunnyvale; not only does he serve on the SNAP Committee, he is also a SNAP instructor, a former member of the Sunnyvale Parks and Recreation Commission, an attendee of the FBI Citizen's Academy and a graduate of Leadership Sunnyvale. This year Locke helped to revise some of the SNAP curriculum: Disaster Medical Operations, START Triage, Terrorism Table-top and the SNAP Incident Command Systems kit.
It was very rewarding to be able to thank Robert Locke publicly for his exemplary service to his community, his commitment to Public Safety and his passion for SNAP.
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