Pass It On... Become a Mentor!

What is a mentor? A mentor literally means "a wise and trusted friend." But to a youth, it can mean much, much more. Mentoring is about people of different ages and backgrounds sharing their life experiences and learning from each other. If you think about it, most of us have had a mentor: someone who took the time to explain how things worked, showed us the ropes, or gave us the confidence we needed.

If you've benefited from the attention of a mentor in your life, now is the time to pass it on and become a mentor to a young person!

January 2012 is the eleventh annual National Mentoring Month, a time each year when our nation spotlights the importance of mentors and the need for every child to have a caring adult in his or her life. Activities include a concentrated burst of national and local media activity combined with White House and Congressional involvement and extensive community outreach to institutionalize the nation's commitment to long-term mentoring.

President Barack Obama proclaims January 2012 National Mentoring Month! "Every day, mentors help young Americans face the challenges of growing into adulthood.  By setting a positive example and sharing their time, knowledge, and experience, mentors play an essential role in preparing our Nation's youth for a bright future.  During National Mentoring Month, we celebrate the contributions of all those who cultivate a supportive environment for the next generation, and we recommit to expanding mentorship opportunities across our country."

Please click here to read more about National Mentoring Month.  

Sunnyvale DPS partnered with San Jose Police Department and the Cops Care Cancer Foundation on Saturday, December 10, for the Eighth Annual Fantasy Flight at NASA Ames and Yahoo!  The Fantasy Flight brings families with children surviving cancer together for a day of joy, happiness and Santa Claus.  The day starts at Yahoo! where the kids get to visit and eat lunch with police and fire personnel.  Along with lunch, the kids and officers play games, hang out and have fun.  After Yahoo!, the kids get to ride in police cars, fire engines and SWAT vehicles in one long procession to NASA Ames where they wait for Santa to fly in on San Jose Police Department's Air 2 helicopter. 

While waiting for Santa to arrive, the kids get to play games, do arts and crafts or pretend to be a motorcycle police officer.  It's all about a day of having fun and forgetting that they have cancer for just one day.

Emma was one of 125 kids with cancer or other life-threatening illnesses who came this weekend.  When Emma was diagnosed with Leukemia, she wasn't expected to live for more than six months.  She was 18 months old at the time.  Emma just received word this week that this will be her last time at Fantasy Flight, a Cops Care Cancer Foundation event for the kids.  Emma is now eight years old and was told that she beat cancer and is now officially cancer free.  Emma endured 22 rounds of chemo therapy and weeks at a time in the hospital during her six-year battle.

Emma said it is bitter sweet news, because she is so happy that she is cancer free, but she will miss all the wonderful things that happen at the Fantasy Flight, including getting to see Santa fly in on a helicopter.

The Cops Care Cancer Foundation provides financial assistance to children and their families who have been stricken with cancer.  The foundation provides financial donations to the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital as well as research and support programs to help families.  The Fantasy Flight event was founded by San Jose police officer Brian Simuro, himself a childhood cancer survivor.

For over twenty years, Public Safety has utilized specially trained officers to collect evidence at the scenes of such crimes as burglaries and assaults and incidents ranging from traffic collisions to structure fires.  Just like in the television show of the same name, these Crime Scene Investigators, or CSIs, take photographs, develop latent fingerprints and collect items that contain potential DNA evidence. 

Over the last several years, the collection of DNA evidence has become critical to solving many crimes in the community.  Just this month, five significant cases have been solved through the careful collection and processing of DNA evidence.  Commercial burglaries involving the theft of copper wiring were solved after DNA evidence collected at the scene was processed by the Santa Clara County Crime Lab and the results entered into the California State DNA database.  Four separate suspects have been identified in these cases and are either in custody or have warrants issued for their arrest.  The final case solved was a residential burglary.  The suspect in this case is currently being sought. 

Each suspect in these cases left behind minute traces of blood, body oil and sweat, and hair.  The CSIs carefully processed each one of these scenes and developed the critical evidence that has brought these cases to a successful conclusion....just like on T.V.

$6,000 Buys Facelifts for Two Neglected Homes

Since the mid-1990s, the property owner of a home on Balsam Ave. and Borregas Ave. has been negligent in conducting regular landscape maintenance at both properties and securing them against entry by homeless persons. Several years ago, both single-family homes were deemed uninhabitable by the Chief Building Official due to housing code violations. Neighborhood Preservation (NP) regularly monitors both properties and sends compliance notices to the property owner when violations occur. The owner occasionally makes marginal improvements but only after several warnings or citations are issued.

In December 2011, NP hired an abatement contractor to significantly clean-up both properties because the owner failed to correct all of the violations by the given deadlines. The contractor trimmed all of the overgrown trees and bushes and removed dead vegetation, weeds, and junk and debris from the front, side, and rear yards. Small homeless encampments were also removed from the yards of both properties. All of the windows were boarded up with weatherproofed wood cut to match the frames and painted to match the house colors. The front and side doors and gates were secured to prevent illegal entry by homeless persons.

Furthermore, the contractor removed several hundred square feet of carpeting covering the entire rear and side years and completely removed the front door awning because of structural deficiencies at the Borregas Ave. property. The property owner will be charged the full cost of the abatements totaling over $6,000.

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