• Designate a sober driver before celebrations begin.
• Never serve those under the age of 21 alcohol.
• Plan safe parties, including providing non-alcoholic drink options to guests and not serving alcohol the last hour of the gathering.
• Be prepared to get everyone home safe in case your plans or individual circumstances change.

There are various reasons we all enjoy the holiday season. Whether visiting family and friends or just enjoying time at home, the Public Safety Officers want your holiday experience to be safe. This year, Sunnyvale has experienced a significant increase in major injury accidents. The majority of these accidents involved motor vehicles and pedestrians. Factors which have led to this increase include distracted drivers, jaywalking and speeding.

 

The Traffic Safety Unit has been collaborating with other work groups and agencies to reduce accidents through education, engineering and enforcement. We have used our Neighborhood Resource Officers to educate students and the public in traffic safety through events such as the Columbia Safety Fair and child safety seat installations. Public Safety is also working with the Traffic Engineering department to ensure roadways have all necessary traffic signs, markings, and lighting as well as maintaining traffic signals.

 

The Traffic Safety Unit continues to conduct joint traffic safety enforcement operations with the Santa Clara and Mountain View Police Departments. Most of the operations focus on pedestrian and crosswalk enforcement in Sunnyvale so don't be surprised if you observe officers from neighboring police departments making traffic stops in Sunnyvale.

 

While these efforts are meaningful, there will be minimal impact without cooperation from the public. Please take time to re-familiarize yourself with right-of-way laws. Avoid making your lack of preparedness our emergency by speeding.   Place your cell phone in a location that will prevent you from being distracted while driving (yes, even while stopped at a signal light.).  When traveling to family events, get plenty of rest and leave early to avoid rushing. Also, remember regardless of whom might have the "right-of-way" pedestrians and bicyclists always lose when struck by a motor vehicle. It is incumbent upon those who are most vulnerable to ensure it is safe before entering a roadway, even when crosswalks are clearly marked. Most accidents are preventable if we follow these simple rules.  

 

Seeing an upward trend in injury accidents is concerning, but we are particularly concerned as we move into the holiday season. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), over 32,885 people lost their lives in motor vehicle crashes in 2010. Over two-thirds of those killed were in alcohol-impaired collisions where a driver's blood alcohol concentration was 0.15, which is almost double the legal limit.  This averaged to 25 people a day being killed in alcohol-related collisions. To combat drunk driving related accidents, Sunnyvale DPS will once again partner with 13 other police agencies during the "Avoid the 13 Campaign." DPS will deploy several DUI cars throughout the holidays to help arrest drunk drivers. We will also be conducting a DUI checkpoint, so please "Drive sober or get pulled over!"

 

The Department of Public Safety is committed to dealing with all matters of traffic safety and addressing the traffic concerns of our residents. We will continue our proactive and professional approach to traffic safety by building a strong partnership within the community.

 

Traffic-related concerns should be directed to the Traffic Safety Hotline at 730-7109, or the Internet at http://sunnyvale.ca.gov/ click on Contact Us.  

 

 The City of Sunnyvale has a notification system operated through the Department of Public Safety (DPS) for providing valuable information to the public.  The system can be used for different circumstances in emergencies or non-emergency circumstances. Between November 30th and December 1st, 2012 DPS attempted to notify residents of some safety recommendations during the holidays.  Unfortunately, there was some difficulty with the system and, as a result, some call recipients were notified multiple times.  Immediate steps were taken to prevent any further calling and we are working closely with the vendor to determine what caused the difficulty. 

There are several different ways the call list is generated.  For emergencies, DPS will use a complete listing of all Sunnyvale phones registered with the 911 system.  This includes all listed and unlisted numbers associated to addresses within the city. For non-emergencies,

 

1. All listed phones associated to addresses in the city
2. A selected list of phone numbers as desired from the database accessible to DPS
3. Listings voluntarily provided by the public through a self-registration portal at https://sunnyvale.onthealert.com.

The system has the capability of being targeted to different areas of the city through a map to direct the calls to the affected/intended area. These messages typically start with "This is a Communicator message" and will provide instruction or detail following the introduction.

The most frequent Communicator messages will be sent to the phone numbers in the self registration portal database. We encourage residents and businesses to register their contact information to receive safety and general information, and to learn of particular events. The self registration portal also offers the ability to register cellular phones for text or an email address, at the discretion of the individual signing up.

DPS appreciates our residents' support and welcomes feedback regarding circumstances that would benefit the public in being notified. DPS is making every effort to ensure that valuable information is provided to benefit the recipients. 

Sunnyvale Public Safety officers and command staff helped Santa deliver a special holiday experience to local children surviving cancer and their families as part of the 9th annual Cops Care Cancer Foundation "Fantasy Flight" event on December 8.  The officers were so inspired by the courage and positive attitudes shown by the children, they cheered the families as they arrived. 

 

This year's Fantasy Flight began at Yahoo! where the guests of honor enjoyed a pizza lunch with police and fire personnel; played games with the officers; visited with farm animals from Animal Assisted Happiness; pretended to be motorcycle cops; made special holiday crafts; got their faces-painted; and received balloon art requests from volunteers.  

 

After lunch, the children and their families were transported by police cars, fire engines and SWAT vehicles in a special parade where they got to operate the lights and sirens all the way to NASA Ames at Moffett Field. At Moffett, the kids played games like Guitar Hero, played in a bouncy house and bubble area, and did holiday arts and crafts. When Santa flew in on the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office police helicopter, he knew just what each child wanted and did his best to fulfill each unique wish with gifts for all the children and their siblings. Also participating this year were law enforcement personnel from San Jose, Santa Clara County and Palo Alto; Animal Assisted Happiness; Explorer Post 417 and dozens of volunteers. 

 

The Fantasy Flight is all about helping make wishes come true and providing a day of fun for these brave children who are fighting for their lives. For more information about Cops Care Cancer Foundation, please visit them on Facebook   

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cops-Care-Cancer-Foundation/308840688070 

 

On November 14, Officer Holly Lawrence traveled with Yahoo!'s Trust and Safety Team to Washington DC  for the Family Online Safety Institute's (FOSI - http://www.fosi.org/ ) sixth annual conference. The international conference was entitled A Safer Internet For All. All aspects of online safety, privacy, digital citizenship and connectivity were discussed during the two day event.

 

Because of Public Safety's exceptional work in the field of online safety, FOSI selected DPS to receive the Family Online Safety Institute award for Outstanding Achievement.  Officer Lawrence was selected to represent the department at this awards ceremony due to her contributions to the program.   

 

Public Safety's cyberbullying program is the first program certified to be delivered to law enforcement, district attorneys, schools, and concerned community groups in California. Led by instructors Lieutenant Tracy Hern and Officer Holly Lawrence, Public Safety's program alsready has reached more than 10,000 school-age children and has been instructed all across California.  

 

FOSI was also happy to honor the work of other key individuals who have contributed to advancing online safety within their companies or communities. This year, the nominees included the Born this Way Foundation, Internet Essentials by Comcast, Gosia Aleta of Skout, Wil Craig part of the AT&T It Can Wait campaign, Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler, Officer Holly Lawrence, Sonia Livingstone from the London School of Economics, Julie Walker of the American Association of School Librarians and .Michael Rich of Harvard Medical School.