[DPSDist] News From Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety

On March 7, members of the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety joined public safety professionals from throughout the country in honoring Santa Cruz Police Detective Sergeant Loran "Butch" Baker and Detective Elizabeth Butler at the memorial service held at the HP Pavilion in San Jose. The services were attended by numerous elected officials and members of the public. I am sure that many of you reading this watched the live broadcast or news coverage later in the evening. As a member of the audience, I can you tell you that it was a very honorable and moving ceremony befitting of the great sacrifice made by the officers, their families and the members of the Santa Cruz Police Department. I was most impressed by the genuine care and compassion demonstrated by so many different people before, during and after the service.

As the members of DPS departed from our Headquarters building on All America Way, we were immediately met with waves, smiles and other obvious gestures of good will and respect. The expressions of appreciation from members of our community continued as we drove through our city and into the City of Santa Clara. At one point on El Camino in Sunnyvale, an adult male pulled over ahead of our motorcade, exited his vehicle, stood at attention and saluted until our entire procession passed by. In watching the news and talking with public safety personnel from other agencies, I know the display of respect by members of the community was demonstrated throughout the area. Please know that your demonstrations of support were very much appreciated and helped make a very difficult situation less trying.

Like many of the other allied agencies, Sunnyvale DPS has several members who had a close connection to the Santa Cruz Police Department. In fact, several of our employees had worked at SCPD in the past and personally knew Sgt. Baker and Det. Butler. Several of our employees contributed significantly to the support of SCPD, the families of the fallen officers and to the coordination of the services. I am very proud of the support demonstrated by our entire department and especially proud of the department members who provided the extra assistance.

This has been a very troubling start for 2013 in that six California officers have been killed in the line of duty since the beginning of the year. Additionally, two California officers were killed in the line of duty last year, and what is most troubling is that all eight of these officers have died as the result of gunfire. Obviously, this is a trend that we want to see end. As a profession, we will continue to examine strategies in order to safeguard our public safety officers. Please keep all of these officers and their families in your thoughts, and thank you for the unforgettable show of support during this recent tragedy.

Sincerely,

Chief Grgurina

TEL (408) 730-7140
TDD (408) 730-7501

or email to: pubsfty@sunnyvale.ca.gov

March is National TBI Awareness Month

March marks Brain Injury Awareness Month, the special observance month dedicated to raising TBI consciousness and honoring the millions of survivors living with brain injuries every day. According to the Centers for Disease Control, more than 1.7 million people sustain traumatic brain injuries annually, and TBI is a contributing factor for nearly a third of injury-related deaths and 235,000 yearly hospitalizations.

What is TBI?
Traumatic Brain Injury is defined as a blow, jolt or other injury to the head that disrupts the functioning of the brain. Not all blows or jolts to the head result in a TBI. A TBI can occur from exposure to blasts, falls, gunshot wounds and motor vehicle accidents. Blasts are the leading cause of TBI for active duty military personnel in war zones.

A mild TBI, also known as a concussion, may make you briefly feel confused or "see stars." Common temporary symptoms associated with a concussion include headache, ringing ears, blurred vision, dizziness, irritability, sleep problems and problems with memory and concentration.

The symptoms of a concussion generally improve in a short period of time, usually within hours, and typically resolve completely within days to weeks.

Prevention at home:

Wear your seat belt every time you drive or ride in a motor vehicle.
Never drive or ride with anyone under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
Always buckle your child into an age appropriate child safety seat, booster seat or seat belt while riding in a car.
Wear a helmet that is fitted and properly maintained while at work and while at play, if required.
During athletic games, use the right protective equipment.
Keep firearms stored unloaded in a locked cabinet or a safe. Store bullets in a separate secure location.
Maintaining a regular exercise program to improve strength, balance and coordination.
Removing tripping hazards by using non-slip mats in the bathtub and on shower floors, and putting grab bars next to the toilet and in the tub or shower.
Make sure the surface on your child's playground is made of shock-absorbing material (e.g., hardwood mulch, sand).

Avoid falls in the home by:

Using a step stool with a grab bar to reach objects on high shelves.
Installing handrails on stairways.
Installing window guards to keep young children from falling out of open windows.
Using safety gates at the top and bottom of stairs when young children are around.

Special Olympics Tip a Cop at Country Gourmet

TIP A COP FUNDRAISER - An event benefiting Special Olympics Northern California

Tuesday, April 16, 2013 | 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Join us at COUNTRY GOURMET

1314 South Mary Avenue

Sunnyvale, CA 94087

Be seated and served by Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety Officers

Tip-a-Cop® brings together local law enforcement personnel and Special Olympics athletes for a day of food, fun and awareness. Every year, law enforcement volunteer as celebrity wait staff, helping to deliver food and refill drinks, all for "tips" for Special Olympics! This event raises money to help provide
local athletes with FREE year-round training and competition in 12 sports.

TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE

And the Winner is ... Sunnyvale Challenge Team

For more than five years, the Sunnyvale Challenge Team has been bringing community members together to look for creative and compassionate ways to steer kids and families away from the negative influences of drugs and gangs. Each team member commits to meeting monthly, very early in the morning, and devoting much of their personal time to making a difference in our neighborhoods and schools. The team's efforts have paid off in our community with enhanced services and activities being brought to many kids. These tremendous efforts are now starting to attract a lot of attention.

Just before the holidays, the team received the wonderful news that the YMCA of Silicon Valley and Project Cornerstone are recognizing our efforts. The Challenge Team has received the "Community Values Youth Award" for 2013. This is a significant regional award that is recognized nationally by the YMCA. The selection process was tough, but according to the folks at Project Cornerstone, the efforts of this "grass roots organization" were very moving and compelling.

The team will be recognized at the annual Asset Champion Breakfast on March 28. A video is being produced by Project Cornerstone that will capture the essence of the team with testimonials from our partners, and most importantly, from the youth and their families that know firsthand the power of a community coming together to make a difference.

More information about the award and the awards event can be found here.

NEAT Starts Improvement Efforts in the Braly Park Area

The Neighborhood Enhancement Action Team (NEAT) is made up of key City employees from several departments who work to improve targeted areas in Sunnyvale. Each year NEAT focuses on a different geographical area of the City. This year's focus area includes Braly Park, Grand Fir Avenue, Bellflower Avenue, Garland Avenue, portions of Iris Avenue and Old San Francisco Road. It is comprised of 50 multi-family properties (383 residential units), 19 single-family homes, and two commercial properties (four businesses). This high density, primarily residential area was chosen because of known problems associated with crime, parking, and aging structures.

NEAT will engage and empower the area residents, property owners, and businesses through neighborhood meetings, one-on-one meetings, surveys, and an increased presence. NEAT will determine the concerns of the neighborhood and ultimately provide useful information and resources to help solve specific problems of import to the community.

Volunteers Help Restock an Ark

On February 22 approximately 20 volunteers met personnel from the Office of Emergency Services at Fremont High School in order to restock one of the City's Arks. Project Ark is the City of Sunnyvale's Disaster Shelter program, a cooperative effort between the City, the American Red Cross, and the four school districts in Sunnyvale.

Geologists specializing in seismic research agree that a 62% probability exists for a 6.7 or greater magnitude earthquake to occur within the next two decades in the San Francisco Bay region. Among the significant adverse effects that would occur in the aftermath of a major earthquake would be hundreds to thousands of displaced persons stranded due to road damage, overpass collapse and structural damage incurred at homes, businesses and industry.

In addition to the threat of a high magnitude earthquake, the Sunnyvale area is vulnerable to other hazards (flooding, hazardous materials release, fire) where circumstances could require the evacuation and consequent need for housing large numbers of people.

History has demonstrated that immediately after a major disaster, shelter and care facilities need to be established. The American Red Cross (ARC), by Congressional Mandate, has this primary care responsibility. Since 1986 the City of Sunnyvale has had a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the school districts and the ARC to operate shelters at the schools. The MOU allows the City to maintain containers with supplies that could be used to open a shelter for approximately 300 people each at selected schools. The school districts agree to have the shelters be set up on school grounds, the City provides the supplies, and Red Cross volunteers maintain inventory and are responsible to set up the shelters. The containers are normally situated in close proximity to the selected school's gym where the shelter would be established.

The supplies found in each container include but are not limited to blankets, cots, water containers, medical supplies, as well as logistic supplies used to run the shelter. Currently there are 10 containers placed at eight schools throughout the City. The breakdown is as follows:

Bishop Elementary School
Columbia Middle School
Cupertino Junior High School
Fremont High School
Lakewood Elementary School
Peterson Middle School
Ponderosa Elementary School
Sunnyvale Middle School

1 container

2 containers

1 container

2 containers

Since these containers have been in place for a number of years, the Office of Emergency Services (OES) is beginning the process to replace containers that have been damaged, usually as a result of weather. OES determined that the two containers located at Fremont High School were the most damaged ones and needed to be replaced. OES personnel, in conjunction with Fremont High School and the Red Cross planned to replace the containers with a single new container. In order to accomplish the task, OES personnel recruited the assistance of volunteers. The Department of Public Safety (DPS) maintains a list of volunteers that have agreed to be contacted when a need arises. Starting at approximately Noon, a total of 20 volunteers converged near the tennis courts at Fremont High School. Volunteers from SNAP (Sunnyvale Neighbors Actively Prepared), the American Red Cross, Fremont High School students as well as residents contacted through the volunteer list, worked for approximately four hours emptying the two containers, organizing supplies and restocking the new container. Once again it was shown that "many hands make light work!" The Office of Emergency Services is extremely grateful for the assistance provided by City volunteers, the American Red Cross, as well as Fremont High School staff and students.

The Office of Emergency Services runs the SNAP program. It is a seven week program of instruction that focuses on community emergency response. Residents come together and work with City staff to learn about disasters. The purpose of SNAP is to provide Sunnyvale residents with the tools to be self-sufficient for a number of days following a disaster. The emergency services that you have come to expect at a moment's notice will be overwhelmed and people will need to initially rely on each other for help in order to meet their immediate lifesaving or support needs. The program empowers citizens to help themselves, their families and their neighbors. The next SNAP class begins April 4, 2013. You can register online going to snap.insunnyvale.com.

City of Sunnyvale Adopt-A-Park Program

The City of Sunnyvale's Park Division is committed to providing a variety of opportunities for the community to engage with parks and open space including an inclusive volunteer program. Each year, hundreds of people, including individuals and groups, donate thousands of hours of their time to work with Parks staff on the stewardship of our parks system.

The Adopt-A-Park program is being introduced to foster community building while helping to care for Parks. The time commitment for the Adopt-A-Park program is minimal; at least 250 hours spread out over a minimum of four days in a year. The volunteer activities designed to deep parks attractive and usable are planting trees and flowers, painting, spreading mulch and other special projects. Some of the benefits to the groups include spending time together, healthy exercise, caring for a limited community resource and a plaque in the park acknowledging the group.

The City of Sunnyvale benefits by having a level of service at a Park that currently is unavailable, increasing the number of Park Stewards in the City, and having residents help take ownership on a local Park. A major benefit of having residents feel empowered as Stewards in City Parks are the additional hours of vigilance which will help reduce graffiti and other vandalism. It is intended that the Adopt-A-Park program will support some functions of Sunnyvale's Public Safety by being instructed how, who and when to report any suspicious activity.

Please contact the Parks Division at (408) 730-7506 if you have any questions or may be interested in the Adopt-A-Park program.

Sunnyvale Moose Lodge Hosts Scholarship Program for High School Students

The Moose Lodge offers a scholarship program for high school students. Students who participate and successfully complete the program earn a fifty dollar Visa card. Two students are then chosen from northern California to compete for scholarships ranging from $2,000 to $12,000. This is one of the few scholarship opportunities which is open to students in all four years of high school and it provides a platform which encourages high school students to begin planning for college.

The Sunnyvale Moose Lodge on Kifer Road hosts the program which began with an orientation meeting last November. Students who participated were given a Youth Awareness T-shirt, as shown in the picture below. The "Youth Awareness" scholarship program requires students to attend the orientation, plan and present three "Kids Talks" to small groups of children ages 4-9 and finally, write and submit a report on each of their Kids Talks. Students chosen topics for their Kids Talks include staying away from drugs or tobacco, bullying, or a variety of other topics which help them to mentor the young children. Props such as signs, puppets or Power Points are encouraged to help make an impact on the children in their audience. Students try to involve the children with short games, handouts, role-playing and discussion questions.

This school year, several Gateway tutors attended the orientation meeting and five of them completed the program. Congratulations to Elsie Guzman, Hoss Valencia, Elias Hernandez, Luis Maldonado and Raymundo Torres who each earned a $50 Visa card. Aimee Lopez, Director of Leadership Development for Reach Potential Movement at Gateway and Kathy Childs, Youth Awareness Coordinator from the Sunnyvale Moose Lodge, worked with the students.

Sunnyvale Junior Giants Baseball

Sunnyvale Police Athletic League and Junior Giants Baseball team up to bring back youth baseball. The Junior Giants program has been around since 1994 and is a free, non-competitive and innovative baseball program that was developed to provide at-risk boys and girls an alternative to drugs, gangs and crime. Since its inception, the program has established over 85 leagues and serves over 20,000 children across California and into Nevada and Oregon.

What makes Junior Giants Baseball unique?

It's a free program!
The league is non-competitive
It's a program for girls and boys
Higher value placed on character than on wins and losses
Programs in education, health, and violence prevention
Pitching machines are used
Professional training by the Giants is provided to the coaches

In this inaugural season, the program will focus on two age divisions: ages 5 - 7 (tee ball); and 8 - 10 year olds (which will use pitching machines). The season will begin in early June and last approximately eight weeks. Player registration will be in early April. Registration information will be available soon via Sunnyvale PAL website at: http://www.sunnyvalepal.com/

We still need volunteer managers and coaches! If you are interested, please send an email titled, "Volunteer Coach" to: info@sunnyvalepal.com

Link to Previous Issues

Join Our Mailing List