Rene Arbizu feels a twinge of guilt when he sees news clips from
Iraq.
Rene Arbizu feels a twinge of guilt when he sees news clips from Iraq.
It’s been almost a year since the Hollister resident returned from a 15-month tour of duty with the Army Reserve 341st Military Police Company. He patrolled the main gasoline and supply routes into Baghdad, at times escorting military convoys or making contact with local Iraqi citizens.
“I see what’s happening in the news, and I know exactly what these guys are going through over there,” Arbizu said. “Sometimes I itch to go over there.”
In a few days, Arbizu will patrol the streets of Gilroy – finally realizing his goal of becoming a police officer. The Gilroy Police Department saved his place in its officer hiring pool for nearly two years and will award him a badge when he graduates from the police academy at Gavilan College next Wednesday.
Arbizu, who turns 26 on Saturday, was a Community Service Officer with the police department when he was called to duty.
“I pretty much knew after the Sept. 11 attack to expect it sooner or later, I just didn’t know when,” Arbizu said.
The call actually came last June, after he passed all the tests and interviews needed to be hired by the department and was sent to the academy.
While Arbizu was overseas, said Sgt. Kurt Svardal, the GPD hired a couple of people from its list of approved applicants. Other names were dropped from the list when their time limits expired, but Arbizu’s name stayed.
“It was nice that I had that waiting for me when I came home,” Arbizu said. “In a way, (being in Iraq) got me a little more interested in it because it was a chance to … do the same type of work. So in a way it inspired me to make it a career.”
Arbizu’s itch for public service actually started more than 10 years ago, when he joined the Gilroy Police Explorers at the behest of his friend, Doug Remmick, now a Gilroy officer. The program introduces teen volunteers to the department.
“The more I did it, the more I looked at it being my career,” Arbizu said.
Now, as he makes that career a reality, he expects to draw on his experience in Iraq, where he learned to be constantly vigilant, for everyone’s safety.
“We were always concerned with officer safety and conducting our job in a way that keeps us safe,” he said. “Just my experience with that level of alertness for such a long time. Coming (to the GPD), I’m able to focus on what’s at hand and also to understand what’s going on around me.”
Before starting the academy last fall, Arbizu spent the summer working again as a CSO, following a cruise off the coast of Mexico last summer with his wife, Jenny, a school teacher at Glen View Elementary. He responded to non-injury accidents, and animal control and vehicle abatement calls, among other duties.
“I lucked out that the academy started in November,” he said. “I got a few months out on the road again, got used to it.”
After six months in the academy, only a written exam stands between Arbizu and graduation. He passed exams this week testing physical and tactical skill.
“We want him to be successful,” Svardal said. “He’s a good solid person, so we want to see him out on the streets.”
The structure of the academy is familiar territory for Arbizu, even though the content is different.
“It’s a lot more classroom-oriented,” he said. “A lot more learning the law and spending more time learning the reasons why we do things, compared with in the military – we just do what they say to do. We’re trained to do it and they figure out why.
“This is interesting because it’s something I’ll be using in the future, so it’s best to learn it now.”
He also finds it’s more relaxed, and says the class of 27 has a camaraderie not found in larger academies. Plus, he gets to go home and spend time with his wife instead of living with “the guys” like he did during four months of basic training before Iraq.
GPD is sponsoring Arbizu while he is in the academy and upon his graduation will employ him as an officer. Svardal said the department has sponsored between eight and 10 new hires since 2000. Other new hires might put themselves through an academy or come from other departments, he said. About half of Arbizu’s academy class is sponsored by a police agency, including Monterey and Santa Cruz county Sheriffs, Santa Cruz and Watsonville police, and the state Department of Insurance fraud unit.
For the 12 weeks after receiving his badge, Arbizu will receive on-the-job training. By being paired with different officers on various shifts, the department hopes to expose him to any possible scenario, Svardal said. Then, he’ll be on his own for the remainder of his 18-month probation.
Arbizu acknowledges his experience as a CSO gives him insight into the workings of the department and some exposure to the customer service aspect of the job, but he looks forward to the more “exciting” situations he’ll encounter as a sworn officer.
His time with the army will likely offer an advantage that a civilian wouldn’t have.
“It’s always beneficial,” Svardal said. “The reason I say that is because he understands the chain of command already. We’re not a military organization, but a lot of people refer to law enforcement as a para-military organization. … Plus, he has already had some shooting skills, so that certainly helps.”
