Police Department Should Have All Officers on the Street
Police Department Should Have All Officers on the Street
Editor,
I am writing in response to Adam Breen’s column “Hollister Is Heading Down a Potholed Path to Trouble” (Feb. 2).
It’s not so grim at the Hollister Police Department. After all, they continue to waste a patrol position and keep a “spokesperson/training officer” in a cushy office. Are captains Brooks and Vasquez so busy that they can’t handle the simple tasks of talking to media and scheduling rare training classes?
I am a retired Hollister police officer and I believe HPD needs to put the “spokesperson” back on the street where they can get to know the gangsters on the street. The kids aren’t committing crimes in the HPD waiting room.
In regards to police response to varied occurrences, many agencies already don’t take reports for non-injury accidents or non-suspect crimes, but rather just give incident numbers. HPD had an online crime reporting system when I was there. Why can’t it be used for misdemeanor/felony crimes and hit and run accidents with no suspects and non-injury accidents?
A few years ago, HPD was conducting “information card swaps” for accidents with no injuries, but it was later stopped. This was to help the car insurance companies do their jobs as well. Why hire an insurance investigator when they can have HPD do it? Again, thanks to HPD administration.
As a police detective, I was able to solve burglaries by sending latent print evidence cards to Department of Justice, but cases like that were few and far between (maybe one in 50 burglaries). Officers would often submit useless fingerprint cards lifted from cars or houses, but it was because they were ordered to by HPD administration. I was told it was because HPD administration didn’t think patrol officers could tell a good print from a bad one. Come on, if they can carry guns, they can tell if a fingerprint is usable.
All California police officers receive fingerprint identification training at the police academy. Just this alone creates a backlog and wastes the officers’ time and equipment on burglaries. A citizen can see an example of a usable print on the Free Lance’s own “Most Wanted” section.
The citizens of Hollister should know that for years rank and file HPD police officers tried unsuccessfully to get Captain Brooks, Captain Vasquez and Chief Pierpoint/Miller combo and some sergeants to eliminate pointless investigations and redundant report writing, but since they weren’t taking reports, they had no desire to listen.
Maybe this is why all the good officers are leaving for the greener pasture of the sheriff’s department? It only took a short time for Sheriff Hill to realize my former HPD partner Tom Keylon was sergeant material, but captains Brooks and Vasquez failed to see it after 15 years. They also failed to realize the up and coming potential of other officers who have also left with Sgt. Keylon.
Heck, I retired in July of 2005 and Chief Miller still hasn’t sent me my retired identification card, but I’m not surprised. Nothing ever came easy at that department. I wonder if the new officers have their ID cards? What a way to treat a city retiree.
Andrew Tully
Mt. Shasta
