Anaheim Police Association

Tired of hearing about budgets, crime, community, or other very important stuff? Me too. Now don’t take this the wrong way, all of those subjects are critical components to our organization’s heath and effectiveness. Our community expects no less…in fact, they expect more! But I seem to spend too much of my time planning, analyzing, discussing, and deciding…..I need to practice more of what I preach. So I’m going to write about what I need to be thankful for, and there’s plenty. I want to spend more time checking out what’s great about this job, our police department, and our community. Anaheim is a great city and we have an outstanding police department. The vast majority of people throughout Anaheim appreciate what we do for them. I hear from them almost every day. I’m thankful for that.

I’m also thankful for donuts and for Donut Chef, Carlos, at Rose Donuts on Lincoln Ave at Rio Vista. It’s been many years since I ate a fresh, chocolate covered, log donut at 0230 hrs on a Wednesday morning….while on duty. In fact, it may have been quite some time since I ate a chocolate covered log donut at any time in the day or night...on or off duty. I gave up donuts many years ago when I stopped growing vertically and started growing horizontally.

I couldn’t resist when Sgt. Lorenzo Glenn invited me to meet for “Friday Fritters” at the end of Team 6 patrol week. So at the end of my Tuesday, I went home to enjoy friends over for dinner (an important Terri priority) and then came back out to enjoy the Friday ritual of eating one donut that was right out of the fryer… it was literally minutes old. The hot oil was still running off the donut and soaking through the napkin. It certainly wasn’t the day old junk I used to get as a young motor cop.

I arrived at Rose Donut shop on the N/E corner of Lincoln and Rio Vista at 0210 hrs. Not very many of the team showed up because it was a pretty busy night and they were still wrapping up paper in order to get off on time. I’ve been following how busy the night teams have been over the past month. All of our cops are certainly earning more than their pay so far this summer. We had our 4^th gang-related homicide the other day, and……there I go again….

As I mentioned, it was a busy week for Team 6. There were shootings, stabbings, robberies, and family disturbances. Of course there was also the typical fights, thefts, traffic accidents…..

I’m thankful that we have exciting and rewarding jobs that make a real difference for our Anaheim neighborhoods. I wouldn’t be happy working in some dull boring job in an inconsequential city in a boring state like Nebraska. Anaheim has so much character, diversity, and potential. The residents are very supportive of the PD and we have some of the best equipment and technologies for a modern police agency (thanks to the City Manager, Tom Wood). There are real challenges ahead, but I see challenges as lots of opportunities to enjoy a sense of accomplishment.

I’m thankful for the outstanding law enforcement work by many of our cops and professional staff. In the past two weeks cops arrested a guy who shot some other dude with a shotgun and handgun and then took off for Fresno. Great detective work tracking that dangerous felon down and bringing him back to the APD jail. And then there was another record sized seizure of drugs and cash by our Major Crimes Unit. I don’t know how they do it; those guys must be running on fumes at times, but they still find a way to make some outstanding arrests.

I’m thankful for any opportunity to ride my police motorcycle. Even though I could ride it more often, the motor uniform doesn’t lend itself to business meetings and public presentations. But this past July 4^th was a standing exception. For the past several years I’ve been honored to ride with various APD motor cops at the front of the parade. This past July 4^th was one beautiful hot day for riding. Motor Officers Steve Anderson, Michael Reichmann, and Brennan Leininger accompanied me as we kicked off the Anaheim Hills parade with over 50 different parade entries.

The Bear was in the parade and was staffed by Jeff Burke, Troy Hill, Morgan John, Kelly Phillips and various family members; and the Cops4Kids joined in the fun with John Nooitgedagt assisting.

Captain Raul Quezada drove the PD 1956 Plymouth black and white sedan with his two children as partners in the car. APD Ruben Perez followed up all of this rolling stock just in case some of decided to stop running. Yes, Brian Carrion, my Police Harley made it through the entire route….looking better than any Honda.

And finally I’m thankful that even though we have lost over 50 cops and 30 professional staff, only a handful was forced to leave. We managed to meet the Manager’s expectations mostly through attrition. We’ll make it through this tough time over the next year. We’ll rebuild stronger and more efficient. We’ll continue to reach out to others to prevent more crime.

As this article was about to go to press, we learned of Brian Hayes tragic death in a plane crash. I expressed the sympathies of our APD family to Brian’s parents, Mike and Pam Hayes. Brian was truly one of APD’s best and brightest. I’ve heard so many great stories about how he helped so many of our personnel. We are all saddened by this loss and will keep Brian’s family in our thoughts.

Please keep a good attitude. We do have a choice. We also have a lot to be thankful for at APD. Stay safe and Drive Carefully!!