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Health & Fitness

San Clemente Citizen Academy Week 1

Community Policing Extraordinaire: Chief of Police Services, Lt. John Coppock, starts San Clemente's first Citizen Academy to educate 25 residents on the hows & whys of law enforcement.

 

February 25th  began the first of 12 meetings of San Clemente’s Citizen Academy, a class hosted by the City and taught by Orange County Sheriff’s Dept. deputies and specialists. San Clemente’s Chief of Police Services, Lt. John Coppock, and Community Liaison Deputy, Joe Bull, are the primary instructors.

The key objective of the class is to provide an understanding of how and why police officers do what they do. By the end of the 12 weeks, we’ll have a solid grasp of what police work is really like and how it’s done in the field, in the air, behind the desk, in the lab, and in the jails, the Chief said. We’re encouraged to go on ride-alongs with patrol officers. Ultimately, the Chief emphasized, deputies and the citizens they serve form a partnership to keep the community safe from harm.

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There are 25 students in the Academy. Chief Coppock welcomed us and explained that the class is designed to be interactive, not a lecture, capture-information format. So, we’re all seated at tables in a U-formation to facilitate discussion and ask questions of instructors. The atmosphere is relaxed and positive.

Mayor Bob Baker also welcomed us by comparing police officers to commercial airline pilots, which was his profession for 30 years. Both disciplines prioritize public safety, and as such, require a heightened sense of awareness at all times, the Mayor said. When residents understand officers’ needs to maintain that vigilance, law enforcement is made a little easier. As a result, the entire community benefits from that mutual understanding.

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Chief Coppock provided a bit of background on how he came to be our town’s top law enforcement officer. After growing up here, he became an officer with the San Clemente Police Dept., working patrol for about 6 years. When the city chose to contract with the O.C. Sheriff in 1993, Mr. Coppock changed uniforms and became a deputy Sheriff.

His law enforcement experience is broad, having worked as a patrol deputy, then in criminal street gang enforcement, narcotics, S.W.A.T. for 12 years, court security, multi-agency narcotics task force, Theo Lacy jail, and now, the position as San Clemente’s Chief of Police Services.  

Chief Coppock is a strong advocate for community-based policing. To that end, he created the position of Community Liaison Deputy and Joe Bull is the first to hold that title in San Clemente. According to the Chief, his plan is for Deputy Bull to become a key community resource, being active with the Chamber of Commerce in community events, interact with all the city’s business associations (and attend their meetings, if invited), assist our School Resource Officer as needed, assist with crime prevention activities and meetings, and work patrol as our primary beach patrol deputy during the summer.

(Author’s aside: and maybe if the City forms a Complete Streets Mobility Commission, the Community Liaison Deputy might be available for that duty, too. Officer Gary Hamchuk has participated in the few PEDal meetings we’ve had with City staff & has made solid contributions!)

Deputy Joe Bull’s background includes work as private security shoplifting detail for department stores in Huntington Beach. He decided to become a police officer when, after being stabbed in the arm by a gang member who had stolen a couple of pairs of pricey blue jeans, the responding officers suggested he become a “real cop.” He took the advice to heart.

Deputy Bull said his motivation for helping with the Citizen Academy is to convey the human side of law enforcement, which is very difficult for the cops on the street to communicate while they’re trying to spot criminals and keep the peace. 

Also accompanying Chief Coppock was Sgt. Scott Kennedy, who will be retiring in 3 weeks from his position as San Clemente’s Desk Sergeant. Sgt. Kennedy has been with the O.C. Sheriff Dept. for 28 years, but law enforcement service will continue in the family, as his son just graduated from the Sheriff’s Training Academy.

Sgt. Kennedy has worked in every city in South Orange County and has been in San Clemente for 7 years. He has worked the sex crimes unit and child abuse detail, both of which provided great professional satisfaction because they result in high conviction rates and tremendous community gratitude. 

San Clemente’s last Chief of Police before the Sheriff came to town, Al Ehlow, also welcomed Academy students. Now retired, Chief Ehlow came to San Clemente like a lot of folks, i.e., following his service as a United States Marine (1956-59). He’s originally from Saginaw, Michigan.

Mr. Ehlow narrated an historical slideshow that took the class back to the first few officers in San Clemente’s 1928 inaugural police force. As it turns out, both current Chief Coppock and prior Chief D’Auria were deputies under Mr. Ehlow’s command. Like his successors, Ehlow worked a broad range of law enforcement duties, his favorite being Detective Commander.

Retired Chief Ehlow shared his memories, ranging from the 1978 tragic homicide of Deputy Richard T. Steed, the 1974 hiring of Marilyn Maddox (San Clemente’s first female patrol officer), to detailed recollections of President Nixon’s visits to San Clemente.

President Nixon’s compound on our town’s southern bluffs was ideally situated, Ehlow said, since the adjoining Cypress Shores was already a gated community. That made Mr. Nixon’s home easy to secure against unauthorized intruders.

One particularly funny story involved the Secret Service agents who were instructed to avoid making the President feel like he was smothered by watchful eyes. Agents had been told to duck behind a tree when the President, whose codename was “Searchlight,” would stroll about the grounds.

Mr. Nixon took full advantage of the wiggle room by sneaking out of the Western White House compound, accompanied by his friend, Bebe Rebozo.  The men didn’t tell anyone they were going for a joy ride, keeping the big secret from the Secret Service.

As it turned out, Nixon and Rebozo just drove out to Camp Pendleton, entered the base at the Cristianitos gate, spotted a young Marine working a bulldozer, chatted with him a bit, then came back home. But that little hooky jaunt set off a controlled panic among the Secret Service agents and San Clemente’s police department, none of whom could find “Searchlight.”

Another funny story—albeit a little less benign—involved a visit to the Western White House by Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. Though completely unrelated to the communist leader’s presence, the behavior of a couple of locals unintentionally agitated local deputies who were already on alert.

While imbibing a bit to excess, the locals decided to practice their target shooting at a palm tree in their front yard located across the freeway in the residential area near Big Helyn’s Saloon. Fortunately, our deputies halted the fun before the KGB ever heard the gunfire.

A U.S. Marine who lived across the street from the revelers called in the incident. Deputies promptly arrested the excessively spirited marksmen and the President’s BBQ with Mr. Brezhnev proceeded without interruption. (We might want be unusually thankful for the freeway noise as we are for the vigilance of that Marine in preventing an international incident).

Retired Chief Ehlow said he’s particularly proud of several programs he initiated while head of San Clemente law enforcement:

 

  • Cadet Program for those interested in becoming law enforcement officers. At one point, the program enrolled 49 cadets, 17 of those became sworn officers, one became the Chief of Police (now retired) in Reedley, Calif. Additionally, 2 others became crime lab specialists, and 1 worked the bomb squad. Chief Gary Brown eliminated the cadet program in favor of the Sheriff’s Explorer Post program. One of those Explorers, Patrick Williams, is now the Police Chief in Petaluma, Calif.

 

  • Beach Patrol: Lifeguards and police officers were eventually cross-trained as part of the program, Ehlow said. The officers found it difficult to do ocean rescues in pants, so they were allowed to wear shorts. The Beach Patrol continues today and as of the 2010 Annual Report, responded to 1,300 calls during the Summer of 2010.

 

  • Chaplaincy program: Specially-trained law enforcement chaplains are fully ordained ministers who counsel officers and assist in crisis intervention circumstances in the field or when called to help.

 

  • Community Oriented Policing and Problem Solving: Jan Sener, O.C. Sheriff/San Clemente Crime Prevention Specialist (now retired), was one of the original advisors to the Calif. State Atty. General’s Office tasked to write the 1992 Manual On Community Policing. Sener and San Clemente Police Services were recognized by the U.S. Dept. of Justice for her contribution.

 

Bringing us back to present-day law enforcement, Chief Coppock explained that San Clemente’s police services contract with the O.C. Sheriff makes high-tech policing extremely efficient and affordable for cities. 

Local jurisdictions pay only for the number of officers actually on patrol. When specialists or investigators are needed, such as when a homicide occurs, no additional charge is levied. Air support, when needed, is a shared cost among all jurisdictions (but prohibitively expensive for a small city to justify on its own).

While the Orange County Sheriff Dept. annual budget countywide is currently about $693 million, the City of San Clemente contract amount is just under $12 million.

For that amount, Chief Coppock explained, our city gets 28 deputies in the field, 4 traffic deputies, 4 patrol sergeants, 1 administrative sergeant, 1 deputy as school resource officer, 5 community services officers, 1 deputy as community liaison officer, and of course, 1 Lieutenant (that’s the official rank of our local Chief of Police Services, Mr. Coppock).

Additionally, there are 3 investigators, all supported by a team of 2 crime prevention specialists and 4 administrative staff members. You can read a more extensive analysis of the services provided San Clemente by the Sheriff in the department’s 2010 Annual Report.

Next up: the Citizen Academy goes to jail. Monday, March 4, Academy students will tour the Central Jail Complex in downtown Santa Ana. Stay tuned.

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