A Thanksgiving Message from Santa Cruz Police

A Thanksgiving Message from Santa Cruz Police

Thanksgiving is the time of year when we give thanks for the good things in life that make it special.  Let each of us take a moment to give thanks for the men and women in military service to our country at home and around the globe, to our public safety professionals working tirelessly today to keep our communities safe and for family, friends and others who give meaning to our lives.

We give special thanks to the citizens in our community, young and old, from all walks of life, who have come together this year in a collective effort to make our community better and safer.  This is a perfect example of our truly great and caring community giving of themselves and working unselfishly toward a good and common goal.  This is truly what defines us as Santa Cruzans.

As we approach the holiday season, let us remember there are many whose lives are less than whole.  Let's dedicate ourselves to being sensitive to their needs and make Santa Cruz a better and safer community for everyone.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Salvation Army Honors Santa Cruz Police at Kettle Kickoff 2013

If you have ever worked in or experienced a true community emergency then you know the value of The Salvation Army and their commitment to this community.   

The Salvation Army has a solid history of standing ready at a moment’s notice to help this community in the event of disaster or hardship. 

The Santa Cruz Police Department is proud to be named an honoree for the 2013 Kettle Kickoff event. 

Chief Kevin Vogel with the Award

The event was held today (Monday November 25^th) at the Cocoanut Grove.  KSBW’s Jim Vanderzwaan was as smooth and easy as any tropical island weather report as he served as this year's Master of Ceremonies.   The Salvation Army’s brass band set the mood with festive Christmas Carols at the start of the event, starring the Police Department's own bugler, Officer Pat Bayani...see if you can pick him out.

 All-in-All a great event by a great community partner.  We know the Santa Cruz community to be a compassionate one.  If you are looking for a place where your donation dollar will do a lot of true good...The Salvation Army is one such organization.  We are grateful for their recognition and dedication to the Santa Cruz area. 

Take Back Santa Cruz Comes Through in a Big Way

Take Back Santa Cruz has always been known for putting action behind their words.  Now they have put their money there too!!

On Thursday, Samantha Olden, Analicia Cube, Heather Babcock, Regina Henderson and a host of Take Backr’s arrived with a healthy donation check of - drum roll please.........

$2,500 

to contribute to the 

Memorial Garden for Sergeant Butch Baker and Detective Elizabeth Butler.  

The money was raised through the sale of “Never Forget” T-Shirts produced by Take Back. Here is the Chief donning his shirt

Take Back produced a nice video.  You can check it out on their Website here:

http://takebacksantacruz.org/2013/11/22/tbsc-donates-to-scpd-memorial-garden/

We are quite honored and humbled by your donation and support over the years.  Thank You Take Back Santa Cruz!!!

Santa Cruz Police Named "Organization of the Year" by Santa Cruz Chamber of Commerce

Holy Smokes!!.....  We are honored beyond belief.  

The Santa Cruz Chamber of Commerce voted Santa Cruz Police Department the “Organization of the Year”. 

We are extremely proud of the men and women here at the Santa Cruz Police Department.  It is through their hard work and commitment that this recognition is possible.

Chief Vogel stated, “We are so thankful to the Chamber Board, Executives and all of their members for their dedication to the community and for this award.   Commerce defines much more than the just exchange of dollars at a business.  It speaks to overall personality of the community and all of the healthy activity associated with us.  The Chamber’s work is vitally important to this and works alongside our mission to improve quality of life here in Santa Cruz”.

Special Thanks to Justin Kelsey and Roby Behrens from Lucid Sound and Picture for an amazing job on our introduction video.   Here is the video link:

Chamber of Commerce Video 

Congratulations to all of this year’s award winners:

Jack O’Neill – Lifetime Achievement
Ryan Coonerty, Jeremey Neuner, & Caleb Baskin – Entrepreneurs of the Year
David Haussler – Man of the Year
Laura Brown – Woman of the Year
Ow Family Properties – Business of the Year

Thank You Chamber…..your recognition means so much and will continue to inspire us. 

Former Teacher Arrested a Second Time for Child Pornography

A former Pajaro Valley teacher currently on Probation for possessing Child Pornography arrested AGAIN for…..Possessing Child Pornography. 

Peter Hatch, 63 years old, was arrested in 2009 for possessing “boxes and boxes” of Child Pornography by our good friends at the Sheriff’s Office.  The Sheriff’s Office put together a great case that resulted in a conviction of Mr. Hatch.  As a result, Mr. Hatch was given probation. 

Fast-forward to November 2013.  Mr. Hatch went to a local office store where he paid to have data transferred onto a DVD.  Alert store employees realized the data was actually inappropriate pictures of children.  In fact, the store employees even went so far as to search Mr. Hatch’s name on the Internet, where they found news stories of his previous arrest.  They contacted us here at Santa Cruz Police Department. 

Officer Ben Whaley took the initial report and collected the data images on November 9^th.  Ben completed some good follow up work and passed the case on to Detective Pawlak. 

On Tuesday November 12^th, our Detectives went to Mr. Hatch’s home in the 2900 block of Freedom Blvd.  and conducted a search subsequent to his probation terms.  Our detectives found more Child Pornography, photography equipment, and binoculars.   When Mr. Hatch arrived home, we greeted him with a pair of handcuffs. 

In a subsequent interview, Mr. Hatch admitted to knowing he was in violation of his probation, and his proclivity for Child Pornography.  Mr. Hatch admitted to taking inappropriate photos of children at local beaches.  In addition to finding photographs taken by Mr. Hatch, Detectives found DVD’s containing Child pornography hidden in books in his home.  When questioned about this, Mr. Hatch admitted to having similar DVD’s confiscated during his previous arrest, but he was compelled to revisit the Websites and repurchase the DVD’s.     

Mr. Hatch was booked into Santa Cruz County Jail for violating his probation.  We are exploring the possibility of the Feds taking his case.  If that isn’t possible, we will seek to add the fresh charges locally.  While he is only on one term of probation, this case qualifies him to be on our “Probation All Stars” list. 

Who knows what will happen to Mr. Hatch on this case; but should you spot him out and about with a camera or binoculars on the beach…….Call the Police, because he’s not bird watching! 

Check Out the New and Exciting Changes To Our Blog

We have given our blog a new look and included some additional features that we hope you will find useful.  The most significant visual change to our blog is the addition of the image of the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk’s historical Giant Dipper Roller Coaster that you see depicted in the background.  This spectacular Santa Cruz icon is the Boardwalk’s most popular ride and one of one of the most prominent and recognizable landmarks in Santa Cruz.

We have added a number of helpful links to the right side of our blog, including the Santa Cruz Police Department home page, our Facebook page, our Twitter feed, our Nixle alerts page and our RSS feed.  Please click on these links to check out these additional community resources.  If you are so inclined, “Like” our Facebook page, “Follow” our Twitter feed or sign up for our free Nixle alerts.  For more information about our free Nixle alerts, click here.

You may also subscribe to our RSS feed so that you receive new content immediately after it is posted to our blog.  You may also subscribe to daily email updates to our blog by entering your email address in the, “Follow by email” field on the lower right side of our blog.  Simply enter your email address and click on “Submit.”  You will receive a confirmation email shortly thereafter that you will need to verify by clicking on the link within the email that you receive.  That’s all there is to it.  You will only receive one daily email update and only if we have added new content to the blog.  We don’t want to “Spam” you, so if there is no new content, we will not send you an email.  Your email address is completely safe with us.  We will not share it with anyone.

Recently, an astute and engaged community member let us know that our email updates were being sent out mid-day on the day following the addition of new content to our blog.  Old news, right?  Well, we made some adjustments to our communication preferences and the email updates are now being delivered to our subscribers between 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. on the same day the new content is posted to our blog.

We hope you find the changes that we’ve made to our blog helpful and useful.  Our blog is intended to be an information resource for you, so please let us know if there is anything else that we can do to make your Santa Cruz Police blog experience more, “Information Friendly.”  Thank you for your continued interest in the Santa Cruz Police Department.