Santa Cruz Police Minor Decoy Operation

On Tuesday, March 20, 2012 the Santa Cruz Police Department and state Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) participated in a minor decoy operation. The operation visited 21 off-sale alcohol establishments in Santa Cruz and had minor decoys attempt to purchase alcohol. In all, three businesses were cited for selling alcohol to minors. Below is a list of the cited businesses and those that did not sell to the minor decoy. 

Businesses that sold to the decoy:

Valero - 1319 Ocean St

7-11 - 2429 Mission St

DJ'S Mini Mart - 833 Water St.

The following businesses did not sell to the decoy:

Hernandez Market -Beach Market - Days Market - Rite Aid - 901 Soquel Ave. - Ernie's Liquor –

Lloyd's Liquor - The Grog Shop - Bonesio's - Rotten Robbie on Mission St - Trader Joe's - Mission Liquors - USave Liquors - Circle Market - Santa Cruz Market - Valero - 335 Mission St.  - Valero, 1516 Soquel Ave,

7-11 - 367 Ocean St - Ocean St Market and Deli.

Funding for these operations comes from a state ABC grant.

SCPD Honor Guard Selections

The Santa Cruz Police Department announced the addition of two officers to the agency's Honor Guard. Officer Alec Ganzel and Officer Chris Vigil are the newest additions to the department's voluntary team. Both these members are military veterans and took part in the City's Veteran’s Day recognition with the Honor Guard in 2011.  This was the first ceremony of its kind in the City of Santa Cruz.  Over the years, the team has participated in multiple ceremonies representing the department including Cookies for Courage (9-11 remembrance), the annual Peace Officers’ Memorial Day in Sacramento, the passing of law enforcement officers and the chief's investiture. The team is led by Lt. Larry Richard. Here is a photo from last year of the team.

Buyers Beware: Underage Alcohol Stings

Buyers Beware:

If you are approached outside a store by an underage person asking you to purchase alcohol for them…Beware!  It is quite possible that “teen” is working undercover with the Santa Cruz Police Department Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC) officer.  In addition to refusing the request to buy alcohol, pick up the phone and alert the police to this activity.  If it is not our decoy, we want to know about it! 

Underage drinking is a significant problem in many communities.  Preventing underage access to alcohol is a major goal of the police department’s ABC program.  The Santa Cruz Police Department recently received a grant from the State that will pay for additional officer time to conduct compliance checks of alcohol sellers, and conduct stings such as the minor decoy.  Individuals caught providing alcohol to minors face a citation or jail for a misdemeanor offense.  

Fines are steep starting out with a $200 base fine and additional penalty assessments topping the $600 mark.  Over the past week, three individuals were caught up in the sting and cited for providing alcohol to a minor. 

We’re asking everyone to do their part and help us keep alcohol out of underage hands. 

K-9 Unit Sees Positive Changes Ahead in 2012

Lt. Larry Richard, Commander of the Santa Cruz Police Department's K-9 Unit took some time to provide an overview of the Unit. Here are his thoughts: 

2011 was a year of changes to the Santa Cruz Police Department’s K-9 Unit.  We saw the retirement of “Jax” who was a great K-9 partner to Officer Karina Cecena and an asset to the community.  We chronicled his long journey to retirement.  Since that time, we have added two new K-9’s, “Layko” and “Lobo” to the team.  “Layko” is a Belgian Malinois and “Lobo” is a German Shepherd.  Their handlers, Officers Jose Garcia and Saul Rodriguez, have been busy training with their partners in many facets of police K-9 handling.  In addition to the new K-9’s and handlers, the Unit has introduced a new K-9 Unit Supervisor, Sergeant Warren Barry.  Sergeant Barry’s name is familiar in K-9 circles as he was a former handler with SCPD.  Sgt. Barry's police K-9 “Dani” passed away in 2011 and was honored by the City Council and Police Department for his service. As a Unit, we look forward to 2012 and introducing our newest K-9’s to the community. 

K-9 Commander, Lt Larry Richard

SCPD Specialty Units Spend Day in Joint Training

The Santa Cruz Police Department's Hostage Negotiation Team (HNT) joined with the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office HNT in a joint training exercise today. The HNT team, led by Lt. Larry Richard, worked on extended period hostage negotiation training - one where multiple agencies would participate to end up with a safe resolution The HNT is part of the department's Emergency Services Unit (ESU), which comprises a Dive Team, Tactical Team and the HNT.  Joint training exercises allow for agencies to improve communications, share resources and simulate real-world experiences in a training environment. 

Photos from City Employee Veteran's Celebration

Here are some photos from yesterday's event at City Hall that honored City employees that served in the armed forces. Mayor Ryan Coonerty read a proclamation deeming November 9th City Employee Veteran Appreciation Day in the City of Santa Cruz. The Santa Cruz Police Department Honor Guard and Marine Corps Color Guard from Monterey participated in the event.

Halloween Stats - Recap

Approximately 15,000 people came to downtown Santa Cruz on Halloween for what has become the largest single informal gathering in the city. The Santa Cruz Police Department, lead by Lt. Larry Richard, teamed with nine allied law enforcement agencies for proactive enforcement of all laws. Overall, calls and arrests were up from 2010. The following provides an overview of the night’s statistics (downtown only):

50 Total Arrests

· domestic violence, possession of a concealed weapon, possession of a switchblade, public intoxication, 

drug possession, parole violations/warrants, resisting arrest

49 Triple Fine Municipal Code Violations

·open container violations, urinating in public

Throughout the evening the department made contact with number of known county and out-of-county gang members. Gang investigators from Santa Cruz and Santa Clara County teamed to maintain a safe environment.

One unloaded handgun, one switchblade knife and two pellet guns were removed during the evening. Additionally, one documented gang member was found in possession of a hammer.  

Elsewhere in the city the Santa Cruz Police Department fielded 347calls for service during the evening, a 75% increase over last year’s call volume. Overwhelmingly these calls, especially later in the evening, were for parties and issues (such as fights) stemming from the parties.

Brazilian TV to Feature SCPD's Predictive Policing

For all of you fluent in Portuguese, Globo TV  sent a crew in from New York to feature the SCPD predictive policing program. The program will run as a feature broadcast in Brazilian in the coming week. The reporter met with Dr. George Mohler of Santa Clara University to discuss the algorithm and Zach Friend and Lt. Larry Richard of Santa Cruz Police to understand its operational implications.

Department Begins Preparations for Halloween

While it is more than a month away the Santa Cruz Police Department has been setting the ground work for this year's Halloween. As with previous years, downtown will face road closures and a safety enhancement (triple fine) zone. The Department focuses on a very proactive enforcement of laws to attempt to maintain a peaceful environment in the area. Here is an overview of enforcement from last year:

▪ 40 total arrests on Pacific Avenue

▪ 23 triple fine violations

▪ 80 percent of total arrests were for public intoxication

▪ Over 200 calls-for-service outside of downtown on Halloween

We encourage anyone interested in coming downtown for Halloween to play safe and stay sober. Overwhelmingly, the issues we face are alcohol-fueled on that evening.

A map of the triple fine zone can be found below:

Photos from Cookies for Courage Event!

Check out the photos from today's wonderful event at Holy Cross Elementary School.