SCPD Graduates 4 New Officers From The Academy

There is your regular “proud” and then there is a higher level of “SCPD Proud”.  Today, we are definitely “SCPD Proud” to introduce our 4 newest Police Officers who took the oath of office after their graduation from the police academy earlier today.   

SCPD command staff and Mayor Lynn Robinson were on hand to witness the graduation ceremony for Academy Class SB 125 of the South Bay Regional Public Safety Training Consortium……(wow that’s a mouthful).   

Meet our newest officers:

Left to Right; Elizabeth Howard-Gibbon, Bernadette Erlach, Chief Kevin Vogel, Sarah Benjamin, Dominique Hohmann

Elizabeth Howard-Gibbon is 26 years old.  Elizabeth previously worked as a contractor for the USGS and was an esteemed member of the Best Buy Geek Squad.  Elizabeth graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a B.A. in Anthropology.

Bernadette Erlach is 25 years old.  Bernadette previously worked in real estate and the food service industry.  She graduated from UC Davis with a B.S. in Human Development.

Sarah Benjamin is 26 years old.  She started here at SCPD as a volunteer and eventually was hired as a Police Records Technician.  She is now a full-fledged Police Officer.  Sarah graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a B.S. in Sociology.

Dominique Hohmann is 22 years old.  Dominique is the niece of the legendary (retired) Lieutenant John Hohmann from Scotts Valley PD.  Dominique comes to us from the Clovis area where she has previous experience working with their police department as a non-sworn CSO.

It is not too often that we have an academy class of 4 or more people.  It is even more unusual when all of our recruits make it through the grueling 6 month long course and graduate together.  They proved they are as tough as they come!!!   

What is extra-special about this group is that this marks the first time in SCPD history we have graduated an all-female academy class.  Chief Vogel is extremely pleased to provide this opportunity to these four fantastic women. 

Not only did these women rise to the top in the hiring process, but they graduated near the top of their academy class.  We are excited about their future here at SCPD. 

Our newest officers will have about a week of orientation work to complete, then they will hit the streets with their training officers for a 4 month Field Training Program and evaluation before they are solo beat officers. 

Please join us in welcoming these fantastic new officers!!! 

Welcome Officer Scott Freeman

Ladies and Gentlemen…….. (drumroll please!)

Introducing the newest member of the Santa Cruz Police Department…Officer Scott Freeman.

 

Today, Scott was sworn-in as a Police Officer, by Chief Kevin Vogel.    

Scott brings some solid policing skills and knowledge to our department.  Scott comes to us with just over 12 years of experience at the Scotts Valley Police Department where he worked as a training officer, detective, and team member for their SWAT. 

Scott is an Army veteran where he was a sergeant and served as a Special Agent for United States Counter-Intelligence. 

Scott and his family are grounded in the local community.  His wife Ann is an amazing English teacher at Scotts Valley High School…my kids & their friends say she’s “the bomb!” (that comment has nothing to do with finals being graded)  Thank God she doesn’t grade my blog posts!!

With Scott's hiring, the staffing situation continues to improve here at SCPD.  Over the past year we have hired 16 Police Officers.   We are currently up to full staffing +1 overfill (for anticipated retirements).  Those numbers include our 4 currently in the academy, and 8 that are currently out on long-term injuries.   

Please join us in welcoming Officer Scott Freeman to our SCPD family. 

Welcome to our Newest Police Officer….Caitlin McBride

Today we conducted the Swearing-In Ceremony for Officer Caitlin McBride.  The ceremony includes a reading of the Law Enforcement Code of Ethics by all of the sworn officers present.  

Our recruiting efforts started early, as Caitlin’s nephew Josh Hensley (3 yrs) joined in as well. 

  

The ceremony includes an official swearing-in by Chief Kevin Vogel

And an official badge-pinning by Caitlin’s mother, Cory. 

Caitlin is a true Santa Cruz native.  She was born and raised in Santa Cruz and graduated from Harbor High School.  With family and close family friends in the business, public safety and law has been part of Caitlin’s life growing up. 

Caitlin comes to us after working at the Santa Cruz County Jail for the past 2 years.   She enrolled in and completed a 22 week police academy prior to applying at SCPD.  

We’re excited to have her as part of our Santa Cruz Police Department family.   

Caitlin starts her 18 week Field Training Program tomorrow night.  

Please join us in welcoming her aboard.  

Three New Officers Graduate the Police Academy

The Santa Cruz Police Department graduated three new officers from the police academy today.  For the past 22 weeks they have been attending the academy in San Mateo as part of the South Bay Regional Public Safety Consortium (I know….it’s a mouthful). The rigors of academy life are not easy, and not everyone makes it through.  Just graduating is a commendable feat. 

The academy graduates are 

David Rosell, 

 

Adrienne Heebner

Marcel Cathrein

Prior to joining SCPD, David worked for years as a Deputy Probation Officer at Santa Cruz County Probation.  Adrienne has worked for years as a Dispatcher at the Santa Cruz Regional 911 center.  Marcel worked as a security officer at the Boardwalk just prior to joining our team. 

In the academy they not only learned the basics of police work from A to Z, but they also learned the importance of community service and giving back.  Their academy class (SB 120) raised money for a number of charitable organizations and even worked serving food at Glide Memorial Church. 

The trainees will now enter a 16 week field training program where they will be paired with training officers.  In the field training program they will be challenged once again to pass tests and demonstrate their capabilities on the job.  They will be evaluated daily and required to meet certain benchmarks in their training.  Upon completion of the program they will be assigned to work as solo patrol officers. 

   

Congratulations to David, Adrienne and Marcel.  We are proud of your accomplishments!