Chief's Community Update - December 10, 2023
Thank you for visiting our website and taking a moment to read this community update.
Happy holiday season East Palo Alto community members. This week our department joined the East Palo Alto Senior Center for our annual holiday breakfast. Our department members and I always look forward to this time to spend with our trail blazers, our mentors, the people who paved the way for our community to be as successful as we are now. Thank you to our Four Seasons Hotel for catering the event, allowing our esteemed community members to enjoy a wonderful and delicious gourmet breakfast. Thank you also to our Records Clerk Titus Uelese, the Uelese family, Big Bruce, and Q Smith for providing the incredible live holiday music. Your talents never cease to amaze me, and I am eternally grateful to you all.
Some highlights of the event can be viewed at https://www.facebook.com/reel/6660999054010839.
This past week we joined Luisa Buada in celebrating her well deserved retirement as CEO of the Ravenswood Health Clinic. Luisa built the Ravenswood Health Clinic from a grassroots organization to the extensive network of clinic serving 20,000 patients. Her contributions to our community health are immeasurable. We wish her the best in her retirement and thank her for enhancing all our lives.
I urge you all to enjoy our holiday season responsibly. We do not want to respond to vehicle crashes due to impaired driving. If you choose to consume alcoholic beverages, please call a sober friend for a ride, or a ride share service of your choice. If you notice someone who has consumed alcoholic beverages and is preparing to drive, please step in and offer the person another way home. Nothing good comes from impaired driving. We must work together to keep East Palo Alto safe by using good and responsible judgment.
Rolled Curb Parking
In accordance with our community discussions and the necessity to keep our sidewalks clear for pedestrians, we will start enforcing rolled curb parking regulations on January 2, 2024. We understand there will be some adjustments for all of us, but we will make these adjustments together. Please help us spread the word by educating your friends, family, and neighbors.
Vehicle Thefts
Over the past couple of years there has been an increase of vehicle thefts throughout the United States involving Hyundai and Kia models. The affected Hyundai and Kia models are as follows:
- 2015-2021 Hyundai Accent (all body styles)
- 2015-2021 Hyundai Elantra (two-door and four-door)
- 2015-2021 Hyundai Kona
- 2015-2021 Hyundai Santa Fe
- 2015-2021 Hyundai Tucson
- 2015-2018 Hyundai Veloster
- 2015-2021 Kia Forte
- 2015-2021 Kia Optima
- 2015-2016 Kia Optima Hybrid
- 2015-2021 Kia Rio (all body styles)
- 2015-2021 Kia Sedona
- 2015-2016 Kia Sorento
- 2015-2021 Kia Soul
- 2015-2021 Kia Sportage
If you own one of these vehicles and you live in East Palo Alto, please bring your car to the East Palo Alto Police Department for some more information.
We are hiring!
Do you know someone who is genuinely a good person, has a passion for serving others, and would be a great fit for our department and community please bring them in. We are hiring for:
- Police Recruit
- Police Officer
Our open recruitments can be found at https://www.calopps.org/city-of-east-palo-alto.
Anonymous tips and immediate service
We appreciate all the anonymous tips we have been receiving. It is important to note that anonymous tips are not a resource for immediate police response as it is not monitored 24/7. For immediate police response, either call 9-1-1 or our non-emergency phone number 650-321-1112. For complaints related to property violations, please contact Code Enforcement department, which operates under our building department (https://www.cityofepa.org/building/page/code-enforcement).
When providing information to the police, we need specific information about the crime or criminal. As an example, if you are reporting someone for dealing drugs, we need to know:
- where and when they are selling the drugs
- a detailed description of them (white female, blue jeans, red jacket, baseball cap)
- any description of a vehicle
- any other information you have about the crime.
While we don’t expect you to jeopardize your safety to get this information, it is very important information if we make an arrest. Not only will your tip provide us with accurate information about the suspect, but we are also able to serve as a witness to the crime and we can testify in court. Please use these options for providing an anonymous tip.
You can make an anonymous tip to the police by calling or texting to (650) 409-6792.
If there is a topic you would like addressed in the next update, please feel free to send an email at jliu@cityofepa.org.
Thank you,
Jeff Liu
Chief of Police
