Chief's Community Update October 23, 2022
Greetings East Palo Alto community members. Thank you for visiting our website and taking a moment to read this community update.
Fireworks enforcement is an area where we need to make significant progress. To that end, I have been working with other law enforcement agencies and the Menlo Park Fire Protection District to formulate a new approach to fireworks, but I need you, our community members, to lend us your ideas, opinions, and feedback. I want to not only make sure our rough draft approach is appropriate for our community, but hopefully improve on it to end up with the best solution for us. If we hope to significantly impact a community problem, we need to include our community in the solution. Please join Fire Marshal Johnston and I on the November beat meetings so we can present the idea and get your help to improve on it. Beat meeting information is below.
Personnel:
Currently 30 of our 36 authorized positions are filled. We have 5 Police Officer background investigations in process for our 5 open Officer positions. The Police Chief recruitment closes on October 28, 2022. That process is being handled by the City Manager’s Office.
Police Officer, Police Recruit, and Reserve Police Officer are ongoing recruitments, with no closing date. If you are interested or know somebody who would be a great fit for our community in these roles, please visit https://www.calopps.org/city-of-east-palo-alto.
The Community Service Officer recruitment opened last week and we already have 14 applicants. We have one CSO applicant in our pre-employment background phase of the hiring process with two full-time positions and three part-time positions to fill. We need everyone’s help identifying and recruiting qualified candidates to serve our community.
Traffic:
This past Tuesday, our monthly county-wide Saturation Traffic Enforcement Program (STEP) came to our community to help enforce traffic laws. Each month, STEP saturates two communities on one day to conduct high visibility traffic enforcement. This Tuesday East Palo Alto and areas patrolled by the CHP were the selected areas for enforcement.
STEP Officers made in excess of 130 stops and issued 113 citations. Of the 113 citations issued,
- 55 citations were issued for unsafe speed
- 24 citations were issued for cellphone violations
- 13 citations were issued for various equipment violations
- 7 citations were issued for driving while Suspended/ unlicensed
- 5 citations were issued for failing to stop at a stop sign
- 3 citations were issued for failure to stop at a red light
- 3 citations were issued for not wearing a seat belt
- 2 citations were issued for disobeying a posted sign
- 1 citation was issued for not yielding to a pedestrian
Thank you to The City of East Palo Alto Engineering Department for installing two temporary traffic calming roundabouts on Pulgas to see if that is a viable option for slowing down speeding motorists. We look forward to seeing if the roundabouts are effective deterrents and exploring the option of installing them in additional intersections.
If you see a vehicle spinning donuts or otherwise driving recklessly, please record video of the activity and make sure to capture the license plate. When the video and license plates are provided to us, we will conduct an investigation and potentially impound the vehicle for 30 days. It does not matter who was driving the vehicle at the time. The owner will be responsible for the towing fees, storage fees, and vehicle release.
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 immediately 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.
Reminder:
The November 2022 Beat Meeting Schedule is as follows and the flyer is attached. To determine which beat you live in, please use our map on our Community Policing page.
Beat One and Four
Time: Thursday, November 17, 2022, at 06:30 PM
Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/91306910301?pwd=d0QvdjVaaGlPWk1RY3oyZ3RWUFM2Zz09
Meeting ID: 913 0691 0301
Passcode: 360742
Dial by your location
+1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)
Beat Two
Time: Thursday, November 3, 2022, at 06:30 PM
Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/94814753040?pwd=Vk5RaUVseURDcUZQbHBEbm9xbWFkQT09
Meeting ID: 948 1475 3040
Passcode: 373498
Dial by your location
+1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)
Beat Three
Time: Wednesday, November 16, 2022, at 06:30 PM
Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/96665120833?pwd=blR1Mk9uaW4zMG1oN1BVbmx3WTRMQT09
Meeting ID: 966 6512 0833
Passcode: 914233
Dial by your location
+1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)
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
Interim Chief of Police
