Chief's Community Update - November 6, 2022

Greetings East Palo Alto community members.  Thank you for visiting our website and taking a moment to read this community update.

I would like to use this forum to publicly thank Records Supervisor Vickie Porter for leading our Halloween Trunk-A-Treat event in our front parking lot on Halloween, otherwise known as her Birthday!  Thanks to Vickie’s leadership and constant advocacy for children in our community, roughly 300 community children came through and enjoyed some treats, a visit with Spiderman, and a McDonalds’ sandwich.  Vickie has been organizing events for our children throughout each year ever since I joined our department in 2000. 

Fireworks:

I had intended on holding meetings with our community members to talk about fireworks response and explore an idea other law enforcement agencies have been using.  It is of utmost importance to me that we develop our fireworks response together with you and find the best solution for our community.  It now appears I have groundwork on my end to cover before bringing the idea forward in community problem solving meetings.  I anticipate we will be able to start fireworks discussions in January.  We will need to work quickly so let start brain storming now so we can rapidly develop our response plan together in the new year.

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. 

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. 

We are extending a final job offer to a part time CSO applicant who has successfully completed all phases of his pre-employment testing.  The Community Service Officer recruitment currently has 27 applicants.  Human Resources will probably start reviewing the applications and inviting qualified candidates in for oral panel examinations to fill 2 Full Time positions and 2 Part Time positions.

Traffic:

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.

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.

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