New policeman from Fresno. Hope he doesn’t get too cold
The Pacific Grove Police Department announced the hire of Officer Charles L. Renfro, according to a release.
Renfro has more than 19 years of experience as a police officer, serving 16 of those years with the Fresno Police Department. He has also worked in patrol, investigations, street violence, homicide, problem-oriented policing, burglary, robbery, Internet crimes against children and sexual assault units and divisions.
The police commander says it’s a rare thing to happen. Don’t forget all the motorcycles stolen during Moto GP week.
Meanwhile, the P.G. cops let the car thieves go on own recognizance.
Pacific Grove police said Wednesday that an El Dorado County resident reported his 1962 red Corvette vanished after he parked it late Saturday at a bed and breakfast.
The theft apparently occurred between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m., police Cmdr. John Miller said.
The owner said he parked at the lodging in the 300 block of Central Avenue and discovered the car missing an hour later when a friend came by.
The car owner said whoever took it must not have started the engine because he said “he would have heard if it was fired up,” Miller said.
Seen this car? Call the owner below. Don’t let the image of Pacific Grove get tarnished by indifferent cops.
A Police report has been filed with the Pacific Grove Police Department. PG1300883
Please contact owner, Pat 916
Always lock your car, bike, house, welcome sign, etc. Reminds me, where is Mary these days?
The warning comes after reports of seven auto burglaries and thefts from vehicles in and around the 300 block of Gibson Avenue. Police say the thefts happened sometime during the night of June 20th, between midnight and 7:30am. Most of the vehicles were reportedly unlocked, and investigators say, there was no signs of forced entry on the vehicles that were reportedly locked. Only spare coins in the vehicles were taken
Wow, bringing in police from everywhere in a show of power. What better reason to stay away from town and shop in Sand City!
A coalition of officers from Salinas, Seaside and Marina issued nearly 20 traffic citations and warnings on Wednesday in Pacific Grove as part of a joint motorist safety operation, according to a release from the Pacific Grove Police Department.
The majority of the tickets issued as part of the four-hour Monterey Regional Strategic Traffic Operations Prevention Program were for distracted driving/cell phone and seatbelt violations. Six motorcycle officers conducted the operation.
P.G. can afford a kooky environmental manager but not a ‘substainable’ police force?
PGPD is in trouble
In my 24 years as a police officer with the Pacific Grove Police Department, I have never seen the staffing levels and employee morale so low. It all starts at the top.
Most able-bodied officers are looking for employment elsewhere. The officers are on a leaderless group exercise and the city is exploring ways to contract out the department.
Look at what eight months of contracting a police chief has resulted in: five officers and one civilian have left and more may go.
If the residents of Pacific Grove want to keep their officers on the street and keep their station open to the public, they have to be heard by city officials and the City Council, or it won’t be America’s last hometown for long.
Richard Sinclair Jr.
Carmel
Pacific Grove Mayor Bill Kampe confirmed the city has reached out to the three agencies about the future of police services in his city.
“We are exploring a number of options in terms of finding ways to reduce costs for various services,” Kampe said.
Former Pacific Grove police chief Carl Miller, who retired in 2006, likened the ongoing process to a death knell for the city’s 125-year-old police department.
“The police department is going away, and no one is aware of it,” Miller said.
Pacific Grove police suffered a setback last week when a judge dismissed breach-of-contract claims in a lawsuit they filed last year against the city over a voter-approved initiative that lowers the amount the city contributes to workers’ pensions.
The initiative was drawn up by a group of citizens led by former city councilman Dan Davis as a way of reducing the city’s retirement costs. The $900,000 Pacific Grove pays to CalPERS every year is one of the city’s biggest expenses.
A city ordinance approved in August — the Sustainable Retirement Benefit Reform Initiative — limits city contributions to police pensions.
The council took action after voters collected enough signatures to force the measure to curb pension benefits onto the November ballot.
The council did put a measure on the ballot that changed the city charter to allow the council or citizens to regulate employee benefits. The police union contends that too violated the city’s obligation to meet and confer with the association.
The complaint vindicates “our efforts to see that the city keeps its promises to its hardworking public safety employees,” said association president Sylvia Newton in a prepared statement.
Pacific Grove Police Officers Association Charges Investigated
Tourist business is down, voters rejected a sales tax boost, and lawsuits have cost the city precious funds. What city? Oh, it’s Half Moon Bay.
Half Moon Bay is disbanding its 12-member police force and the city will contract its services to the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office. City officials chose the sheriff’s office over the Pacifica police department on Saturday, Mayor Naomi Patridge said in an email.
The city is following the lead of nearby San Carlos, which eliminated its police department six months ago and is using the San Mateo County sheriff.
The Pacific Grove Police Department is being equipped with DNA kits in each of their police cruisers. In the past, if officers wanted DNA collected at a crime scene, they would have to call the sheriff’s department or another agency. Now, officers are going through training at the department to collect it themselves.
“Our database is expanding so much,” says Detective Meghan Bliss, Pacific Grove Police Department. “It’s growing substantially and so we are much more likely, as we collect more and more DNA samples, that we’ll be able to solve more crimes.”