Public Safety
Year in Review
Reserve Unit Gets Underway
The Reserve Unit of the Monterey Police Department has its first volunteer officer on board. During the next several months, Reserve Officer Troy Holt (pictured) will undergo extensive police field training while working alongside an officer. The goal of the volunteer program is to build and expand the Reserve Unit to include at least ten Reserve Officers over the next
few years.
Community Restoration Goal to Provide
Added Support to Victims
Restoring the health of the community, meeting victims’ needs and encouraging offenders to contribute to the healing process, is the main goal of community restoration programs.
This philosophy, often referred to as restorative justice, focuses on ensuring that the rights of victims
are not overlooked in the criminal justice process.
Additionally, community restoration condemns the criminal act, holds offenders accountable, involves the
participants and encourages repentant offenders to earn their way back into society. The City’s Youth Diversion Program is designed with
this philosophy and blueprint. The program focuses on redirecting first-time youth offenders into positive
behaviors and actions. Youth who have committed misdemeanors or infractions are referred from the juvenile justice system to a counseling program within our Police Department.
Based on this successful program, we will be examining new ways to incorporate the philosophy and premise
of community restoration into some of our other activities and endeavors.
Let us know what you think about public safety and the Monterey Coastal/Recreation Trail. If you want to complete a survey, call
646.3830 or email
penko@ci.monterey.ca.us
Looking Ahead
Volunteers Essential to Public
Safety Team
Expanding volunteer participation in the Reserve Police Officer and the Police Chaplain programs will augment the capabilities of our Police Department to respond to emergencies in the area.
Reserve Officers support police officers and serve as a resource to assist in various emergency situations and special events. The
Police Chaplain Program is designed to enlist the services of local
clergy to assist the public, police employees and other City personnel in time of crisis.
Both programs complement the successful Monterey Volunteers in Policing (MVP) program where volunteers act as extra eyes and ears for the Police Department
in the community (see photos at right). MVP’s contributed more than 2,500 volunteer hours
last fiscal year.
All of these efforts focus on creating a “sense of safeness” while providing an opportunity for people
to actively participate in local government and foster mutual respect and trust.
Fire Agencies Work for Regional Good
The City continues to coordinate with other local fire agencies to help provide a higher level of service to the entire region. Fire personnel coordinate regional training drills with other local fire organizations (pictured below) as prescribed by the Monterey County Mutual Aid Agreement.
In addition, we have worked with the City of Pacific Grove, California Dept. of Forestry Pebble Beach Station and the
Naval Postgraduate School Institute Company Performance Standards this past fiscal year. The purpose
of the Company Performance Standards is to allow all these
organizations to respond using the same procedures and allow for efficient, effective cooperation during an emergency.
The City continues to look for new ways to cooperate and
better utilize limited resources to meet community safety needs.
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