Year in Review
Police Dogs Now on Duty
Canto and Charp joined our public safety team this past year to assist in community policing efforts throughout the City.
Canto and his partner Officer Mickey Roobash (see picture) along with Charp and his partner Officer Terry DeSalvo make up the new City Canine Unit. This new police team was made possible by a collaboration among the City, local individuals and businesses and neighborhood associations.
Both German Shepherds, Canto and Charp are able to search large areas, such as trails, parks, large businesses and shopping centers for lost persons and/or suspects more quickly than police officers on foot. This can save the Police Department valuable time and bring a quick resolution to the issue at hand.
In addition, the police dogs provide us more opportunities to interact with the community. Canto and Charp visit local schools when officers hold workshops and seminars; and they make appearances at community meetings when officers talk about Neighborhood Watch programs and crime prevention efforts.

Traffic Team Addresses Community Concerns
Managing traffic – finding ways to resolve traffic problems and alleviate speeding and congestion – has been a major focus this past year.
Our Traffic Engineer and Police Department have met with community members and neighborhood associations to develop ways to improve traffic flow while slowing traffic in residential areas.
Our Police Department reinstated the traffic division this year to focus attention on specific residential and commercial areas. And as a team, our police and Traffic Engineer listen to community concerns, enforce traffic laws and help find solutions that will improve situations and not move them elsewhere.
As part of our efforts, we plan to integrate a Geographic Information System (GIS) into our traffic program. With the GIS mapping process, we are able to immediately “see” where crashes most often occur.
This management tool will not only assist us in analyzing this collision data, it will help support us in our enforcement efforts by identifying locations where we may need to send more officers to monitor traffic or expend more resources to deal with traffic issues.

Looking Ahead
Creating a “Sense of Safeness” Throughout City
Promoting safety throughout the City and nurturing a sense of security in schools, at home and at work continues to be a focus in many of our programs.
As part of our Community-Oriented Policing and Problem Solving (COPPS) approach to crime prevention, we work together with residents and visitors to help create a safe community.
“We are committed to partnering with our community members to maintain the high quality of life we have here in Monterey,” says Police Chief Gary Brown.
Some of the projects and programs designed to promote safety and security in the community include:

• The Youth Services Division will continue to devote many hours to working with our youth in local schools and within the community.
• A School Violence Preparedness Committee was formed to address the issue of school violence occurring on campuses across the nation. As a result of the committee’s efforts, a training schedule was established with Monterey Peninsula Unified School District for school staff. Training will continue this year.
• “Safety Net,” a new weekly call-in radio program co-hosted by our Police Department, provides a forum on public safety issues. The show broadcasts live every Thursday from 2 to 3 p.m. on KNRY 1240 AM.
• The Youth Diversion 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. This year a mentoring component has been proposed for the program. The youth would be teamed with volunteers who would serve as role models and be available to talk through issues and concerns.
• A pilot COPPS program seeks to design a framework to examine and pro-actively respond to changing needs in the North Fremont business and residential community. In conjunction with local community members, we will concentrate on neighborhood maintenance and revitalization, where necessary, and find creative and comprehensive ways to address ongoing community issues and concerns.

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