The Los Alamitos City Council recognized two members of the city’s police department this week and presented them with awards from MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) for their efforts to keep the streets safe.
Despite a slight slowdown, “drunk driving is still the number one cause of death on our roadways today,” said Interim Police Chief Eric R. Nunez. “We take drunk driving seriously in this city,” he said.
He thanked organizations like MADD for their many programs aimed at reforming laws dealing with driving under the influence (DUI) of alcohol and said out of those efforts grew specialization in enforcement.
“When I first started in law enforcement, which was many moons ago, they used to have a program called ‘Every 15 Minutes,’ which we still call it today,” he said.
The program brought awareness to the public in that it graphically illustrated that someone in this country was killed every 15 minutes by a drunk driver. Efforts by specialized officers and programs created by organizations like MADD have inverted that number to 51, he noted.
Now, said Nunez, someone dies as a result of a drunk driver every 51 minutes, and an average of 263,000 citizens are injured each year, some permanently, from accidents caused by drinking while driving. Still, more than 10,000 Americans die each year as a result of drunk driving, he said.
Ironically, he said that three months after the tragedy of 9/11, drunk drivers had already killed as many people as died on that tragic day. “That gives you some proportionality to that whole problem that we’re dealing with,” said Nunez.
Incidentally, Nunez said Los Al officers began wearing a special badge on the 20th Anniversary of the 9/11 attack in memory of all of the law enforcement, fire fighters and other responder partners who perished on that day. He said the 9/11 badges will be worn for one year.
Officers in Los Al make an average of at least one DUI arrest each week, he said, commending the two specialization officers in the city who have received special training.
Nunez recognized two officers, Det. Evan Flynn and Officer DeAngelo Gossett for their work at Monday’s meeting for using their specialized training to mitigate drunk driving in the city.
“It’s an honorable thing to do,” said Nunez.
DeAngelo graduated at the top of his class from the Goldenwest Police Academy in 2012. He distinguished himself at the Signal Hill Police Department as a training officer, instructor and was awarded for preventing a suicide, among other accomplishments.
He joined the Los Al Police Department in 2018, the interim chief said. “We were lucky to hire him,” said Nunez. DeAngelo remains a field instructor, patrol officer and is a member of the West County Regional SWAT team.
“I would just like to thank Los Alamitos for the opportunity to transfer over here and be close to my family, spend more time with them and protect the citizens of this city,” said DeAngelo.
Flynn is also a graduate of Goldenwest Police Academy and joined the Los Alamitos Police Department in 2019, said Nunez.
He said Flynn was recently promoted to Detective and is also responsible for the training of the city’s newly hired police officers.
Even during the pandemic, said Nunez, both offices managed to arrest more than 20 DUI suspects as he congratulated both men and presented them with their MADD Awards.
“Like my colleague said, thank you to the great citizens of our lovely department. A lot of officers are struggling to find reason in the job,” said Flynn, “but I’m actually really happy that I work for Los Alamitos.”
He said the city provides administrative staff that “truly supports us in all of our endeavors. I love the job,” said Flynn, adding that the Los Al approach is like a “breath of fresh.”
“I just wanted to chime in and say that we, the city council, city staff and our residents, really appreciate the great work you do in terms of drunk driving,” said Mayor Mark Chirco. “Your work saves lives,” he said.
“When I talk to our residents about what makes Los Alamitos great,” the mayor said, “they always bring up the police department.”
“You guys and ladies are rock stars out there and we really appreciate everything you do.”