As the Chamber of Commerce Breakfast guest speaker, Michael Claborn, Los Alamitos Chief of Police, addressed October as being breast cancer awareness month. Breast cancer affects both men and women.
The Los Alamitos Police Department is offering items for sale in support of the cause, where all funds go toward someone who is battling cancer; those individuals will receive the donated money during a Los Alamitos City Council meeting later this year.
“You can message the police department on Instagram (@LosAlamitosPD) or come to the front desk of the police department to make a purchase,” said Chief Claborn.”Cherish every day that you have.”
Available for purchase are Pink Patches, Stickers, Challenge Coins, Magnets, Bracelets, Earrings and Lapel Pins.
Other matters he discussed included that this year, the Los Alamitos City Council increased the number of funded police officer positions from 24 to 25.
“Currently, 22 of the 25 positions have been filled and the remaining positions should be filled by the end of the year; it has been a decade since we’ve been fully-staffed.”
Police promotions during October include Cpl. Nestor Rodriguez and Cpl. Delana Lopez who were both promoted to Sergeant.
Specialty police assignments for officers include School Resource Officer, Volunteers in Policing (VIPs), Orange County Auto Theft (OCATT) and Detective.
And, coming soon will be a new Motor Officer along with a K-9 Officer, who is currently on a ship from Belgium headed to California.
The Chief said, “The process of the addition of a K-9 officer, is in progress; we have not selected the new K-9 handler yet; however the handler and K-9 officer will attend a six-week academy together. We hope to have them out in the field answering calls for service after the first of the next year.”
Chief Claborn explained that there are many pluses to adding a K-9 Officer to the department, which includes the fact that the K-9 Officer can go into a dangerous situation that would otherwise place an officer’s life in danger, thus potentially saving the officer’s life.
Also, a K-9 Officer can apprehend a combative suspect, thus preventing an officer from having to use force and face the suspect directly and potentially be injured. Also, the K-9 Officer’s have the skill of searching a warehouse in a fraction of the time it would take officers to search the same area.
“A K-9 Officer is a fantastic component of community engagement. K-9s are always the most popular attraction at any community engagement event,” said Claborn.
K-9 Officer’s do come at a cost; however, it’s a worthwhile cost for their training, and their initial cost of purchasing them, which is between $10,000 to $15,000, plus the K-9 academy.
When an Officer Handler takes on the duty of a K-9 Officer, they then live together 24/7; the K-9 Officer becomes a family member, with a specific job to accomplish within the police department.
A lot goes into having a police vehicle ready for a K-9 officer, such as having a Dodge Durango vehicle fitted with lots of sensors on windows in the vehicle that automatically roll down to provide air for the K-9’s safety.
All of the adaptations of a police vehicle are for the comfort and safety of the K-9 Officer.
“A police K-9 vehicle is modified significantly to accommodate a K-9 Officer. There’s an additional A/C unit so that the K-9 won’t overheat should the primary A/C unit fail,” Chief Claborn explained.
“We’ll make a big deal of it when the K-9 officer arrives, by holding the K-9’s own press conference,” the Chief smiled, sharing that the name of “Elvis” has been mentioned in honor of a local donor for the K-9 officer.
Also, in policing, the Chief said that the Police Department and school district have conducted an active shooter drill, collaborating with multiple surrounding agencies, such as Mass Notification Systems, Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) and AlertOC (https://www.readyoc.com/text-alerts)
