Oxnard Kiwanis police officer of the year awards luncheon
By George Miller
Each year, for many years, the Oxnard Police Department has picked out their best people in each area for special recognition.
The Oxnard Kiwanis Club sponsored the 2016 police officer of the year awards luncheon on 2-23-17 at the Tower Club. Kiwanis President Sergio Martinez, who we’re more accustomed to seeing as Battalion Chief in his usually immaculate Fire Dept. uniform, welcomed the group.
Oxnard PD Detective Jeff Kay (center) receives Police Officer of the Year award! Others (L-R) Asst Chief Eric Sonstegard, Chief Scott Whitney, Asst. Chief Jason Benitez, Oxnard Kiwanis President and FD Battalion Chief Sergio Martinez. Photo: Dan Pinedo/CitizensJournal.us
With 21 names on the list (21!), one could be forgiven if the term “participation award” came to mind. But, when I heard what each one had done to deserve an award I discarded that notion quickly.
Very few people fully appreciate or even know just what our police departments all over do for us every day. They are charged with with public safety via crime prevention and law enforcement. Crimes take many forms: theft, blackmail, extortion, pilferage, assault, sex crimes, trafficking, murder, narcotics, domestic abuse, forgery and. Even non-criminal traffic infractions and minor offenses fall within their jurisdiction. Our Police also respond at the scene of accidents and natural disasters, to name just some.
Emcee Cdr. Randy Latimer. Photo: Dan Pinedo/CitizensJournal.us
The Oxnard PD has a tougher than normal job in the region. Several state ballot propositions, court rulings, statutes and certain presidential executive actions, had the net effect of substantially increasing crime here, by about half actually in just four years. Police department hiring reductions, budget cuts and even layoff’s didn’t help matters any. The department already has one of the lowest sworn officers to population ratios around. But the department sucked it up and actually helped to reduce crime about seven and a half percent last year, at least reversing the trend.
The awards
After a nice lunch in a room which provides the finest panoramic view in town of Oxnard and the coast, attention turned to the awards ceremony. We learned that our Emcee, Cmdr. Randy Latimer, is a second generation Oxnard PD officer. His father was an officer of the year in his day and also the very first African-American officer. Awards were given By Chief Whitney, Asst. Chiefs Benites and Sonstegard and Cmdr. Latimer.
Here are the honorees at this year’s event:
Civilian employee of the year: Lucy Garibay
Supervisor of the year: Rick Vasquez
Ron Hall receives Volunteer of the Year award. Photo: Dan Pinedo/CitizensJournal.us
Dispatcher of the Year: Amber Anderson
Volunteer of the Year/Clancy Nieland Award: Ron Hall
Reserve officer of the year: Raja Bamrungpong
Chief’s Award of Excellence: Conrad Alvaraez, Justin Songer, Martin Perez
MADD (Motrhers Against Drunk Drivers)/DUI Award: Phil Flores
10851 Award (Investigating car thefts): Jamie Toney, Ignacio Coronel, Richard Bell, Manuel Perez II, Jack Martin, Jordan Brenner, Justin Songer (yes, TWO awards!), Hugo Garcia
The climax of the event was the announcement of the Officer of the Year, who is actually selected by the Kiwanis Club, from a list of what turned out to be four outstanding nominees, any one of whom could easily be justified as the winner ….. (drum roll) ….
Police Officer of the Year Nominees: Officer James Langford, Officer Jared Battles, Officer David Castillo, Detective Jeff Kay
Detective Jeff Kay (photo near top) took the top honors, for his outstanding work in investigating major crimes, which Oxnard certainly has its share of.
A couple of times during the event, other OPD people jokingly referred to “the script” and that Cdr. Latimer wasn’t always sticking to it. Later, I inquired and learned that there was in fact a written script, which Cdr. Latimer was kind enough to make available. It’s useful because it described what each person honored had done to deserve it. Please take a few minutes to look it over and see if you agree with me:
Here’s the whole event script: RunningScript-49thOfficeroftheYearLuncheon
We saw Mayor Tim Flynn, Councilmen Bert Perello and Brian MacDonald, along with Treasurer Phil Molina at the event, as well as a representative of Assemblywoman Jacqui Irwin.
Tower Club. source: Wedgewood/Tower Club
George Miller is Publisher of CitizensJournal.us and a “retired” operations management consultant residing in Oxnard
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