“Our department’s in mourning,” an emotional Kevin Vogel said Tuesday Feb. 26. The Santa Cruz Police chief addressed reporters just after sunset. “This is a horrific day in my career as police chief and for our community and for our police department.”
Posts Tagged: Santa Cruz Police Department
Downtown Businesses React to Shooting
“Oh my gosh, what’s happening to Santa Cruz?” Carlos Ortiz of Planet Fresh Gourmet Burritos said two days after a tragic shooting near the restaurant. “It wasn’t like this five years ago.”
911 Overdose Calls Not a Crime Under New Law
At the beginning of the year, a potentially powerful piece of California legislation quietly took effect, with only minimal media attention. Assembly Bill 472, better known as the “911 Good Samaritan Law,” attempts to save lives by offering protection from criminal prosecution to those under the influence of a narcotic if they are overdosing or witnessing an overdose, and need to call for medical help.
Zach Friend Adjusts to County Seat
New county supervisor Zach Friend has some experience that sometimes comes in handy in his new job. He used to be a rock star. “You learn to market,” says Friend, the former guitarist for Santa Cruz band Blueprint. In 2005, Friend and the band won Metro Santa Cruz’s Gold Awards for best musician, best album and best band.
Police Investigate Possible Hate Crime at Holy Cross
Police are investigating a possible hate crime after a vandal or team of vandals targeted the Holy Cross Church this past weekend. The vandals broke windows, poured paint on statues of Junipero Serra and the Virgin May and climbed on the roof so they could spray paint on the church’s bell tower.
Journalists Say They Were Targeted for Covering Occupy
After surveying the December damage to a vacant bank building owned by Wells Fargo that included graffiti, broken cameras and damaged ceiling tiles, investigators from Santa Cruz Police Department went to work. They came up with preliminary list of 12 suspects—out of more than 75 who passed through the building—involved in the three-day occupation of 75 River Street. Police handed their list over to county District Attorney Bob Lee’s office, and Lee’s office served 11 warrants to suspects.
Santa Cruz’s Predictive Policing Experiment
On top of a parking garage in downtown Santa Cruz a new high-concept weapon is being tested. It’s not a gun or a chemical, but police believe that, paired with officer intelligence, it is powerful enough to stop a crime before it even occurs. Deputy Chief of Police Steve Clark demonstrates.
Police Roust Occupy Santa Cruz Camp
The Occupy encampment in San Lorenzo Park had obviously thinned out by 5pm on Wednesday, the stated deadline for the eviction notice that police issued on Monday. A couple dozen onlookers stood around the periphery of the camp, some linking arms in solidarity, some shaking their heads in dismay. A few policemen strolled around them—a stark contrast to the scene around 7am this morning, when about 90 police officers in riot gear cleared out the approximately 20 tents and people who had stayed the night.
