Message From the Chief - March 2006
Chief Ron Levine
FOOTHILL-DeANZA COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT POLICE DEPARTMENT
"MESSAGE FROM THE CHIEF"
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M A R C H 2006
Greetings from the men and women of the Foothill-DeAnza
Community College District Police Department. The following
is the monthly update for March 2006. We hope you find
the information useful.
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CHIEF'S MESSAGE - "Emergency Preparedness"
Hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, pandemic flu....the news
has been filled with disasters (or potential disasters!)
for the past year. April will mark the 100th Anniversary
of the great 1906 San Francisco earthquake, which devastated
the peninsula, along with San Francisco. How prepared are
you for the next disaster that hits our area? Do you have
enough food, water, medication and supplies to sustain you
and your family for at least 72 hours? I think we all know
what we "should" have in our homes, at work and in our cars,
but how many of us "really" have those items? The California
Office of Emergency Services has an excellent web page devoted
to helping you get ready for emergency situations. Please
take the time to review the site and use the tips they have
listed to get you and your family prepared to survive a
potential disaster. The web site address is;
http://www.oes.ca.gov/Operational/OESHome.nsf/ALL/7A43A30DB8F1F1CA88256FE90079CEB6?OpenDocument
Be Smart, Be Responsible, Be Prepared. Be Ready!
Take care, stay safe and thank you for your support of
the Foothill-DeAnza CCD Police Department!
Chief Ron Levine
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SPOTLIGHT - "Emergency Phone Numbers"
In keeping with the emergency preparedness theme, we would
like to reinforce the use of 9-1-1 to report any emergency
situation in the District. In the past, each college had
a campus emergency number to call, but when our Police
Department entered into an agreement to have Santa Clara
County Communications dispatch our police officers, it made
the most sense to have all emergency calls go directly to
the Communications Center where the police, fire and EMS
are dispatched from.
You can dial 9-1-1 from any District phone and you are not
required to dial 9 first, before dialing 9-1-1 (if you dial
the 9 first, you will still reach 9-1-1 regardless).
Many questions have been raised about what number to call
from a cell phone to reach police, fire and EMS. There
are several classrooms that do not have phones and faculty,
staff and students need to know what number to call.
Generally, people are aware that if you dial 9-1-1 from
a cell phone, you get CHP in most cases (this is changing
however, but not every city and county have had the proper
equipment installed to direct the calls to the local emergency
agency yet). Many times mobile 9-1-1 calls are placed on
hold due to high call volume and when you finally reach
a dispatcher, your call must be routed to the proper agency.
To alleviate this problem, you can call a seven digit
emergency number to reach the proper dispatch center.
For both Foothill and DeAnza campuses, that number is;
This number will reach the same public safety answering point
as 9-1-1 calls in Santa Clara County. If you live in Santa
Clara County, but in cities other than Los Altos Hills and
Cupertino, you can find the local seven digit emergency number
for your city on the Palo Alto Police Dept. web site at;
http://www.papd.org/comm/7_digit_agency_list.html
There has been some confusion on what number to call to reach
the Police Department for non-urgent situations and for general
questions. Please call x7313 (650-949-7313) from 7AM to 11 PM,
seven days a week to reach a member of the Foothill-DeAnza
College District Police Department. We do utilize a call
director system to route calls, so please listen to the options
carefully so your call is directed to the proper area or person.
You still may call x5555 to reach the DeAnza Substation, but
use this number only to inquire about parking, DeAnza lost and
found and special events. All incidents requiring a police
response must go through x7313 or 9-1-1.
Lastly, what do you do if you dial 9-1-1 by accident? DON'T
JUST HANG UP! Please STAY ON THE LINE and explain to the
dispatcher that you dialed the number in error. A police
officer may still respond to your area to confirm everything
is okay, but if you just hang up, SEVERAL police officers
will respond to your area! It can happen to anyone, so
please just explain what happened and it will lessen the
impact on everyone!
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UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL - Records Supervisor Christine Smith
Just about everyone who has conducted business with the
District Police has had the opportunity to interact with
Christine Smith, our Police Records Supervisor. Christine
has been with the District for approximately 4 years and
had worked with two other law enforcement agencies in the
past. Prior to joining law enforcement, Christine worked
in the private sector, for a large telecommunications
company.
Christine was born and raised in the Cleveland, Ohio area,
before moving to Florida where she attended Pensacola Jr.
College. After moving to California, she attended DeAnza
College and then West Valley College, where she earned her
A.A. in Criminal Justice. It was one of her instructors
at West Valley, Marge Faulstitch, that told her about the
position at Foothill-DeAnza Police.
The position of Police Records Supervisor keeps Christine
very busy, with many "hats". Besides the traditional role
of maintaining the reports created by police officers and
various other Department employees, she is also responsible
for overseeing our LiveScan fingerprint operation, acts as
our Court Liaison Officer (by taking our reports to the
District Attorney's Office and the Superior Court),
maintains the evidence room, handles our accounts receivable
and payable at the Department level, maintains the department
personnel files and the list goes on! Christine is the first
POST (Commission on Peace Officers Standards and Training)
certified Police Records Supervisor the Department has ever
had. She is also active in CLEARS (California Law Enforcement
Association of Records Supervisors) which has members from
over 500 law enforcement agencies.
When asked what she likes most about our Department, she said,
"We are like a family and everyone looks out for each other."
Christine said he is concerned that some people don't view the
District Police as being a "real" police department and she
wished she could do more to change that in minds of folks.
"We've had many positive changes in the last few years and I
wish people would recognize this."
On her off-time, Christine is a fitness instructor at local
health clubs and has been teaching for 20 years. She loves
to go to Hawaii every chance she gets, which she says is
NEVER often enough! Despite her wish to live in Hawaii
(awfully long commute to work!), she lives locally in
Santa Clara County.
Christine can be reached at (650)949-7513 or
smithsc...@fhda.edu
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Q & A - "Traffic Accidents "
Q: What is the correct thing to do when you get into an
accident? Do you leave the cars where they are or
do you move them?
- Ellen L., District Employee
A: In days gone by, people were told to leave the cars
where they were until the police arrived. Because
of increased traffic on the roadway, the proper thing
to do is to safely move the vehicles to the right curb,
near the point of impact. If you have a cell phone
available, call the police. In not, ask someone nearby
to call them for you. Stay inside you car until an
officer arrives and gives you further instructions.
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CRIMES STATISTICS - February 2006
Crime Foothill DeAnza Total
Assault/Battery 0 2 2
Burglary-Auto 0 1 1
Burglary-Bldg 0 0 0
Criminal Threats 0 1 1
Disorderly Conduct 0 1 1
Drug Violation 0 0 0
Forgery 0 0 0
Fraud 0 0 0
Theft-Grand <$400 0 2 2
Theft-Petty >$400 0 1 1
Sex Crime 0 1 1
Stolen Vehicle 0 0 0
Stolen Vehicle-Recov 0 1 1
Weapon Violation 0 1 1
Traffic Accidents 7 5 12
Traffic Accidents-Inj 0 0 0
Hit & Run 2 4 6
Hit & Run-Injury 0 0 0
Towed Vehicles 2 1 3
Moving Cites 50
Warrant Arrests 0 1 1
Lost & Found Reports 23 130 153
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DID YOU KNOW???
Did you know that 9-1-1 is not a "universal" emergency
phone number around the world? Some countries other than
the US use 9-1-1, but many have different numbers. Before
you travel abroad, you might want to know the emergency
number for the country or countries you'll be visiting.
Bookmark this web site, so you can check before you leave
and make note of the emergency number;
http://www.sccfd.org/travel.html
(Courtesy of Santa Clara County Fire Department)
Use this web site to check for highway emergency notification
phone numbers across the United States;
http://www.911dispatch.com/911/mobilenumbers.html
(Courtesy of 911Dispatch.com)
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IN THE NEWS - Foothill-DeAnza Police in the press
No articles this month
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Questions, comments and suggestions can be sent to;
levine...@fhda.edu or call (650)949-7514
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Search the "Message From the Chief" Archive at:
http://groups.google.com/group/FHDA-PD_MONTHLY
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