Volunteer Retirement
Last week we bid farewell to a longtime member of the Escondido Police Department team. Tom Fry served as a Chaplain for the department for over 20 years. After retiring as a chaplain, he chose to come back and volunteer at the department as a parking enforcement officer. Now, 10 years later, he has decided that it is time to retire again. We wish Tom the best of luck on his future endeavors and retiremen
Phone Calls Lead to Arrest
This past week, residents called the Police Department to report that they heard gunshots in the area. They provided officers a description of a vehicle that had been seen around the time, as well as description of a male that could be the suspect. Officers were able to find the vehicle in a hotel parking lot and arrested the suspect. The man was also found to be in possession of various drugs. The officers showed great patience, planning, investigative abilities and team work to bring this potentially violent call to a safe resolution. Thank you to the residents who called in and gave great descriptions so this criminal could be apprehended.
Cal Trans and Escondido Police Team Up
In mid-December of last year, the Community Oriented Policing and Problem-Solving Unit, COPPS, opened a project in the area of Metcalf Street due to complaints from several business of nearby criminal transient activity and transient camps along state highway property. The COPPS Unit organized special enforcement details, while Caltrans and our Public Works team conducted numerous encampment removal details along with tree trimming and tree removal. While that was occurring, Officer Martin Mohammad (project lead) was able to persuade Caltrans to install $300,000 worth of cut-resistant, climb-resistant fencing on the south side of Highway 78 extending from Rock Springs Road, through Metcalf Street, and down to Mission Ave. The fencing has had an immediate impact in the area as evidenced by zero transient camps along the state highway property and a grateful business community
