Published on Morgan Hill Life’s website April 27, 2016
CLICK HERE TO WATCH 2015 CLEF COPS & ROBBERS VIDEO
By Steve Tate
Group photo of the Morgan Hill Police Department
Photo courtesy MHPD
Like all communities, public safety is of utmost importance here in Morgan Hill, absolutely top priority. At the top of the public safety list is our police department. They not only enforce of our laws, they do so much more to establish a feeling of safety in our community.
By being out on patrol, officers establish a sense of comfort and safety for residents. And they are very effective at spotting and stopping potential trouble – take advantage of doing a ride-along some evening and you will observe this first-hand. Our officers are in our schools, interacting with kids on a personal basis, forming personal relationships that pay dividends in avoiding gang involvement.
Although our PD is fully staffed, we need all the help we can get to assure that the feeling of safety in Morgan Hill stays vibrant. Volunteers are huge part of making that happen. Our CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) is trained and ready to help on emergency situations. The Explorer program trains and uses young adults to supplement our officers when additional personnel are appropriate. The Volunteers in Policing (VIP) program trains citizens to support the department by doing administrative tasks as well as supplementing them on patrol. The PD also relies on residents to form Neighborhood Watch groups and report any situations requiring police intervention. The notion of community policing is that everyone is involved in keeping our city safe.
There is one other group that is extremely supportive of our policing efforts, the Community Law Enforcement Foundation, or CLEF. They raise money that is donated to the PD for very specific purposes. The most notable example is our canine unit – the dog, Basco, his training and all his food and equipment is funded by CLEF. CLEF also funds equipment, like license plate readers, that allow our officers to take advantage of the latest technology for law enforcement. Another area of funding provided by CLEF is for training, not only for our officers, but for citizens as well, including the very successful Parent Program.
So you might wonder where CLEF gets the funds it uses to support our PD. Well, take out your wallet and prepare to have a whole bunch of fun! The annual Cops and Robbers Ball is coming up on April 30 and it is truly a ball. What better cause can there be than to support public safety in your home town by providing funds to this great organization that does so much for the MHPD, making us all safe?
And what a great evening it is. CLEF has been doing this for a number of years and event chair Sharon Daniel knows how to do it right. A terrific dinner followed by a brief but meaningful presentation of the annual Public Safety Award, honoring Mike Johnson and Frank Thomas for their stellar support of CLEF and our MHPD, followed by dancing. There is a live and a silent auction and some additional fun opportunities to spend money in support of this great cause.
Tickets are going fast at $95 and are available online at www.morganhillclef.org or from Craig C. van Keulen at van Keulen & van Keulen, 17600 Monterey Rd., Second Floor, Morgan Hill, CA, or by calling Sharron Daniel at 408-891-7795.
Please treat yourself to a really fun evening while helping to keep Morgan Hill safe.
Steve Tate is the mayor of Morgan Hill and a strong supporter of the Community Law Enforcement Foundation for Morgan Hill. He wrote this column for Morgan Hill Life.
