172536_CPCA_2020_Spring Magazine - Final | Page 18

Lifting Each Other During A Crisis
Community Collaboration has been Essential During COVID Epidemic
By: Andrew Qian
Police Officer – Anaheim Police Department
When COVID-19 first made headlines, no one could
have imagined the magnitude of the crisis nor how our
everyday lives would be affected. As law enforcement
officers, it presented us a unique challenge. We serve the community
and protect it from harm. Generally, these threats are tangible and
there is a roadmap on how to navigate them. Barricaded suspects,
serial burglaries, armed suspects, and even most natural disasters are
threats we prepare for. But, what about a threat that is invisible to the
eye? One that affects law enforcement regardless of age, rank, and
assignment, as much as it affects the citizens we serve?
In early March, the Anaheim Police Department’s Command Staff
made the decision to assemble its Incident Management Team (IMT).
Personnel were pulled from their assigned details throughout the department
– and all of them were reassigned to the Department Operations
Center (DOC). The DOC boasted experience and leadership
from our Professional Staff, Emergency Management, Community
Policing Team, Patrol, Traffic Bureau, and even our Gang Unit.
Over the course of the next several weeks, the DOC, working and
advising the department’s Command Staff, began implementing
protocols which were created or adapted from best practices and
guidance from our federal, state, and local government partners.
Almost immediately after standing up the DOC, we began encountering
extraordinary challenges that even our most tenured staff had
never seen before. One of these notable hurdles was obtaining PPE
gear, specifically face masks for all department personnel. It was
nearly impossible to find face masks in this pandemic. A godsend
came when a local dry cleaner – whose business had dwindled
– donated hundreds of hand-sewn face masks. In response, our
officers made a monetary donation for each mask they took, and
we were able to reciprocate her generosity. Major corporations like
Walmart and Coca-Cola donated water and energy drinks to our
officers. Motorola sponsored one of our local restaurants to cater
lunch for all department personnel. All these acts of generosity and
goodwill were welcomed pick-me-ups for our officers on the front
lines of this crisis. It showed them our community was still behind
them during these unprecedented times.
Our community was hard-hit as well. Children whose birthday
parties would have normally been attended by their friends and
family were forced to cancel them. That is where our patrol officers
stepped up. We were able to give the community a small token of
our appreciation by conducting drive- by birthday parties -- the
lights and sirens of our patrol vehicles provided children with a
birthday they would not soon forget.
Food banks set up food distribution centers across the city, the
largest of which took up the entirety of the Honda Center’s parking
lot. Traffic officers were on hand to ensure safe and efficient traffic
flow, and other officers, including our command staff, were there as
well – as volunteers. Shoulder to shoulder (more like 6 ft) with volunteers
from the community, our employees loaded bags of groceries
into vehicles of families in need.
Life and work are still not back to normal and likely will not be for
a while. There is an undeniable uncertainty which will be a lasting
effect from this crisis. Nevertheless, one thing is for sure, there is
no obstacle that cannot be overcome when the community and law
enforcement work together.
18 CALIFORNIA POLICE CHIEF | www.californiapolicechiefs.org