172536_CPCA_2020_Spring Magazine - Final | Page 34
Placentia Police Department Experiences Resilient
Community Partnerships During COVID
By: Brad Butts
Captain – Placentia Police Department
A residential street lined with law enforcement vehicles in support of Joshy
Like other law enforcement agencies
across California, the Placentia Police
Department (PPD) had to adapt to
the COVID-19 threat, suspending non-essential
policing services and public access
targeted at keeping our community safe and
the organization mission ready. Although
necessary, we feared distancing and reducing
non-essential services would isolate us from
our community and reduce the participative
relationship that we rely upon. However,
we have discovered that our partnership
with the community is resilient and we are
encouraged from the care and support the
community has shown to its first responders
and for each other. We found collaboration
increased during these challenging times. We
want to highlight a few of these inspirational
events.
With the school district and police
department being natural public safety
partners, we continued to work with school
staff through the COVID-19 school
closure. One of the teachers from Placentia
Elementary School hosts a live story time
from her residence to her virtual classroom
of special needs students. This dedicated
teacher also happens to be a founder of the
PPD Support Team, which is comprised of
Placentia residents who provide meals and
support to the members of the Department.
As an advocate for law enforcement, she
reached out to the Department to highlight
National Police Week and to build student
awareness for the many sacrifices law enforcement
officers make. One of our Motor
Officers volunteered for the detail. While she
broadcasted live to her virtual classroom, the
officer responded Code 3 onto her driveway.
She introduced him as part of her lesson and
the officer read the class a short story, titled
“The Officer’s Ball.” He also engaged the
class answering questions about our profession
and all his intriguing police equipment.
Since COVID -19 began, we have had an
increase in requests for our officers to attend
celebrations and community functions. Over
the past two months we have attended over
30 birthday drive-by requests. We attended
an incredibly special birthday for a child who
had just returned home from the hospital on
his 7th birthday. Joshy, the son of an Orange
County area Police Corporal, was met with
an overwhelming gathering of law enforce-
Joshy’s birthday was heavily attended by Orange County law enforcement agencies.
34 CALIFORNIA POLICE CHIEF | www.californiapolicechiefs.org