California Police Chief- Fall 2013 CPCA_2018_Spring Magazine_Final | Page 24

I CUFFED CANCER
I
am the Chief of Police for the Cloverdale Police Department, a small municipal agency
in Sonoma County, Northern California, and I cuffed cancer. I have worked in law
enforcement for nineteen years, promoting to Chief in 2015. I am 56 years old and the
proud father of seven and grandfather of eight beautiful children. I have been married
twenty-three years. I coached Pop Warner football, Little League and Babe Ruth baseball
for ten years. I hold a Bachelor of Arts degree in Public Administration from the University
of San Francisco, a Master of Arts in Leadership from Saint Mary’s College of California, a
Master of Science in Organizational Development from the University of San Francisco, and a
Juris Doctorate Degree from Empire College of Law…and I am a six-time cancer survivor.
To say I “survived cancer” is an understatement. I
have battled squamous cell carcinoma (throat cancer) on
& off since February 2011. In 2011, I endured three months
of chemotherapy and thirty-six rounds of radiation. My
oncologists determined it was environmental in nature,
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as I have never smoked tobacco and I am HPV free. I
was cancer free for two years when, in December 2013, it
returned with a vengeance. I had a radical tonsillectomy
right after I graduated with my second Master’s degree.
In February 2014 I underwent an eighteen hour neck