Arcadia City Council has accepted a federal grant of $125,000 to place a uniformed police officer on the campuses of the city's three middle schools. The program is called Youth and Educational Support (YES).
The police department has a regular schedule of reorganizing with Officer Mike Cervantes returning to patrol duty after being a DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) officer. Filling the DARE position will be Officer Brian Ortiz. Officer Toni Caylor will be working with students as the YES (Youth and Educational Support) officer at Arcadia High School. Background information on each officer is provided.
Chief Roy Nakamura became Arcadia’s 30th Police Chief and its first of Asian-American descent on January 9, 2021. Captain Nakamura began his career with the Arcadia Police Department in 1992 as a Police Officer. As an Officer, he was assigned to Patrol and worked as a Field Training Officer, as well as being assigned to the Detective Bureau. As Detective, he was assigned to the Forgery and Fraud Unit and completed his Detective Bureau assignment in the Crimes Against Persons Unit. He was promoted to Sergeant in 2002 and worked as a Field Supervisor until he was transferred to Personnel and Training. In 2009, Captain Nakamura was promoted to Lieutenant, working various assignments under the Operations and Administration Divisions within the Department, including Watch Commander, Detective Bureau Commander, Field Training Officers Program Commander, and Force Training Unit Commander. In 2019, he was promoted to Captain. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Cal Poly Pomona.
The votes are in! We have a name for our newest Arcadia Police Department K-9 Officer (canine): Kaiser. Students and staff at Arcadia Unified School District selected the name. Kaiser and Officer Cvetkovich are training to work together in both apprehension and narcotics detection.
A juvenile officer, Agent Don Glenn, has been assigned full time to the High School campus where he will have an office and will be available as an advisor to students, teachers and administrators. Glenn's training and background are outlined.
Resident David Fong and Arcadia Police Chief Robert Guthrie address recent Arcadia school lockdowns. Highland Oaks School had been put on lockdown while Arcadia police searched for suspects in a residential robbery. Arcadia Unified School District has only one school resource officer and Fong asked the city to seriously consider additional safety measures at Arcadia schools.
Arcadia's Police officer John Bonomo is the latest addition to Arcadia's D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program in elementary schools and G.R.E.A.T. (Gang Resistance Education and Training) program in middle schools.
Arcadia, Monrovia, and Duarte schools all forced to lock down this week due to phoned in threats of a gunman on 4 separate campuses. On Thursday, September 12, the caller contacted Arcadia Police Department, reporting "he was at Arcadia High School and that he was going to start shooting students with an assault rifle." A second call was received during the police search of the campus that told officers to back off or they would be shot. No suspects of weapons were found.
Lt. David Hinig was traded to the Culver City Police Department so that their Officer Tere Acune could work undercover at the Arcadia High School, an operation that led to several arrests. Hinig describes his experiences in Culver City.
Arcadia High School's counseling program has been selected as a model program by the L.A. County Office of Education for its improvements during the past 2 years.
Police officer Don Wilsterman is the photographic lab technician and latent fingerprint examiner for the police department. Article describes his work and personal interests.
Arcadia police officer Bill White (was identified by former APD officer Neal Johnson), with unidentified equipment. Bill White left Arcadia Police Department in 1956.