By: Senior Officer Alex Rangel, Beat 12 Beat Coordinator

Our department was recently contacted by officials from the country of Panama inquiring about Oxnard’s Community Oriented Policing and Problem Solving (COPPS) efforts. As many of you may know Oxnard was recently honored with the 2008 “James Q. Wilson” award from the California Department of Justice and the Office of the California Attorney General for our COPPS efforts.

A former Oxnard officer, Steve Noguera, who is currently assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Panama and is currently assigned as the Resident Agent in Charge for the DOD Force Protection Detachment, happened to be meeting with the Ambassador and other high ranking Embassy officials who were eager to help the Panama National Police (PNP) get started with their efforts in COPPS. However, Panama officials were unsure how to proceed. Steve, having been a member of the Oxnard police department when we started the C.O.P.P.S. program back in 1994 thought to look up his old department on the internet and saw our award.

This led to an invitation for OPD to come to Panama to assist them with the implementation of a COPPS program. Chief Crombach quickly approved the trip and so a few weeks later – on Sunday, October 26, 2008 I found myself in the nation of Panama.

My first stop in Panama was San Miguelito, a city with approximately 370,000 people and patrolled by 800 officers. The city of San Miguelito was to serve as the C.O.P.P.S. pilot program. It also happens to be in a red zone. A red zone is an area marked as an area that’s off limits to the U.S. military and typically these areas experience a high number of homicides, shootings, stabbings, and other part one crimes.

The city of San Miguelito is a very diverse and densely populated area. To make things more difficult the homes do not have house numbers and the streets do not have names. Further, there are many natural water drainage areas that are approximately five feet wide and run between properties. These natural drainage areas create a unique challenge for police when going in foot pursuit or when looking for suspects.

Another unique challenge in Panama is their way of dispatching officers to calls. When dispatched to a call for service the location is simply described to officers and remarkably the officers know exactly where to go. Additionally, some years ago the PNP eliminated the local police dispatch centers and created a national PNP call center. Officers are dispatched from the national dispatch center via police radio or by cell phone. Each police car has a police radio or an assigned cell phone. There are few police cars for the city and most officers find themselves walking the beat and standing on street corners. Those officers who are on footpatrol and who can afford a cell phone call the dispatch center on a “police only” phone line to give them their cell number so they can be dispatched to a call.

Another challenge facing the Panamanians in San Miguelito is policing a large city with very limited transportation resources. Again, the Panamanians have found a unique way to handle the calls for service. The shift’s lieutenant has a driver assigned to him and part of the lieutenant’s responsibilities is to take the officers to their beats and pick up those who are at the end of their shift. After talking to some of the officers they told me when they get a call and it’s a critical incident they render first aid, lock down the scene, and call for detectives. There is very little report writing on the part of the beat officer. I asked about the details in each of their reports and all agreed there needs to be improvement in this area.

As we drove around San Miguelito we had a two-man unit following us in an off road motorcycle. The officers were special trained officers with the passenger carrying a fully automatic weapon. The uniformed officers in front of us were in a marked unit (truck). The motorcycle officers were equal to military Special Forces and respond to developing intense situations requiring their services. Keep in mind Panama does not have a military; the police are their first line of defense.

After touring San Miguelito, interviewing those I needed to interview, and obtaining the necessary photographs, I had a better understanding about their city and about how the police operate. I also had a better understanding about the barriers and concerns the officers and citizens may have.

On Tuesday, October 28, 2008 I presented to a group of 26 officers from San Miguelito and other police stations in Panama. The training was held at the national training center, a location once occupied by U.S. forces. I started the presentation by answering all their questions and learning about the students and their ranks. The students consisted of lieutenants, sergeants, senior officers, and officers. In the first few seconds I learned the Panamanians speak Spanish in whole different way than I know. They speak fast, and use words I’m familiar with, however, not typically in the same context. Fortunately, I’m familiar enough with the language to understand what they were saying and was able to move right along without too much difficulty.

I found the officers who were already working as community officers were already doing much of what we do, however, not really to the extent we are. The officers were amazed that we have good relationships with the media, our administration supports our efforts, our elected officials support the program, the community / business organizations are willing to work with us, and other city departments are held accountable for our requests. They struggled somewhat with the concept of partnership.

The second day of training consisted of neighborhood watch programs, how to develop programs and keeping them motivated, how to use the youth to their advantage (Oxnard City Corps/Town Keepers), and other success stories.

What seemed to be most appreciated by the Panamanian officials was my willingness to take the time to explain the training, my role as a beat coordinator, my experience as a storefront officer, and my role as a field training officer. I was pleasantly surprised when they told me they had an active DARE program. Having been DARE trained, I used their DARE training to explain much of my material.

There is so much more to say, however, this was a snapshot of my experience. The program was well received and the end result is the Mayor of San Miguelito and officers from their police department will in the future come to Oxnard to see firsthand what we do and how we do it. This effort will be sponsored by the U.S. Embassy in Panama. Our job will be to host their training.

INCIDENT:	Several Street Robberies and Arrests
DATE/TIME:	November 5, 2008 between 9:40 PM and 10:16 PM
LOCATION:	Area of Seventh and “E” Streets
VICTIM/S:	33 year-old Oxnard resident 21 year-old Oxnard resident 18 year-old Oxnard resident
SUSPECT/S:	24 year-old Gabriel Salazar was charged with two counts of robbery and conspiracy. 20 year-old Alex Salazar was charged with conspiracy and witness intimidation. 19 year-old Julio Chavira was charged with conspiracy and attempted robbery. 23 year-old Kathleen Mackey was charged with interfering with an ongoing investigation. 25 year-old Edgar Mendoza was charged with interfering with an ongoing investigation. (All the suspects arrested are Oxnard residents)
LOSS:	U.S. currency, cellular phones, and clothing where taken by suspects.
PREPARED BY:	Violent Crimes Sergeant Terry Burr

DETAILS: On November 5, 2008, officers from the Oxnard Police Department responded to several reports of street robberies that had occurred between 9:40 PM and 10:16 PM. During those incidents, victims were walking in the area of Seventh and “E” Streets when they were contacted by the listed suspects. During those contacts the suspects demanded the victims’ cellular phones, cash and shoes. After the crimes, the suspects were seen entering a residence in the 600 block of West Seventh Street.

During their investigation a subject matching the description of the suspects stepped out of the residence and was detained by officers. Several others from inside that residence were detained and later arrested for charges ranging from conspiracy to commit robbery, intimidating witnesses and interfering with an ongoing robbery investigation.

Detectives followed up with a search warrant at that residence. Several items belonging to the victims of the earlier robberies were recovered. Detectives believe there was a party at the residence and the crimes were done by these suspects to impress the females witnessing these incidents.

All suspects were booked into the Ventura County Jail with bails ranging up to $55,000 each. An investigation is continuing.