The Exchange Club of San Clemente recently held their awards luncheon and honored three members of the Department for good work.

Those honored were Deputy Rod Valdez, Senior Volunteer Bill Waibel and Investigative Assistant Karen Huggins. Included are the remarks given when they received their awards.

DEPUTY OF THE YEAR

 Deputy Rod Valdez

Deputy Rod Valdez was hired by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department in August of 1986 as a deputy sheriff where he was assigned to the jails. 

In 1994, Rod transferred to the contract city of San Clemente where he has spent the past 15 years. 

He spent three years as a motor officer working traffic in San Clemente, during which time he was struck while on the motorcycle in two separate collisions – neither was his fault, but after the second accident he decided to not tempt fate and returned to driving a black and white patrol vehicle.  [more]

He spent many years in patrol as an FTO (field training officer) where he trained new patrol deputies.  His most recent assignment is School Resource Deputy for San Clemente. Rod’s duties on campus are vast and include acting as the law enforcement liaison between the Capistrano Unified School District and Police Services, conducting mediation, taking theft and criminal reports, Parent Project Instructor, Sheriff’s Explorer Advisor, supervising sporting events, school board hearings, overseeing parking violation issues, attending district school committee meetings and working closely with the deputies assigned to the department-wide SMART team who handle all county-wide crimes occurring at the Sheriff’s Department jurisdiction schools. 

Deputy Valdez spends the majority of his shift on campus interacting with the students and administration.  His authority is well respected and he is often the first law enforcement responder and contact the students have when faced with criminal activity on the school campus.  Rod has developed a good rapport with the students, displaying a command presence while maintaining the ability to be approached by students. Rod participated in a mock DUI presentation at San Clemente High School.  This event was well attended by parents, students, faculty, and police and fire personnel. Rod is one of our Police Explorer advisors. 

He is responsible for weekly meetings where he trains the explorers doing field simulation problems.  He is dedicated to improving the explorer’s physical fitness program, having the explorers run and exercise as part of each weekly meeting.  

Rod is one of the instructors for our Parent Project.  This 10-week program is held several times during the year, after hours at the local high school.  The curriculum taught during this program is invaluable to parents.  Rod is dedicated to the parents and often helps them with the difficult tasks associated with raising adolescents.  

As stated by the program coordinator, “Rod goes above and beyond with the guidance he offers the parents, utilizing techniques taught during Parent Project.  Rod continues to help in patrol, working overtime and often filling in as the acting patrol sergeant.  Rod is always willing to assist his fellow deputies with “other than the ordinary” call for service or report. 

During Rod’s time off, he enjoys spending time at the river on his boat, attending family events, and riding his Harley.  Rod is here today with his daughter Christina, father Leonard, father’s girlfriend Dottie and his sister Pam.

EMPLOYEE OF THE YEAR

 Investigative Assistant Karen Huggins 

Karen Huggins was hired by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department in 1993 as a field Community Services Officer.  She was responsible for writing parking citations and storing abandoned and over-parked vehicles.  In 1995, Karen took a job-share position in Records as an Office Specialist. 

Karen’s duties were vast; from assisting citizens at the front counter, answering phones, data input, care and storage of video tapes, report duplication, citation processing, and general daily assignments.  She was always the first to volunteer to learn something new or try something she hadn’t done before. Everyonehas heard of the TV series, Survivor, but only a few know that Karen trained for and tried out for this show.  Though she didn’t win, the image of her emerging from the pond with a whole salmon in her mouth is forever embedded in the minds of many of the employees who have passed through San Clemente Police Services. 

Last year, on October 24th, 2008, Karen was promoted to a full-time position as an Investigative Assistant assigned to San Clemente.  As with everything Karen does, she jumped in going Mach 2 with her hair-on-fire and giving 120%. 

Her supervisor states:  “Karen is developing into an outstanding Investigative Assistant.  Karen has written many search warrants, has assisted in the service of search warrants, inputs all San Clemente cases into the records management system and maintains the pawn slips and field interview cards.  Karen has become a vital part of the San Clemente Investigative team.  She is considered a valued member and is well respected by her peers, deputies and supervisors.  Karen is an outstanding employee and a joy to supervise.” 

That is all so very true and that’s the reason we’re here today to honor her. It would not be fair to stop there.  Sadly, Karen has also fallen victim to the budget difficulties and she has been afforded a new opportunity with the Department, and when this bleak economy begins to turn we would be foretunate to have her return. 

While working as an Investigative Assistance Karen has had many opportunities few get to participate in.  

Karen has had the privilege and the ability to work cooperatively with numerous allied law enforcement agencies on many occasions. Many will never get the glorious assignment of sitting in a vehicle for hours without fresh air, water, or a bathroom while doing surveillance, yet Karen did.  Many sworn officers will never write a search warrant, yet she has done a number of them.  Many will never have the knowledge and confidence to correct a judge and tell him that he is wrong, yet Karen did. 

The only goal that she didn’t accomplish in her time here as an Investigative Assistant was that she wanted to tackle somebody. Most recently, Karen was instrumental in one of the most complicated and on-going investigations of this year.  Rashes of car burglaries stretching from Rancho Santa Margarita all the way to the city of Chula Vista were occurring with a common loss of credit cards. These credit cards were then being used almost exclusively at Target stores and Albertson’s throughout the southern California area.  Karen tenaciously pursued leads and put many miles on her car, traveling around picking up video that showed a female using the cards repeatedly.  Karen, along with our investigators, spent many hours on surveillance.  The woman was finally identified and, at the end of last month, an arrest was made and multiple searches were done. Several thousands of dollars of property were recovered, thanks in large part to her efforts. 

It is with great honor that we acknowledge her and her work ethic as San Clemente’s Civilian Employee of the Year.  Karen is here today with her husband Kyle, daughter Stephanie, mother and father and sister Colleen.

  Retired Senior Volunteer Program Volunteer of the Year 

San Clemente Police Services

BILL WAIBEL  

Bill Waibel became a member of the Retired Senior Volunteer Program or RSVP at San Clemente in August 2005.   RSVP's are volunteers who contribute significant work each year for the City of San Clemente. Their work as a whole is vital and necessary to providing excellent law enforcement services. Prior to his volunteer years, Bill spent his career as an engineer, where he lived and worked many years in Brazil.

Bill was selected as the Police Services Volunteer of the Year due to his dedication and amount of time he worked. Among his accomplishments he was instrumental in a remodel of the PACT house to include an area for bikes, and countless hours assisting with Beach Patrol. His other duties were vast and included work that would have taken deputies out of the field to complete.

These duties include vacant home checks, transporting vehicles to and from the many garages in Laguna Niguel and Santa Ana and the communications center @ Eckhoff in Orange.  While on patrol, Bill is responsible for issuing Handicapped and Expired Registration parking citations, deploying the city’s three Radar Trailers, assisting with traffic control at serious and fatal traffic accidents, street closures at crime scenes, crowd control at the beach and the city’s many special events, weekend at the PACT house at the Pier, ride-a -ong program on the summer beach patrol on the ATV’s, assists with the Spanish-speaking Parent Project Classes and works at the Records front counter.  Bill is a member of the RSVP steering committee and because of his dedication and work ethic will assume the duties of RSVP Coordinator in April of 2010. 

Bill enjoys vacationing in Lake Genova, Wisconsin.  He is an avid snow skier.  You can usually find Bill with a smile on his face and he is always friendly around the station. He is here today with his wife Adrian.