This month as Vocational Chair of the Thousand Oaks Rotary Club we had the opportunity to interview four mostly newer members of our club one of them being the new police chief for Thousand Oaks Jeremy Paris. Jeremy gave us some insight into his typical schedule during the day organizing staff and responding to emails and messages as part of his administrative duties for Thousand Oaks and surrounding areas.
He noted that the training for a police officer is never the same as a real life situation as first responders many times have to deal with situations that are not exactly the same as training exercises. Reacting in real time in real life it is impossible determine someone’s reaction until they are confronted with a live situation. Many times newer officers are left in the background to see how they handle themselves before being thrust into a face to face confrontation. He also discussed how new DNA databases such as 23andme or Ancestry can be subpoenaed by authorities to obtain a close match to a DNA sample which can then be used to narrow down potential suspects of a crime. This is how the authorities tracked the Idaho suspect of the college kids murders all the way back to Pennsylvania where he was living with relatives thousands of miles away from the crime scene. A database match was made of a relative and he was followed until a sample could be obtained from him and a match was made.
Although body cameras seem to be perceived by many to be somewhat controversial Jeremy said that most officers welcome their use as they can help sort out facts from fiction in confrontations with officers. He went on the say that the biggest challenge today is finding qualified personnel to fill vacancies at various departments.
