New Santa Ana | Tag Archives: chief paul walters

RIP, Chief Greg Cooper

Posted on May 29, 2011 by Editor Posted in Public Safety, Santa Ana 1 Comment

The man who served as Chief Paul Walters training officer when Walters first joined the Santa Ana Police Department has passed away following a prolonged battle with cancer. Retired Sanger PD Chief Greg Cooper (and former Santa Ana Police Lieutenant) passed away at his home in Tustin, CA on Thursday, May 26th.

Cooper, who served honorably with the Santa Ana PD from1967 to 1992, had been battling ocular melanoma and, subsequently, liver cancer for the past several years. He had recently been hospitalized but chose to return home on Thursday and was surrounded by family and close friends at the time of his death.

He left Santa Ana to become the Chief of the Sanger Police Department from 1992 to 1996. Sanger is located in Fresno County about 13 miles outside the city of Fresno and is known as “The Nation’s Christmas Tree City”.

In addition to his active duty policing career, many California Police Chiefs and Sheriffs interacted with Greg in a variety of other capacities. He was instrumental in furthering the outreach efforts and providing training and technical assistance as an Assistant Director in the COPS Office at USDOJ (1996-2002). He later served as the Chief Security Officer/Director of Security for FEMA and the subsequent integration of that agency into the Department of Homeland Security during his time there (2002-2008). Greg was also recognized as a subject matter expert and was often called upon by POST to provide training throughout the state in SWAT, the Incident Command System and Community Policing.

Greg was also a Sergeant in the USMC (1963-1967) and a Vietnam veteran.

A viewing will be held on Monday, May 30th from 4:00 – 8:00 PM at the Saddleback Mortuary, 220 East Main Street, Tustin, CA 92780.

Funeral services will take place on Wednesday, June 1st at 11:00 AM at Red Hill Lutheran Church, 13200 Red Hill Ave., Tustin, CA 92780.

Greg was originally from Minnesota so an additional service will be held in St. Paul, Minnesota on June 6th at 10:00 AM at the O’Halloran and Murphy Funeral Home, 575 Snelling Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55116. Final internment will be at 12:45 at Ft. Snelling.

Should anyone wish to make a donation in Greg’s memory, his family has indicated his charities of choice would be the Wounded Warrior Program and Habitat for Humanity.

Click here to read Cooper’s obituary, from the Aitkin Independent Age newspaper.

SAPD Chief Walters warns voters about Amezcua, who then comes unglued

Posted on November 2, 2010 by Editor Posted in 2010 Elections, Alfredo Amezcua, Crime, Elections, Politics, Public Safety, Santa Ana 3 Comments

Apparently Santa Ana Police Department Chief Paul Walters called voters, using a robo-call service, this week to warn them about mayoral candidate Alfredo Amezcua.

Amezcua and his Usual Suspect acolytes promptly came unglued. Here is what Amezcua posted on his Facebook account:

The Santa Ana mayor has forced the police chief to make vicious, false allegations about me in a robo call. The mayor is again abusing public resources and trust to promote his interests – not ours. In a city with the worst crime rate in Orange County, our police chief should be working on improving public safety instead of being forced into a smear campaign by a desperate career politician fearful of losing his job.

Amezcua’s publicist forwarded this note to Usual Suspect Debbie McEwen, who is known for having been sued by the ACLU after she erected illegal traffic barriers in her French Park Neighborhood, to keep Mexicans out. McEwen then posted it on the fading Santa Ana Citizens Yahoogroup.

Walters has good reason to warn voters about Amezcua. Walters is dedicated to fighting crime in Santa Ana. Amezcua represents the very worst criminals in our city, as a criminal defense lawyer. He has actively pursued the worst cases, representing drug dealers, members of the Mexican Mafia, gang members, killers and rapists. Amezcua also has allegedly received 19 traffic tickets, and as his own attorney he played games with the court records, changing his name from one ticket to the next, presumably to avoid messing up his driving record.

That Amezcua would react by maligning Chief Walters says a lot about him. I guess he doesn’t know that Walters and his department received the U.S. Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award in 2009, according to a post by Sean Mill in the Orange Juice blog. You can see Walters being congratulated by President Obama in the picture above this post.

Chief Walters graduated from Santiago High School in Garden Grove, CA. He attended Orange Coast College before his four-year (1966-1970) tour of duty with the United States Air Force during the Vietnam War. He was nominated for Airman of the Year in 1967.

While raising a family and working full time as a police officer, he attended night school and earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Criminal Justice from California State University Fullerton (CSUF), a Masters of Public Administration from the University of Southern California (USC) and a Doctor of Jurisprudence from American College of Law. He is also a graduate of the California Command College Class II and the Senior Management Institute for Police (SMIP) Class IV, Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), Washington D.C.

As a national innovator and leader in policing, he has trained and assisted numerous police executives and elected officials throughout the country on how to implement revolutionary policing strategies in their respective communities. He has been recognized many times by the California Attorney General, the Governor of California and both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate for his accomplishments.

He is currently on the Board of Directors for the California Police Chiefs’ Association and serves on the finance and political action committees. He has been President and Secretary/Treasurer of the Orange County Chiefs and Sheriff’s Association. The Santa Ana Police Department has been recognized since 1997 as a DOJ National Demonstration Site and Training Center for Community Policing and Problem Solving.

Click here to read more about Walter’s accomplishments, which are many.

City of Santa Ana waives late fees for unlicensed dogs

Posted on March 31, 2010 by Editor Posted in Civic Affairs, Pets, Public Safety, Santa Ana Leave a comment

Sparky already has his dog license!

“Santa Ana Animal Services will waive late fees for dog licenses during a temporary amnesty program through May 15. The city charges $24 annually to license a spayed or neutered dog, $100 for an unfixed dog; late fees are $41,” according to the O.C. Register.

I emailed Santa Ana Police Chief on March 1, to inform him about the Orange County dog license amnesty, which we reported about this week.

I have also asked the Chief to consider permanent lower dog license fees. We wrote about that subject here in February, at this link. What I would like to see in particular is discounts for households with more than one dog; lower late fees; and lower fees for unfixed dogs. Currently we charge more for dog licenses than the City of Irvine does! Continue reading→