All the news concerning the police has been coming from our friends to the North of us in Fullerton. Few people have not heard of the beating death of Kelly Thomas, a homeless, mentally ill man who died at the hands of 6 police officers who were allegedly responding to a call of someone breaking in to cars at the Fullerton Transportation Center. It is clear that a picture of corruption and coverup is occurring in that fair city where once we resided. The citizens of Fullerton were called to action and the cause was championed by the Friends For Fullertons Future Blog. Tony Bushala grabbed the bull by the horns and is refusing to let go. Rightfully calling everyone from Fullerton Chief Sellers to the Fullerton City Council to OCDA Tony Raukauckus corrupt and evil, Tony has put pressure on everyone to come clean and bring some justice to the name of Kelly Thomas and some peace to his dad, Ron Thomas and family. Even the FBI has gotten into the act, thanks to Orange County Board of Supervisor Shawn Nelson. This is all we are going to say on the matter.

The reason we even bring it up is because of what has happened in our town Tustin. We are sure some of you who still insist on getting your news from an anachronistic newspaper have heard that the Tustin Police Department, headed by Chief of Police Scott Jordan, has just received accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (CALEA). Tustin is only the third agency in Orange County and the second municipal agency to attain accreditation. Accreditation is a difficult process that requires an agency to have specific written policies and directives for just about every scenario. They must also have comprehensive procedures to deal with natural and man-made disaster. It is a grueling process and inspectors leave no stone unturned in making sure a candidate department is worthy of the title.

Now, we don’t know about you, but we like our police department. It’s not just because we come from law enforcement either. Thanks to previous neighbors, over the years that we have lived here, we have had numerous encounters, directly and indirectly, with our cops. They have come out when we called. They have come out when the neighbors called. They have come out when the other neighbors down the street called. And, every time we have dealt with them adversely or not, they have always been professional and direct. And, our police are everywhere. They frequent nearly every activity from the Annual Chili Cookoff to the Tustin Tiller Days Parade. So, accreditation as a municipal police department will make our professional department even better. And, we can rest easy knowing that our police will  take care of all of our citizens, homeless, mentally ill or otherwise. And, we won’t have to worry about a Fullerton episode happening here.