Halloween Road Closure of Longden Avenue

Halloween Night, Thursday, October 31st. - Longden Avenue will be closed to through traffic between El Monte - Holly Avenues from 4:00 - 10:30 pm.  The closure is to accommodate expected pedestrian and vehicle traffic converging on this area on Halloween night.  Please use Duarte Road or Las Tunas Drive as alternate east-west roadways.  Residents with identification living in the 200-400 blocks West Longden Avenue will be able to access the closure.

And always - Don't Drink & Drive!

Happy Halloween 2013!

Have a safe and Happy Halloween...Watch out for the little ghosts and goblins!

&

Remember, Don't Drink and Drive!

Weekly Activity Highlights for October 13-26, 2013

We successfully sent the Weekly Activity Reports to our media partners, but with one of our favorite Administrative Assistants on vacation, I neglected to post the last two weeks of activity to the blog. They are here now...please visit the Weekly Police Activity page on our website or click on the links below.

http://www.ci.arcadia.ca.us/docs/weekly_report_10.13-10.19.pdf

http://www.ci.arcadia.ca.us/docs/weekly_10.20.pdf

Sgt. Le Veque

Local Teen Eager to Teach Bicycle Safety

Kristen Tarsala is a Girl Scout on a mission: a mission to champion bicycle safety in her community! Not only is Kristen a student at Arcadia High School, but she is a member of the AHS Band, and has been involved with Scouting for the last 11 years.  Kristen currently holds the rank of Ambassador in the Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles and is working toward obtaining the Gold Award, the Girl Scout equivalent to the rank of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts.

A step for Kristen in achieving her Gold Award is taking on the task of developing and implementing a bicycle training course for youth in her community.  Kristen is well on her way, impressing our Arcadia Police Department Traffic Sergeant, Brett Bourgeous, at a recent presentation at Dana Middle School.

Kristen is offering her bicycle safety training to local school and service groups in Arcadia.  What better opportunity than to have youth speaking directly to their peers on such a topic?  We wish Kristen the best of luck in her endeavors...no doubt she will reach and exceed her goals!

If you are interested in reaching out to Kristen for training, please contact Sergeant Brett Bourgeous at 626.574.5475.

Weekly Tip - Halloween Traffic Safety!

Halloween night will bring plenty of gatherings and activity to our neighborhoods. As you drive or make your way around town, please pay close attention for pedestrians and little goblins running across the street. Watch out for our kids as they trick or treat on Halloween night from house to house or while getting out of parked cars.

Arcadia, like many communities, has many homes that are decorated and offer "haunted houses" attracting crowds of kids and traffic. When visiting these locations, enjoy the experience but remember to obey traffic laws and parking regulations.

• Don't double park or drop off passengers in the roadway.
• Don't block driveways.
• Don't park in crosswalks.
• Don't park in front of fire hydrants.

Please be courteous and respectful of your neighbors. Drive carefully and be aware of all the children celebrating tonight!

Halloween Night, Thursday, October 31st. - Longden Avenue will be closed to through traffic between El Monte - Holly Avenues from 4:00 - 10:30 pm.  The closure is to accommodate expected pedestrian and vehicle traffic converging on this area on Halloween night.  Please use Duarte Road or Las Tunas Drive as alternate east-west roadways.  Residents with identification living in the 200-400 blocks West Longden Avenue will be able to access the closure.

And always - Don't Drink & Drive!

Halloween Partiers Beware: The AVOID THE 100 DUI Task Force is Cracking Down on Drunk Drivers

HALLOWEEN PARTIERS BEWARE: The AVOID THE 100 LOS ANGELES COUNTY DUI TASK FORCE IS CRACKING DOWN ON DRUNK DRIVERS

Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over

Arcadia, CA - This Halloween, and Halloween weekend, police, sheriff and CHP Officers will crack down on drunk and drugged drivers throughout the region with an aggressiveDrive Sober or Get Pulled Over enforcement effort. The Avoid the 100 DUI Task Force has given fair warning to all party goers: Keep the party off the road.

The Avoid the 100 – Los Angeles County DUI Task Force will be deploying additional patrols this Thursday, October 31, 2013 , and Saturday, November 2, 2013, throughout the San Gabriel Valley, in addition to routine patrols already scheduled to stop and arrest alcohol or drug impaired drivers.

Halloween is one of the deadliest holidays of the year on our roadways. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), from 2007-2011, 52 percent of all national fatalities occurring on Halloween night involved a drunk driver. Males ages 21-34 comprised almost half of all drunk drivers who were killed in motor vehicle traffic crashes nationwide during the 2011 Halloween period. It is the deadliest night for child pedestrians of any night of the whole year.

If you celebrate with alcohol, you don’t belong behind the wheel!

To keep safe this Halloween, the Avoid the 100 – Los Angeles County DUI Task Force recommends these tips:

 Before the Halloween festivities begin, plan a way to safely get home at the end of the night.

 Always designate a sober driver.

 If you are impaired, take a taxi, call a sober friend or family member, or use public transportation.

 Walking impaired can be just as dangerous as drunk driving. Designate a sober friend to walk you home.

 Use one of your community’s sober ride programs, like Jan’s Towing Don’t Drive Drunk Detour Program. Call (626) 334-1383 for more information.

 If you see a drunk driver on the road, contact local law enforcement.

 If you know someone who is about to drive or ride while impaired, take their keys and help them make safe travel arrangements to where they are going. If you think you have to ask if they are okay to drive, you already know they’re not.

Funding for this operation is provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Robert Guthrie

Chief of Police

By: Brett Bourgeous

Sergeant

Global Police Tweet-a-thon Returns November 1st

A Day on Patrol with Your Local Police or Sheriff – Arcadia PD to Participate in Global Tweet-a-thon

The Arcadia Police Department is participating in a Global Tweet-a-thon. What is it like to patrol the streets of Arcadia on a Friday morning or evening? What types of calls do Arcadia officers respond to? In an effort to give Arcadia residents a glimpse inside the way officers work to keep our community safe, the Arcadia Police Department will participate in the Global Police Tweet-a-thon on Friday, November 1, 2013 between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. (Virtual ride-along)

Officers from the Arcadia Police Department will join more than 200 participating law enforcement agencies across six countries to take to Twitter in an effort to bring attention and understanding to the use of social media by law enforcement.

Agencies will tweet using the same hashtag, #poltwt, to create awareness about police work and law enforcement issues, as well as to promote the use of social media and transparency in law enforcement.

There are currently more than 200 agencies participating from the U.S., Canada, UK, Sweden, Iceland, and Australia. Any law enforcement agency can join the Tweet-a-thon and tweet during any portion of the 24-hour period. For a list of participating agencies, please visit https://twitter.com/ConnectedCOPS/police-tweet-a-thon-2013/members.

"Locally, we hope to use the event as a virtual ride-along, giving the community a glimpse of the daily activity and a behind the scenes look at the typical day of a patrol officer; and, on a larger scale, we hope our participation continues to positively influence the rapidly growing acknowledgement, acceptance, and use of social media by other public safety agencies.” – Sergeant Tom Le Veque, Arcadia PD (@TRLeVeque)

Make sure to mark your calendars for next Friday, November 1st and follow us @ArcadiaPD between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. If you don’t already use Twitter, sign up for free at https://twitter.com/ArcadiaPD.

Please be aware the number of Twitter messages generated in conjunction with the hashtag, #poltwt, for the Global Tweet-a-thon, and from our agency, @ArcadiaPD, will be in excess of what may be considered a daily number of Twitter messages from @ArcadiaPD. Please take this into consideration should you have “push notifications” activated for our Twitter feed.

Your @ArcadiaPD hosts for the day will be Sergeants Tom Le Veque and Dan Crowther. Our Watch Commanders can be reached at 626-574-5156 or please engage with us on Twitter.