2005
OPD 940
Once OPD
Always OPD
Always OPD
2005 OPD 940 |
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Once OPD Always OPD |
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James Benjamin Smith
For those of you who didn't know Tom he retired as a Sergeant. We were patrolmen in old District I together. He and Lew Mace were the two cars along lower 7th St. - old Beat 1. Tom Otto and "Fig" Newton worked beat 2, Nolan Darnell and I worked beat 4. Joe Colletti was our technician. We had Bob Cree and later Elmer "Lefty" Krause and Farren "Skip" Sutter as the Sergeants. Dick Hartwig, Jim Farrington and Rich Cademartori also worked with Tom I think. ***Back to top Cubby was the first and last Oakland Police Office to be hired without a drivers license! No one had ask him if he had one. As his training continued Evelyn spent evening and weekend time teaching him how to drive. Cubby passed probation with a brand new drivers license. Trust me, every applicant after Cubby was ask about his drivers license status. EDWIN F. HULSE Passed away suddenly and unexpectedly on Saturday, June 18, 2005. Loving husband of Evelyn Hulse for 51 years. Devoted father to Pamela Frye and Richard Hulse. Beloved grandfather to Autumn, Heather, Richard, Jessica and Christopher. Beloved brother of Carole Evans. Born Nov. 16, 1927, in Somerville , Mass. A resident of San Leandro for 50 It was with great sadness that today I read on Openline of the passing of Ed "Cubby Bear" Hulse. I worked with Ed when we were assigned to SOS in the early 70's. *** ***Back to top Al Long story. Al Long was a good guy and a good cop. He is one command officer I seemed to run into on a pretty regular basis on the street. One night I was working Juvenile and teamed up with Tom Donohue we were assisting in some riot out in the east end. The OPD command post was set up at 81st and E.14 in the Quarter Pounder lot. The media surrounded the place. I was driving and in those days I smoked a cigar, I was smoking one this night. We headed over to the CP and were northbound on 81st Ave. approaching E..14 when we were held up in traffic. There were about four cars ahead of us. Suddenly there was a bright flame of light and a Molotov cocktail fully aflame hit the right front fender of our car. This was followed immediately by a second which arched over the car and hit on the left front. We were being bracketed. The car immediately behind us burned rubber heading S/B backwards. A uniformed officer ran other to us from the CP yelling get that SOB he threw the bottle at you guys. I hit reverse and we had a high speed reverse chase until the car spun out. We were out of our car in a flash and as things worked out this was the exact time the TV cameras arrived down from the CP. I will not be to descriptive here but the occupants of the car got thumped, cuffed and in the back seat in record time. On the TV news that night they had film on the whole thing including a great shot of me smoking a big cigar as we drove off. Trouble is our two prisoners started crying. We pulled over and talked with them. They panicked when the Molotov cocktails hit and were just trying to get away from them when we stopped them. We got hold of the uniformed officer and asked if he saw these guys throw the bottle. He had not but assumed it had to be them because of the way they reacted. We called for a supervisor and along came Al Long. We took him aside and explained best we could what had happened including the part about TV capturing the whole thing on film. Al Long told us our hearts were in the right place and we acted as he would expect us to under the circumstances and asked to speak to our prisoners. He got in the car and talked with them for about 15 minutes. Everyone was happy when he got out. He came over and shook hands with us and asked if we could bring the prisoners back to their car. Al had tamed what could have been a nasty situation. Thank you Al Long. A real gentleman AND systematic, "ahead of the curve ' & safe PILOT too...jim c Jim Coleman I have a different take, but I loved him, and still do, as much as anyone... maybe more for some very peculiar and personal reasons. He was a good man. We should all be proud to have counted him as one of our own. He and I were living proof that every OPD was/is an individual character. What distinguished us from the rest of the world, and endeared us to each other, was the privilege we had to wear the OPD tattoo prominently on our hearts. ronoz Sorry. I don't have any photos of Al Long, but I have plenty of memories, as does any one who served in Traffic Division during his era. Maybe we can recount some of the more famous ones in this forum. Probably one of the best is the "Traffic Divison Al Long Retirement Ride" with the retirement dinner at the Ballena Bay "Whale's Tail Restaurant" that night. May God bless him. JAK have to join the chorus singing praise for Al Long... but with a twist. I had the utmost respect and admiration for Lieutenant Long Lt. Long did my background in 1965. After I got on the Dept he was my Lt in Patrol for a while. When I made Sgt. and was assigned to Radio he asked me if I'd like to come to Traffic Division and be his Administrative Sgt. He later talked me into going onto motors even after my stupid "my mama didn't raise no fools" remarks. While serving in Traffic with Lt Long he was involved in a discussion with a Deputy Chief, a Captain and some other command officers about a disciplinary matter dealing one of Traffic Division's finest motor officers. He commented that some his fellow command officers were "sanctimonious bastards". One of the sanctimonious bastards complained to Chief Gain and Lt Long got served with a 5-day suspension order for insubordination. The processing of that suspension holds the record to this day for speedy process. Al Long was an intelligent, kind, fair and incredibly decent human being. He was a real Oakland PoliceTraffic Officer along with Milt Habelt Clay Campbell Traffic Division, Retired
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Date of Birth: October 16, 1964
On the afternoon of July 22 the Oakland Police Department suffered the loss of one of it's most highly respected, veteran Motor Officers. Officer William L. Seuis (39) who had been with the Department for sixteen years was enroute home, in uniform on his assigned motorcycle, traveling Southbound on Interstate 238, when he was struck and run over by a big rig truck. The big rig truck did not stop at the scene of the accident. Officer Seuis was transported to the Eden Hospital suffering from massive multiple injuries. All efforts to save his life failed and Seuis succumbed to his injuries shortly after arriving at the hospital. The driver of the big rig truck, Carlos Mares (37) of Union City, who had fled the scene, was arrested approximately 15 minutes after the incident by CHP officers assigned to the Dublin Office. Mares was charged with vehicular manslaughter and felony hit and run. Michelle Seuis, widow of the fallen officer, was joined in the Emergency Room at the hospital by his parents, Oakland Police Chief Richard Word and several members of his Department, all praying for his recovery. When their prayers went unanswered, Chief Word had the always difficult task of informing the parents and Seuis' wife Michelle that one of Oakland's finest had died. "She has to go home to tell her kids now", Chief Word said tearfully. "They always have kids".
On the morning of July 28, members of the Seuis family were joined at the Neighborhood Church in Castro Valley by more than 2,000 mourners gathered to pay their final respects to a fallen hero. In addition to family, friends, neighbors, civic leaders and fellow officers, there were more than 300 uniformed motor officers from a myriad of jurisdictions in attendance. An overt expression of the camaraderie that exist among the ranks of law enforcement motor officers. Chief Word eulogized Officer Seuis as "dependable, hard working, and as steady as they come. An officer to the core". Family members, his pastor, neighbors and fellow officers remembered William L. Seuis in glowing terms as "a great husband and father". "A man of strong character and an outstanding public servant". "Always ready with a smile and helping hand". "A pleasure to be around. An ideal partner". The personnel file of Seuis filled with commendations, offered testimony as to his professional conduct and demeanor. One lady even wrote thanking him for writing her a traffic ticket. Officer William L. Seuis was laid to rest in a private ceremony at Mission Gardens in Livermore, attended by family members and members of the Oakland Police Department. He was thirty-nine years old. Officer Seuis is survived by his wife Michelle and daughters Danielle (13) and Kristin (11).
Memorial donations may be made to the Seuis Family Trust, C/0 Oakland Police Officers Association, 555 5th Street, Oakland, CA 94607. ***Back to top Another thing about Tommy, he could throw a punch, I was working the wagon with Wynn Troyer, Tommy flagged us down and was interviewing a possible theft susp, just as we got out of the wagon the fool threw a punch at Tommy, wrong move Tommy popped him with about a 12 inch punch and the guy buckled to the sidewalk. Good Man, Hell of a Cop (R.I.P.) Tom Tommy Turner was one of a kind, they threw the mold away when they made that guy. A more jovial or personable man with always a smile and a nice word for everyone. There may be some 'older' timers that remember his days as a motor officerwriting speeders on what was the developing Mac Arthur freeway. He used toclock the speeders on his motorcycle from his favorite riding position, thedirt that was the center median. He was also one of the best motorcycle riders ever to work for OPD. I remember one morning at about 07:00 sitting under the BART tracks on 7th @ Maritime waiting for the "Port People" to blow the red light. A full-faced helmeted Honda 750 rider blew the light at a very high rate of speed. I was no slouch myself in those days and fired up after him. From more than a quarter mile away I could see the bike turn into the bayside yard where they were manufacturing oil drilling platforms. By the time I got there Tommy was already firing up his welding torch to get to work...this was probably 8 or so years after he retired from OPD as the Range Master. I haven't seen him in years, but other police retirees in the Roseville area tell me he had been active in the local Blue Knight M/C Chapter. And, I might add, one hell-of-a motorcycle rider. The Thomas D. Turner who passed away Friday, June 24th, was *NOT* the same K-9 handler and east end tac unit that many of you know as "Tommy" Turner. ***Back to top
I'm saddened to report that retired OPD Officer Howard Vogt passed
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Solomon Missionary Baptist Church where he was baptized by Rev. Dr. Willie Floyd in Benicia. He was preceded in death by his son, Major Lee Smith in 1975, and sister, Darlene Smith in 1992. James is survived by his three sons, James Benjamin, Jr. of Benicia, Daniel Calvin Periera of Oakley, and David Wayne Periera (Cassandra) of Bremerton, WA; and three daughters, Maria Ann Periera Smith of Oakley, Malia Joy Periera Smith of Oakley, and Victoria Izabell Frances Smith of Georgetown, NY . He leaves behind to mourn two brothers Clyde Carmichael, Jr. (Gwen) and Rosevelt (Wendy) both of Fairfield; six sisters, Guynell Smith of Vallejo, Minnie Pearl Hunter of Hayward, Dorothy Marie Smith of Vallejo, Aery Jean Upton of Vallejo, Cecelia Victorine Jenkins (Rudy) of Concord, and Elaine Smith of Vallejo, uncle, Vester Lee Flanagan, fianc Mary Rocha Periera Smith of Oakley, his precious dearest friends Margie Darlene Smith of Benicia, and Jeffrey and Renee Hassna both of Tracey, and Wendy Appleby of Martinez, a host of nieces and nephews, and other relatives and friends. Visitation will be from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., Friday at Passalacqua Funeral Chapel, Benicia . Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at Union Baptist Church, 128 Encerti Avenue, Vallejo, with Rev. Dr. Willie Floyd officiating. In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent to the Oakland Police Department Associations' Widows and Orphans Fund at P.O. Box 530, Oakland, California 94601 or to the American Cancer Society. 
