\u00a0It is no surprise that police Lt. Misty Cedrun hails from a small town in the Midwest and community relations officer Larry Hesselgesser is a Southern California product. Cedrun brings that small-town friendliness to her job, while Hesselgesser, a member of the police diving team, is all about the ocean.
\nEach has a unique story of how they chose police work as a vocation. Hesselgesser\u2019s first\u00a0 job was as a cashier in a drugstore, where a guy kept coming in and stealing liquor.\u00a0 One day, Hesselgesser decided to chase the thief around the block, caught him and police arrested the criminal.\u00a0 Hesselgesser also lived next door to a canine officer, who took him on ride-alongs. He said he found his niche in police work.\u00a0
\nOn the other hand, Cedrun confessed to a practical reason, admitting it wasn\u2019t as exciting as Hesselgesser\u2019s story.\u00a0 She left a career in real estate and sought a stable job with health\u00a0benefits and retirement plans.\u00a0In her witty fashion, she said:\u00a0“It sounded like an awfully fun job, to be paid to be nosey and go where no one else goes,”\u00a0 she laughed.\u00a0 “At 30, it was a financial decision.”\u00a0 Certainly, the communities of U.C., La Jolla, Clairemont, Bay Ho and Bay Park have benefitted from having these outstanding police officers protecting and serving their neighborhoods.
\nPolice work is unlike any other job and truly “good cops” are on duty 24\/7, hypervigilant to what is going on.\u00a0 In this writer\u2019s opinion,\u00a0what has been going on in San Diego is media overkill about the few\u00a0bad apples in the police force.\u00a0
\nThe normally smiling lieutenant got serious when asked about recent negative press about alleged criminal acts by police.\u00a0 “I grieve\u00a0when\u00a0I\u00a0hear about \u00a0misconduct allegations, from patrol officers to captains.\u00a0You hope it\u2019s not true.\u00a0The department is full of human beings, flawed at times, just like other human beings.\u00a0The media paints with a broad brush and it is painful.\u00a0All of the police officers I know are hard-working and dedicated to serving the public. Not much grace is given to us by the media … no balance … all bad. \u00a0I see all good when I look around Northern Division and other divisions … the silent marchers.\u00a0 We don\u2019t do this work for the praise, but we have made lots of deposits. Now we need withdrawals from the public in the form of understanding. I feel it dishonors the badge we proudly wear when officers break the law.”
\nHesselgesser chimed in.\u00a0 “The public perception of\u00a0 the investigative process for accused police officers is more so than for\u00a0the general public because it is law enforcement.\u00a0Be patient,” he said. “Let the process work through. Give the benefit of a doubt.”
\nCedrun said the internal investigations officers are all supervisors. They check on the\u00a0situations involving alleged\u00a0crimes among police officers.\u00a0 “You look at the facts,” said Hesselgesser. “No bias is involved, only evidence. Then a Citizen Review Board reviews the findings based on evidence.”
\nWith the sudden departure of Police Chief William Lansdowne and the installation of Shelley Zimmerman as the new chief, both Cedrun and Hesselgesser weighed in on\u00a0this decision to elevate Zimmerman to chief of\u00a0 police with enthusiasm.\u00a0 Hesselgesser said he considers Zimmerman a friend.\u00a0 “She has a lot of roots at Northern Division as a lieutenant and captain here.\u00a0 I was proud to work with her,” he said.\u00a0“I couldn\u2019t be happier.”
\nCedrun agreed. “She is brilliant, with the \u00a0sharpest edge of her ethics in her 31 years on the force,” Cedrun said.\u00a0 “She does right when no one is looking. “What Chief Lansdowne did to keep the crime down \u00a0with so little resources was amazing,” she said.\u00a0 “He also said that it falls on him when police break the law and he\u00a0decided to step down.”
\nHesselgesser has been at Northern for 20 years.\u00a0 He likes the idea of serving in many capacities.\u00a0 “It\u2019s a different challenge every day,” he said.\u00a0“The best part of my job is taking all my experience and helping people where things may fall through the crack for them.\u00a0I can match them with the right people.” He deals with 150-200 emails a week, while Cedrun gets around 700 a week.\u00a0 Of that number, 60 percent have some work attached to them.\u00a0 She is committed to the community and makes herself available, as does Hesselgesser.
\nCedrun has spent her 20 years in many different areas\u00a0of police work.\u00a0 “I see myself as coach and mentor,” she said.\u00a0“I can share from having the big picture of the organization, passing forward my experience since I have moved every couple of years.\u00a0While Larry has a niche that is needed with his 20 years at Northern that gives him a stable schedule, I\u00a0go wherever the department needs me.\u00a0 For example, if border crime is an issue and I\u2019m bilingual, I\u00a0am sent there.”
\nBoth\u00a0Cedrun and Hesselgesser said they admired former Northern Division police Capt. Brian Ahern, but now they have Capt. Jerry Hara.\u00a0 “We have won the lotto,” Cedrun said.\u00a0“He was both a patrol officer and seargeant at Northern and is the kindest, servant leader around.”\u00a0
\nThere are only 12 captains in the San Diego Police Department.\u00a0Funding this year will allow for eight police service officers and\u00a0investigators, who will assist patrols, cold cases and home break-ins so patrol officers can pursue crimes in progress.\u00a0 Cedrun celebrated her first anniversary at Northern on March 15.\u00a0 She said she loves being here and\u00a0divides her duties into thirds:\u00a0 community, administration and patrol.\u00a0 “Officer Hesselgesser is\u00a0omni-present,”Cedrun said.\u00a0 Both put in long hours but are not complainers.\u00a0\u00a0
\nUniversity City\u2019s population is 49,000, second to Mira Mesa in size.\u00a0 U.C. Neighborhood Watch is a success story.\u00a0 U.C. had the largest group at National Night Out in the summer.\u00a0
\nHesselgesser said the average citizen is thinking what they are going to do, while police think about the possibility of criminal activity.\u00a0 “I enjoy teaching people how to make a house safe, why it is critical to lock outside gates, and use lighting to ward off crimes,” he said.
\nAs the interview winds down, Cedrun promised, “We will never spin things. We are transparent, honest.\u00a0I will always tell you the truth.”\u00a0 Since Zimmerman will only serve for four years due to her\u00a0 being part of the DROP program that has her due to retire in four years, it would be wise to have Cedrun groomed to follow in Zimmerman\u2019s footsteps.\u00a0Why spend money and time looking across the country when you have the talent and ability in one officer whose star is rising and why not make Lt. Cedrun the second woman in a row to lead San Diego\u2019s police force and maybe start a trend.\u00a0 Officer Hesselgesser would probably endorse this idea.\u00a0<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0It is no surprise that police Lt. Misty Cedrun hails from a small town in the Midwest and community relations officer Larry Hesselgesser is a Southern California product. Cedrun brings that small-town friendliness to her job, while Hesselgesser, a member of the police diving team, is all about the ocean. Each has a unique story […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":279446,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11560","_seopress_titles_title":"View from 52: Officers in UC take public involvemen to hear","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11560,11552],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-279445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-la-jolla-village-news","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279445\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}