9-21-18 Sec 1 pg 1-9_Edition 9/19/18 3:57 PM Page 5
highlandnews.net n Highland Community News
Longtime lieutenant lands in Highland
By JAMES FOLMER
E DITOR
H IGHLAND C OMMUNITY N EWS
Like many veterans of the
San Bernardino County Sher-
iff’s Department, Highland’s
new lieutenant has moved
around plenty in the nation’s
largest county.
“One of my goals was to work
in as much of the department
as I could,” Lt. Patrick O’Brien
told the Highland Kiwanis Club
on Thursday, Sept. 13. “We’re a
huge department. We have the
valley, desert, mountains — I
wanted to see as much as I
could.”
In nearly 30 years with the
department, O’Brien has
worked in Barstow, the Central
Station in San Bernardino,
Fontana, Rancho Cucamonga.
He has worked the Central and
West Valley detention centers.
He has worked in the Ontario-
Perris Division.
“I’ve done narcotics, I’ve
done SWAT, I had a K-9 for sev-
en years, which was probably
one of the best assignments
that I’ve had,” O’Brien said.
He moved from Central Sta-
tion to Highland in July after
Highland’s Lt. John Walker was
promoted to captain and trans-
ferred to Chino Hills.
“I started in the ‘80s up in
Twin Peaks as an Explorer fol-
lowing the footsteps of my un-
cle and my dad,” he told the
Highland Kiwanis Club on
Thursday, Sept. 13.
His uncle was a deputy and
his dad was in the reserves at
the time.
“We’d drive out from Los An-
geles all the way out to make
the meetings,” he said.
After that, he served in the
military in Korea. He later
worked as a dispatcher in a
Kansas police department,
which declined to promote him.
That’s when he came to San
Bernardino County.
When he was introduced to
Woman who was not wearing a
seat belt ejected in rollover, dies
A woman driving east on In-
terstate 10 near Mountain View
Avenue struck another car ear-
ly Tuesday morning, Sept. 18,
was ejected and died. She was
not wearing a seat belt.
The California Highway Pa-
trol reports that at 2:20 p.m.,
the driver — a 46-year-old resi-
dent of Pearblossom — was
driving a gray Volkswagen Jet-
ta in the No. 1 lane at approxi-
mately 70 mph when the car
veered right and struck a white
Toyota Camry being driven by
Julie Philippovna, 43, of Red-
lands, in the No. 2 lane.
“The Volkswagen veered to
the left, struck the guardrail in
the center divider, and the vehi-
cle began to overturn,” the
PUBLIC SAFETY Friday, Sept. 21, 2018 5
the Highland City Council on trol, the East Valley Water Dis- kit, dinner and breakfast, an op-
Aug. 14, O’Brien said his father trict, the National Forest, the portunity to take a shower and
was Irish and his mother was San Bernardino Police Depart- case management to assist
Polish. He told the Kiwanis ment and San Manuel police. them in securing an income
Club he has two children in col- “And then, above the jurisdic- stream and finding more appro-
lege and expects to work anoth- tions, you have weeds that grow priate housing.
er two to three years in the de- in there that you can’t trample Guests must leave in the
partment. and there’s kangaroo rats that morning — presumably to look
O’Brien said his wife worked you can’t disturb, and its nest- for work — but they can leave
for the Covina police for 22 ing season for the birds,” behind a bag of belongings and
years before retiring. She has O’Brien said. bedding.
since gone back to work doing He’s meeting with all the in- Foucher serves on an adviso-
background checks for the volved the parties involved so ry committee.
Sheriff’s Department. his deputies can clean up the “In the old mission, the bed
He called the Highland sta- area. bugs got into the woodwork,”
tion “great” and said it’s a H igHland C ommunity n ews A new challenge comes from she said, “So this new dorm
pHoto by J ames F olmer
young crew compared to the the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Ap- would have the metal frame
stations he has worked in previ- lt. patrick o'brien speaks peals’ Sept. 4 ruling that a city bunk beds.”
ously. As a lieutenant, O’Brien to the Highland Kiwanis can’t bar homeless people from Last month, the station made
does the scheduling, so he’s fa- Club on thursday, sept. spending the night on public three arrests after stopping a
miliar with deputies’ years of 13. property if they have nowhere car with more than 90 pieces of
service. else to go. stolen mail.
Most of the stations that he “They’re kind of thin on Highland doesn’t have a “The most effective way of
has run have several deputies leads,” he said. homeless shelter, but the stopping mail theft, from our
with 20 years or more of serv- Controlling homeless en- Lutheran Church operates a end, is making traffic stops,”
ice. In Highland, the most expe- campments is a big challenge shelter on G Street in San O’Brien said.
rienced employees have 13 or for the station, particularly in Bernardino, said Kiwanian Har- That stop led to two trash
14 years on the job, he said. environmentally sensitive ar- riet Foucher. bags full of mail, which was
“It’s a very young, active eas. The area behind Walmart The Central City Lutheran handed over to the postal in-
group of deputies,” he said. — north of Highland city limits Mission provides shelter up to spectors who are making sure
It had been a while since the — is a tricky area with many 90 days for men 18 or older. It the mail reaches its intended
station added a deputy, until jurisdictions, such as flood con- provides blankets, a hygiene destination.
Jonathan Ramstad joined
George Anagnostopoulos on the
Quality of Life team, working
with code enforcement and
homeless issues.
Ramstad is off for a while
with a new baby.
O’Brien said the team is re-
building the crime-free housing
program, making landlords re-
sponsible for the actions of
their tenants.
“In the other cities I’ve
worked in it has been very ef-
fective,” he said.
San Bernardino is revitalizing
its crime-free housing program
after eight people were shot on
Sept. 2 in an apartment com-
plex on Lynwood Drive. One
died. O’Brien called it “a gang-
on-gang thing.”
San Bernardino officers tell
him there has not been very
much cooperation, he said.
press release says. “Due to the
driver not wearing her seatbelt,
she was ejected from the vehi-
cle and landed on freeway
lanes.”
Responders arrived on scene
and began to render aide to the
driver. She was taken to Loma
Linda Medical Center, where
she died at 3 p.m.
Philippovna was not injured
and was able to drive away
from the scene.
The identity of the deceased
is being withheld pending noti-
fication of next of kin.
Anyone with information re-
garding this collision is encour-
aged to contact Officer Markos
at the San Bernardino CHP Of-
fice at (909) 383-4247.