Recognizing the People Who Keep Us Safe

The Chamber will be hosting its annual recognition banquet at Brookside Golf Club tonight at 6 p.m. A few weeks ago we wrote about the citizens who are being honored in categories such as Man of the Year and Woman of the Year. Today, we’d like to tell you about the honorees in law enforcement who are working hard to make our community safer.

Officer Raymond Piedra is our California Highway Patrol honoree. Besides continually working as a CHP patrol officer since 2005, Officer Piedra is past recipient of the Commander’s Certificate of Commendation in recognition of exceptional performance during an off-duty L.A. County Sheriff’s Deputy-involved shooting. He also received accolades for a shrewd tactic while on-duty. While assigned to the Monrovia gang suppression detail, Officer Piedra responded to a dispatch report of two carjacking suspects leaving the scene of a traffic collision. Piedra and his partner wisely decided to check the area just outside of the contained perimeter and found one suspect hiding in a trash can. The suspect was positively identified by the victims.

Our next honoree is Detective Scott Byrne with the Glendale Police Department.  Det. Byrne joined the force more than two decades ago after going on a ride-along with Glendale police. Det. Byrne claims at that point “he was hooked.”  Since then he has worked as a patrol officer, a traffic officer and a property crimes detective. After working on an LAPD Task Force, Byrne picked up investigative skills to better detect fraud. Since then he’s investigated several high-profile fraud cases including a Glendale Galleria Lego Store employee who allegedly stole more than $35,000 worth of Lego products, reselling them on eBay at a large mark-up. In conjunction with his other duties, Byrne has served on Glendale’s SWAT team for more than 15 years.

Finally, we are recognizing the members of the CV Sheriff’s Crime Suppression Team. These four individuals – Detective Frank Diana, Deputy John Gaudino, Deputy Dennis Gill and Deputy Eddie Tsuang – are dedicated to making the area they work in a better and safer place. Due to recent changes with state law, a large number of inmates with lower level crimes were released from custody. Consequently there was an increase in burglaries throughout our area.  The Crime Suppression Team was deployed to concentrate on residential neighborhoods, advising and encouraging residents to report anything suspicious. While on patrol, the deputies each made significant traffic stops leading to several arrests of burglars. They also ensure that people living in the area are compliant with the terms of their probation or parole. Several of those compliance checks led to arrests including identity theft and narcotics and weapons violations. Because of these four men’s efforts, there has been a dramatic reduction in burglaries in our area.

The Crescenta Valley Chamber thanks these individuals for their service and recognizes their outstanding efforts.

Coming up: October mixer at Bonner’s, 6935 Foothill Blvd., Tujunga on Wednesday, Oct. 14 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The membership drawing is up to $350! But you must be present to win. See you there!

  Lisa DUPUY