The Gilroy Police Department added four new officers in a badge pinning ceremony this week. It promoted three others and an officer and a blood technician retired.Â
The department’s community room was packed for the ceremony, which featured an honor guard, moving speeches and badges pinned by family members.
Gilroy Police Chief Denise Turner stressed that the department of 65 sworn officers and 104 total staff is like a family and she wanted the officers’ families to be a big part of the ceremony.
There were many moving moments, but none more than the retirement of Sgt Greg Flippo, who served 28 years and is moving on to a job at the University of California at Santa Cruz.Â
Turner joked about him “double dipping” and Flippo responded by ripping off his Gilroy jacket and showing his new UCSC uniform underneath.
Turner also joked about how several of the new officers served in Salinas first, something that didn’t sit well with the administration there.
