Questions for cops
“Hello, Red Phone. I’m a senior at Gilroy High School and recently a police officer stopped me after I was coming home from my job at Safeway. He let me know that I need a light on my bike because it’s dark and I could get hit by a car. I just want to thank him for letting me know that. He also told me that I can’t wear headphones while I ride my bike. I just want to know what the law is. I didn’t know I couldn’t wear headphones while I ride my bike. I also want to tell them I hope they find the person who stole the brown bike that they told me they were looking for. Even though they stopped me, I have a blue bike, maybe I looked suspicious or something. Also, why did they need two officers to check out one person? I’m just wondering why. Thank you.”
Red Phone:
Lots of comments and questions, so the Red Phone contacted Gilroy Police Cpl. Justin Matsuhara to get the scoop.
California vehicle code laws state that bikers must have a headlight visible up to 500 feet, along with reflectors on the back and on the pedals. The driver of a bike is not allowed to wear headphones, as vehicle drivers are prohibited, because they need to be able to hear oncoming traffic.
And since you, good caller, were stopped at night, for officer safety reasons the department tries to send an additional officer during a stop in the event the individual tries to run from or fight with the officer.
Dog policy
“I just want to know what the Gilroy PD policy is when they pick up a lost dog? I lost my full bred Maltese and when I called Gilroy PD the same day she got out, they told me she was there. When I arrived, apparently they had given her away already to another police officer who decided to take her home. What exactly is the policy? Do they hold the dogs there or do they just get full bred dogs and decided to give them away to employees? Thank you.”
Red Phone:
Cpl. Matsuhara answered this one too.
“The dogs are held here (at the Gilroy police station). In the event where we feel the pet can be cared for at an employee’s house we allow them to take them home,” he said. “They go through a sign out process so we know where the animal is at all times.”
The kennels in the back often fill up and by allowing Gilroy Police Department employees to take animals home it frees up space in the kennel and is better for the animal.
How do we donate?
“We read the article about donating benches, picnic tables, water fountains, etc. in memory of loved ones who had passed away. We went down to the City offices to get a brochure about the project, but no one seemed to know what we were talking about. The article in the paper was just the week before. We haven’t seen anything about it since then. So is this a case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand it doing?”
Red Phone:
It’s a big City Hall – 270 people big in fact – and it’s likely you reached the wrong people. Cut to the chase by calling the Community Services Department at 846-0460. Ask for department head Susan Andrade-Wax or just say you want to make a contribution. They’ll be thrilled to hear from you.
