A Walk, a Talk, and Public Safety on King Avenue

Our Piedmont Recreation Department’s Walking on Wednesdays group enjoyed another beautiful walk last week, highlighted by a special “Cop on the Block” visit with officers from the Piedmont Police Department.

Forty walkers and five of our K-9 best friends were on hand. This is a community-oriented policing initiative that PPD started in 2023. It is intended to increase officers’ visibility and foster communication, as well as build relationships with residents. Officers conduct scheduled, informal foot patrols in different Piedmont neighborhoods. Residents have the opportunity to discuss concerns, report any safety issues, ask questions, and just talk with the officers. These gatherings frequently occur on weekdays, early mornings, or evenings to accommodate residents’ different schedules. PPD releases a monthly schedule and an interactive map that shows past (blue) and future (yellow) patrol locations.

Captain Chris Monahan conducts this weekly activity. Earlier in April he had officers on Warfield, San Carlos, Mountain, and Estates Avenues. For this last Wednesday of April, he scheduled the event for 11:30 AM at King Avenue between Hampton Road and Lincoln Avenue so that we could meet the officers. Before meeting them, we followed a circuitous route through Highland, Sheridan, and Wildwood Avenues, continuing along Crocker and LaSalle. Along the way, we enjoyed a peak week of spring blooms, including vibrant rhododendrons, roses, dogwoods, and jasmine.

We went up LaSalle to King and made our way up it. There is no indication that King Avenue is named after a single, specific, prominent historical person such as Frank C. Havens or Hugh Craig. King Avenue was part of Piedmont’s early 1900s residential development with residences documented as early as 1913. One significant historic home is the former carriage house of Wallace Alexander’s early 20th-century, Sea View Avenue "Brown Gables" estate, which is 84 King.

We climbed up and across King, and as we approached Hampton, we saw a Piedmont Police car parked on King next to Crocker/Bear Park. Officer Hugo Diaz was nearby talking with a resident. He was soon surrounded by us, and we all went into the park to be in the shade and talk. But before we got started, we took a group photo with Officer Diaz and the Benny Bufano ground granite, over five feet tall, 2.5 tons Nursing Bear and Cubs sculpture. It has been in the park since 1980 and is Number 9 of a limited edition of 25 of these sculptures with only five thought to be in the Bay Area.

Officer Diaz told us that he is an Oakland native. He was an art major at Cal State East Bay and did graduate work in art but decided there were greater career opportunities in police work. He joined the PPD eight years ago. His background made it natural for him to become PPD’s Juvenile Liaison Officer with Piedmont’s schools.

We had lots of issues and questions for Officer Diaz. Bad car driver behavior was a hot topic. One walker, who lives on Oakland Avenue, said he once saw a car driving 58 miles an hour down his busy street. People running stop signs also makes walkers feel unsafe. Additionally, students on electric bikes are often seen riding at high, unsafe speeds. Middle school boys seem to be particular problem. Officer Diaz said he has communications with the schools about this, but parents need to be aware of the problem and danger to their children. Additionally, social media could be used to raise awareness of this issue. Piedmont’s school crossing guards were recognized as doing important work to protect students.

Sergeant Nicole Casalnuova, who oversees the PPD’s Neighborhood Watch Program, joined the discussion and provided additional perspective. Piedmont Police officers are “police for the State of California” and can engage in vehicle pursuits outside Piedmont city limits, but the endings of these chases are almost aways “not pretty,” so the policy is not to do them unless there is violence or weapons involved.

Officer Diaz’s suggestions for protecting your property and yourself were not to leave windows open when you are not home, have home outside lighting, and talk to your neighbors. PPD has a Vacation Home Check Program. One walker shared that a Piedmont Police officer once called her when she was across country to tell her that her front door was unlocked. Sergeant Casalnuova said this is not uncommon. Officer Diaz also confirmed that gas leaf blowers are illegal in Piedmont.

After many more questions and answers, Sergeant Casalnuova introduced Officer S. Bennett, who was standing nearby in street clothes. She is PPD’s newest member. We expressed our thanks to all these officers for their service to our community and spending time with us.

The conversation extended well into the late morning, and it was time for us to make a direct return to the city center via Wildwood, Sheridan, and Highland Avenues. We did so with greater public safety knowledge and the desire to have another Cop on the Block visit in the future.