The San Diego Police Department's Central Division on Saturday celebrated a quarter-century at its location on Imperial Avenue.
San Diego mayor Todd Gloria, SDPD chief of police Scott Wahl, Assistant Police Chief of Operations Mike Holden, retired Police Chief David Bejarano, SDPD Capt. Ryan Hallahan, San Diego City Councilmember Stephen Whitburn and others were on hand at the event.
The building and its employees cover some of San Diego’s most historic neighborhoods.
“One of the biggest things for us is the community that we serve and where we are located," Hallahan said. 'You take, like, Chicano Park, which is a nationally known park and the events that they host; Comic-Con; your Petco; your Little Italy that has been around for hundreds of years, the quality of restaurants and activity that occur there; and the Gaslamp; Logan Heights; you name it."
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The Central Division was based out of SDPD Headquarters for 15 years before it moved to its current location.
The work and location of the division is important to the department’s mission, according to SDPD Officials.
“If you consider we average about 300 something calls per day — and that’s somebody calling, needing urgent help from a burglary in progress to just needs a report on a stolen car or some kind of traffic accident — we are here to serve at every capacity,” Hallahan said.
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Along with the sworn officers, civilian employees and volunteers have been a part of the division’s work.
Local resident and retiree Connie Zuniga was a part of that important work.
“I was able to recruit a lot of women that grew up in this area who had a lot of expertise, and so anything I did, I had 10 women with me,” Zuniga said.
Department leaders stress that, while much has been achieved while serving the area, the work is not done and they intend to build upon their success.
