What I Learned from Public Safety Day

Independence, sovereignty and freedom, although sound ordinary, hold very profound meanings. Humans have a strange tendency to take things for granted.

Week Two of the Oxnard Leadership Program by the Oxnard Chamber of Commerce. We get to tour the Oxnard Police Department and Ventura County Jail. Wow! What an eye opener!!!

I would like to thank Chief Scott Whitney, the head of the Oxnard Police Department for all his hard work, dedication and stabilizing the organization. He's done a great job in utilizing a collaborative approach to non-profit organizations and local business owners to better shape the narrative for police-community relations. The Police Department's social media presence made a difference by allowing the community to read or watch their daily stories. A great way to convey positive messages.

Custom cardboard cutouts of the Chief also made a great impact. I believe that the Chief's cardboard cutout presents a tremendous opportunity to pause, re-think and reset direction in a way that will far exceed any previous course of action from any perpetrator. Identifying the PREVENTION of an underlying problem had built a successful outcome. What a brilliant idea!

I never knew that my experience with incarceration would shock, fascinate and thoroughly disconcert me. Jail tour at Ventura County Jail was an eye-opener. The smell was overpowering, a mixture of sweat, hormones, feces, urine and disinfectant. I was very glad that the prisoners, dressed in orange jumpsuits and flip-flops were separated from me by thick glass. I recalled the inmates’ faces I’d seen with their varying degrees of resignation or defiance.

Some inmates acted like animals. If not cocooned in blankets on their beds, the men were jumping around and making weird faces. The women were just as bestial — staring, shouting and gesturing. Not just frightening but also disturbing. It's almost like watching orange piranhas trying to get out of a fish bowl.

Each floor is locked, and the access elevator is controlled by guards. 

As we left the county jail, I reflected on how blessed I am to breathe fresh air again!  I felt many emotions, from a sense of purpose, to deep gratitude for being alive and FREE! 

Today is two days after Valentine's day. The sun is shining brightly and the air is nice and crisp after the rain. Imagine waking up in prison. Imagine how it feels to be so far from family, surrounded by a sameness so lacking in peace.

Freedom calls forth self-development, personal growth and metamorphosis processes that are clearly formidable challenges in a prison environment.  So, let's not forget that we live in an amazing country. We are free to speak our minds and not be thrown in jail for our thoughts. But freedom and independence must be accompanied by responsibility. We can disagree with policy. But we must behave with respect.

Our forefathers gave us an amazing gift. Many forget that in other countries you are guilty until proven innocent, that you can be arrested and held for little if any reason, that protesters are jailed and that your opinions or votes don’t matter. We often take our freedoms for granted.

I, personally, am very proud to be an American. This remains a wonderful country filled with a lot of people who do so much good.

Big thanks again to Chief Scott Whitney for hosting the Oxnard Leadership Training yesterday. Thank you to Melissa Valdez, Communications Affairs Manager of the Oxnard Police Department, the SWAT Team at Sturgis and Officer Chapman who gave us the tour of the Ventura County Jail. And thank you to the Oxnard Chamber of Commerce for this class.