| Lieutenant
Thomas Melendy was born in the local tri-county area and grew up
on his family cattle ranch. He graduated from Hollister High School
in 1973. He graduated from Fresno State University with a BS degree
in Criminology.
Lt Melendy has
always had an interest in community service and assisting others.
He was employed as a seasonal firefighter with the California Division
of Forestry for three summers. He was employed as a Harbor Patrolman
for Santa Clara County Parks and Recreation for one summer.
He began his
law enforcement career when he was hired as a reserve police officer
for the City of San Juan Bautista in 1975. While attending college
in Fresno, he was employed as a reserve deputy sheriff for the Fresno
County Sheriff Department where he worked patrol and jail duties.
After graduating from College he was hired as a patrolman for the
City of Greenfield in 1978. After 3 ½ years of patrol duties
in Greenfield, he was hired at the City of Pacific Grove as a police
officer. He was employed there for another three years when a position
opened at the City of Marina for a Public Safety Officer.
Lieutenant Melendy
was hired by the City of Marina in 1985 as a Public Safety Officer.
He enjoyed the combination of police and fire and embraced both
professions. He was one of the few officers in the agency to gain
certification with the State Fire Marshal’s Officer as a certified
Fire Officer. He enjoyed working either Division as needed.
He worked as
a school resource officer for local schools. He conducted child
traffic safety programs at all the grade schools in the city. He
initiated a school truancy program that is still in effect today,
that had a significant impact on reducing daytime crimes in the
City of Marina.
Lt. Melendy
was promoted to his current rank in 1994. He has supervised both
fire and police divisions. He has supervised the department field
training program for over 15 years. He was tasked to supervise two
homicide task force investigations and one “take over”
bank robbery team investigation that extended through out the state
and into Nevada. All ended in successful prosecutions of the suspects.
Lieutenant Melendy
currently supervised the Patrol division, including the traffic
enforcement program, K-9 program and field training officer program.
The Operations
Division is the largest and most diverse Division in the Department.
This Division is made-up of the Patrol Section, Traffic Section,
K-9 Unit, Bicycle Unit and the Motorcycle Unit. This division is
supervised by a Lieutenant, who is designated as Operations Division
Commander.
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