MISSION VIEJO : Officer of Year Finds His Niche

Ron Kennedy’s career with the Sheriff’s Department has held increasing promise since he became a deputy in 1985.

But don’t expect the city’s newest Law Enforcement Officer of the Year to apply for the FBI or Secret Service anytime soon: He likes the Saddleback Valley area too much to move anywhere else.

“The atmosphere for (police) in Mission Viejo is excellent,” said the 29-year-old Rancho Santa Margarita resident. “The City Council, city staff and 99% of the citizens are supportive. This is a real nice town, and that keeps us motivated to help keep it that way.”

Kennedy is part of the Sheriff’s Department contingent that Mission Viejo pays to watch over its 80,000 residents. He began working in Mission Viejo in 1988, shortly after the city’s incorporation, and has seen the new city grow.

And he has grown with it. A patrol officer his first three years in the city, Kennedy was promoted to training officer last year. Lt. George Johnson, the top Mission Viejo administrative officer, said Kennedy played an instrumental role last year in revamping the patrolling of the city.

Kennedy analyzed computer readouts of crime areas and, working with other officers, suggested ways deputies could be redeployed on busier shifts, such as Friday and Saturday nights.

Kennedy said the revamping, completed last year, has made a difference.

“You’d just be inundated with calls on Friday and Saturday nights,” he said. “Now there are more people working those shifts and the calls are distributed. Inside of spending all our time responding to calls, we can do more prevention and apprehension work.”

One of the attributes that won Kennedy his Officer of the Year honors is his habit of walking his beat to deal one-on-one with shop owners and residents, Johnson said.

“He shows a commitment to the community he serves,” Johnson said. “These days there’s a lot of talk about community-oriented policing. That’s no different than what Ron does.”

The biggest problem facing Mission Viejo is a growing class of restless, bored teen-agers, Kennedy said.

“Many of the families that moved here in recent times had young kids, and those kids are growing up,” Kennedy said. “There’s nothing for teen-agers to do in Mission Viejo, and so they head to common areas like the shopping plazas and loiter.”

Groups of teen-agers ranging in size from 15 to 200 congregate in the open shopping centers, and deputies have seen a small but steady increase in graffiti and narcotics arrests in recent months.

The City Council recently banned skateboarding at shopping centers that request enforcement. Kennedy stood in the back of council chambers at that meeting and felt sympathy for both shop owners and skateboarders.

“I know how they both feel,” he said. “This group of kids are being disruptive, but on the other hand, what they said in the meeting about the whole group being blamed for the actions of a few is also true.”

Kennedy was at the meeting to pick up his award but stayed an extra four hours to hear the public debate, which Johnson said is typical of him.

“He was interested in what both sides had to say,” Johnson said. “It was his day off and he wasn’t getting paid for staying.”

“I’ve got a lot of good cops working for me,” he said. “Ron Kennedy is a problem solver and a problem identifier, and that’s what makes him great to have around.”