Soberman: He’s the Toast of Irvine’s Police Department

Irvine Police Officer Bob Landman says he lives by this motto on patrol: “If you’ve been drinking and you see one of us in your rear view mirror, you’re going to be arrested.”

He’s tough on the street, but Landman has a soft side. You may not know Landman, but there’s a good chance your children do, especially if you live in the Irvine area. He’s Soberman.

Soberman wears red tights, a mask (a la Batman) and does skits for children at schools and outings about the danger of drinking and driving. He’s the official superhero of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD).

When Soberman appeared on a videotape at the annual Irvine Police Department dinner this week, it brought some chuckles around the cavernous room in the Irvine Marriott hotel. But the laughter was good-natured.

When Landman took the stage to receive the 1996 Irvine Police Officer of the Year Award, the standing ovation was spontaneous. The people in that room know what Landman has done for the cause of combating drunk driving.

I went to this dinner, sponsored by the Exchange Club of Irvine, not knowing who the winner of the top award would be. It was a pleasant surprise to see it go to someone I’d long known by reputation. I haven’t had the chance to run into Landman in his official duties (thank goodness), but I’d seen Soberman in action at a weekend fair. Youngsters think he’s terrific.

Drunk driving was the theme of the Marriott dinner. When you walked in the door you were confronted with horrific enlarged photographs of automobiles twisted into mangled pieces--the end result of people driving after drinking too much.

Statistics posted at the dinner show 30% of all motor vehicle accidents in Orange County involve drivers whose blood alcohol levels are above the .08% legal limit. And 50% of those people did their drinking at a public facility.

DUI--driving under the influence--can land ordinarily law abiding, well-intentioned citizens (unaware they’ve had too much to drink) in jail. Landman, a police officer for 21 years, is also a member of MADD’s advisory board. While he touched on the drunk driving issue in his acceptance speech, mostly he talked about being part of a team.

That’s why I’d gone to the dinner in the first place. I wanted to see if there really is a team feeling within a police department. These folks didn’t disappoint; it permeated the room all evening. Irvine has had a Police Officer of the Year since 1976. Twelve of them are still with the department, and all attended the dinner.

Landman described the award as meaningful not because he deserved it, but “because my peers feel like I deserve it.

“What makes this special is all around the room; it is my fellow officers, my extended family,” he said.

Police Chief Charles Brobeck told the crowd that Landman’s accomplishments went beyond his DUI record: “He’s helped the Irvine Police Department really meld with the community.”

There are two sides to Bob Landman. He cares enough about people’s lives to don that slightly silly costume and drive home such a critical message. And there’s the Bob Landman you don’t want to see in your rear view mirror--not if you’re driving and you’ve had too much to drink.

Reserving His Time: One of the top awards at the dinner went to someone who’s been a police officer only a few weeks.

Before he was sworn in with the Tustin Police Department in December, Pat Backus captained a commercial fishing boat out of Dana Point. But in almost all his spare time Backus was a reserve officer for the Irvine Police Department. He served without pay and put in 2,000 hours of his own time in reserve and advanced reserve training. He was named its Reserve Officer of the Year.

I asked him if he’d become a reserve as a foot in the door to becoming a police officer. “Not at first,” he said. “Really, when I started out, I just wanted to do something good for the community. But once I got into it, I found out I really loved it.”

Reserve officers can do most anything a regular police officer can do--carry a gun, go on patrol, make an arrest. They just don’t get a paycheck.

Around the Town: Did you catch that 1950 wedding picture in People magazine’s recent special feature on brides and bridegrooms? It was Orange County’s own Arvella DeHaan and the Rev. Robert Schuller.

According to People, Arvella Schuller said she had some reservations about marrying a minister: “I was afraid I would live in a glass house and have to be perfect.” Glass house? You think she had a premonition about the Crystal Cathedral? . . .

Special guest at the Take Pride Awards Celebration at the Disneyland Pacific Hotel today will be Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove). It’s the kind of event the predecessor she defeated, Robert K. Dornan, would have abhorred. It’s being coordinated by the Federation, an umbrella organization of some 40 Orange County lesbian and gay rights groups. . . .

For bowlers, the 7-10 split is about like facing a shot from the creek for a golfer, or being 3rd and 20 for a quarterback. But if you have your own method for knocking down the 7 and 10 pins--the nightmare spare--you might be interested in an upcoming contest for amateurs sponsored by the Professional Bowlers Assn. Two men and two women in Southern California will be selected to take a shot at the 7-10 split. Call Mike Polisky at (847) 948-8888 for entry details.

Wrap-Up: When Patricia Lea Pratt, an employee at AirTouch Cellular, was murdered at her Turtle Rock home in Irvine two years ago, the company put up a $10,000 reward for help finding her killer.

At the Irvine Police Department dinner, AirTouch Cellular presented that $10,000 check to the man who cracked the case, bloodhound trainer Larry Harris. Unique equipment Harris helped produce--a vacuum-like device that takes a killer’s dead skin cells from the victim’s clothing--helped a bloodhound single out a suspect, who was later convicted.

Police Detective Larry Montgomery said it was most appropriate that Harris receive the reward money. Harris, a retired engineer from McDonnell Douglas, has been helping area police departments for years without any monetary compensation at all.