Community Policing: One Small, Encouraging Example

The City of Signal Hill Police Department has a reputation. For us residents, it is very positive, and shows the value of a small city having its own force. The "bad guys" probably have a different view.

It is no easy task to sensitively respond to citizen needs and concerns while, at the same time, being prepared and willing to use the full force of the law to protect those same citizens. Call it a delicate balancing act that especially challenges larger city police departments.

In our 20 years in Signal Hill, we've personally seen several instances where the quality of the SHPD has shone through. Today we saw another. A single woman, living by herself in our neighborhood discovered small holes in her front window pane, and began to worry.

She called the SHPD who responded within minutes to take a report. The responding officer did not dismiss her concerns as mere vandalism, but talked of the need to resolve the problem before it escalated into something worse. He took a small BB he found below the window to another neighbor up the hill, where a teenager lives. The father immediately owned-up to his son's probable vandalism, met with the woman, and resolved to make repairs and promised his son would apologize.

This is not compelling material for "Law and Order" or the evening news. It is an example of good community policing.

--- RCH

Short History of Signal Hill

Short history of Signal Hill tells us of our Native American and Spanish heritage. And then discovery of oil in the early 1920s changed everything. Here you see a photo of the Hill when it was called Porcupine Hill for the hundreds of derricks on the Hill. An intricate network of pipes connected the wells to oil collection sites, and eventually several small refineries.

Today, Signal Hill boasts high-end view residential properties, coexisting with wells that may produce for another 20 years.

RCH

Signal Hill a Salt Dome?

Bob Hickman, a geologist, former Southern Californian, and owner of the Gallery of the American West in Sacramento, says that Signal Hill is a salt dome, and that has very significant implication for petroleum extraction.

But my limited research emphasizes seismic activity and sandstone layers, without mentioning salt domes. See: Long Beach Geology and Salt Dome

What about it. Is Signal Hill a salt dome? And what may be its significance?

-- RCH

Pleasant Encounters on Signal Hill

Our first post to Signal Hill Views is a photo project called Pleasant Encounters on Signal Hill.

Building community and delighting in the great mosaic of life on the hill.

Click on Come Walk With Me to see my route

To see more, click on the "Pleasant Encounters on Signal Hill" label below or go to the slide show, at the column to the right; click on a photo for a short caption.

-- RCH