I'm going to read something here really quickly.

Officer Dela Cruz joined the Belmont Police Department in 2024 and quickly distinguished himself as a dedicated and hardworking officer.

Since joining the department, Austria de la Cruz has consistently demonstrated a strong work ethic, professionalism, and a willingness to take on any assignment.

I could personally speak to that.

He approaches his duties with a calm, compassionate demeanor that reflects positivity on both the Belmont Police Department and our community.

In 2025, Officer De La Cruz led the department in DYRS, earning recognition from the mothers against drunk driving Bayer Area chapter.

Through his proactive enforcement efforts, he has helped remove impaired drivers from Belmont streets, reducing the risk of preventable collisions, and helping to ensure the safety of our residents, businesses, and visitors.

His commitment to keeping the Belmont community safe, combined with his dedication, initiative, and professionalism exemplifies the highest standard of the Belmont Police Department.

For his outstanding performance and valuable contribution to the safety and well-being of the Belmont community, Officer Dalek Cruz deserves this congregation.

Congratulations.

Okay.

He left, but I wanted to just say congratulations to him again.

Thank you for your service.

He works nice.

It's okay.

Sorry.

All right.

Item for public comments and announcements.

We're going to limit this to 15 minutes with a maximum of three minutes per speaker, and is for items of interest not on the agenda.

If your subject is not on the agenda, we can recognize you at this time.

Do we have any public comment?

No, if you get public comments.

Approval of minutes.

I'm reporting.

I second.

Motion made motion seconded.

And approved.

Thank you.

Item six general business.

Uh, item A, police police chiefs quarterly report.

I want to welcome our new police team.

Welcome to this meeting.

Appreciate it.

Thank you.

So a little bit about myself.

Um I have a connection to Belmont, which uh it was an honor to come back and uh work for the city that I grew up in.

Uh in the 70s, I uh was born in Belmont and lived on uh uh Lassen and Tahoe uh with my family.

My uh dad was uh in real estate in Belmont and uh all my siblings went to school here.

So the connection here is uh very strong with my family.

So I did uh very much appreciate coming back and working for the community that means so much to my family.

Um I went to Sarah High School and graduated uh many years ago.

Um I have a bachelor's art in history and major coursework in business administration from Santa Clara University, uh including finance and accounting and uh macro and micro accounting, all that stuff.

Uh worked for the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office for 26 years.

I retired as a captain.

Uh upon retirement, I was in charge of the uh coast uh contract, Halfham Bay and the unincorporated areas of that jurisdiction, as well as Woodside Portola Valley and Redwood City contracts.

I've been honored, as I said, to uh work for now assistant uh city manager Ken Stenquist uh as when he was police chief as a captain for the last four years.

It's been an honor and privilege to work at an agency that uh has a very high ethical standard and cares about the community in a very positive fashion.

So this is kind of the why.

This is the new thing.

I just uh went to a class for two weeks.

Um in 1986, Annette Thor on the left um hitchhiked in Ben Lohman, um, an area in Santa Clara County, and uh she wasn't seen again.

She was found a day later on Skyline, deceased, and this case was cold until 2012.

In 2012, myself and um detective Map Road had an opportunity to reopen this case, and um, we were able to do DNA and interviews, uh, identify this gentleman, uh John William Kelly, uh, as the person that killed her.

He also killed a number of other people in uh Humboldt County and Del North County.

Um, so it definitely a scourge to the community, and it affected both San Mateo County as well as the rest of the state.

Going into the next thing, this is Ilva Hagner, which is a little means a lot more to the Belmont community.

Ironically, uh Ilva worked in this building before it was the police department.

Um she actually worked in an office just over here that is currently the Belmont Police Department, which is uh uh a very small coincidence that uh we can't take lightly.

This case has been open since 1996.

We still have not found her, but as you can see, uh the two pictures on the right, there's a continuous and dedicated amount of work, um, especially with our investigations bureau to constantly be working towards uh finding Ilva and bringing closure to her family.