Saratoga News

Promotions cause change of personnel at substation

'A momentous day'

By Michelle Alaimo

The Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office's Westside Substation can boast the highest number of promotions from within the department in recent times.

With the promotions come a few new faces and shifting of familiar faces within the office. Lt. William Slack, who was second in command, moves up in rank to captain at the downtown San Jose Detective Bureau.

Replacing him is a 27-year veteran of the force, Lt. Cary Colla. The former Saratoga resident said he is happy to be back after being promoted out of the downtown office to fill Slack's shoes. Colla was formally assistant commander of investigative services in the Sheriff's Office's San Jose headquarters.

Capt. Robert Wilson of the Westside Substation said all lieutenants and captains were transferred into their new positions on Nov. 3, with the rest of the personnel following by Jan. 12. Those who were promoted to sergeant have the title now but will not be in their new permanent positions until January because Wilson said that is when the office does all its transferring of personnel.

Others promoted within the Westside substation include Luther Pugh, who went from detective to sergeant. Pugh has been with the office for 18 years. Deputy Lindley Zink was also promoted to sergeant and is temporarily serving as the administrative sergeant. Zink has been with the Sheriff's Office for nearly 20 years.

The Westside station also received two new sergeants, Ed Perry and Frank Deluna, who are temporarily assigned to the substation as the midnight shift sergeants.

Ted Atlas, known by many parents in Saratoga for his work as a schools resource officer, was also promoted to sergeant and is temporarily serving as swing shift patrol sergeant, Wilson said.

The promotions were part of formal ceremonies held in late October in San Jose. Throughout the Sheriff's Office, four captains, five lieutenants and 10 sergeants were promoted by Sheriff Charles Gillingham. This is the first round of promotions in more than 13 years from within the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office.

Promotions were not available to those in the Sheriff's Office until now because the office split from the County Department of Corrections in 1988. To ensure that deputies in line for promotions yet stationed at the Department of Corrections would not be passed over, promotions had been done by transferring people from the corrections office into the Sheriff's Office on an as-needed basis, Wilson said. The Sheriff's Office has reached the point where promotions needed to be made from within because everyone that could be promoted from the corrections department has been.

"This is truly a momentous day in the history of the Sheriff's Office," Gillingham said. "We, for the first time in over a decade, are able to promote personnel who have not had an opportunity for advancement."

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