July 17, 2002
Willow Glen, California Since 1992
Cover Story
By Susan Wiedmann In a framed photo, five tough-looking men with shoulder-length hair are sitting astride their motorcycles, all looking equally grungy. A young woman is sitting behind one of them, her wide smile showing her happiness at being with such a cool group of guys. At the time the photo was taken, nearly 25 years ago, all six people were actually young undercover cops working in the vice unit of the San Jose Police Department (SJPD). One of the men is now SJPD Assistant Chief of Police Thomas Wheatley, a Willow Glen resident. The photo is one of his favorite possessions.
"I run the day-to-day operations of the police department," Wheatley explains. "Bill deals with the city and with city hall. We meet a lot, and he is very actively involved with knowing what is going on here. My job really is to make sure that the functioning part of the police department, patrol in particular, and the detective bureau are operating 24 hours a day." The SJPD is not 'NYPD Blue' Life as a member of the SJPD is unlike that portrayed by most TV police dramas, in which detectives never go back into uniform once they receive their detective shields. "We go back and forth," Wheatley explains. All work done out of uniform in the department is in the detective bureau, and nearly all SJPD officers go there after spending time in uniform. After about three to five years doing detective work, officers cycle back out of the bureau, put on their uniforms and go out on patrols. At that point, Wheatley says, the officers have gained a lot of experience as detectives, which makes them even better police officers. He insists that the officers do not look upon going back into uniform or out on patrol as a demotion. "Trust me, that's TV talk," he says. "The excitement is really out on patrol. Being on patrol is really where things happen, where officers get into chases. It's kind of funny when you watch NYPD Blue, where it's all very detective-oriented. As much as I loved working as a detective, as much as I loved working undercover, there is probably more excitement on a day-to-day basis for patrol officers out there." Wheatley has been the assistant chief of police since early 1999, and he has been an SJPD officer since 1973. In early 1975, Wheatley began working as a detective in an undercover unit for about a year, dealing mostly with stolen property investigations. From there, he went to the vice unit for 5 1/2 years of undercover work before going back into uniform. The department no longer allows an officer to do such a long stretch of undercover work. Wheatley says he has heard that in some cities, there were cases of officers who found themselves losing a sense of reality from maintaining undercover identities for such a long period of time. Wheatley became a sergeant during the early 1980s and was part of two shootouts. During the first one, which he says is probably his most memorable moment on the street, an armed robber being chased by Wheatley and other police officers shot out Wheatley's windshield. Wheatley, uninjured, returned fire, but the man escaped temporarily, finally getting caught after an all-night search. Wheatley received the Medal of Valor for his efforts during the incident. He eventually got to work in the SJPD narcotics unit and, after he was promoted to lieutenant, became a watch commander in uniform during the midnight shift. But he says the best job he ever had came next. "I was the commander of the intelligence unit, which oversees special investigations and dignitary protection like guarding the president by working with a Secret Service officer," he says. "I was there for a little over two years, and then I got promoted to captain. I went from running the intelligence unit to being in charge of the airport for four months."
"I think he was maybe a little surprised when I joined," Wheatley says. Back in 1972 he was going to college and figuring out what to do with his life. "When I was running out of money, at school I saw that they were paying police officers $900 a month, and I thought I could never spend that much money," he recalls. "So I figured I could do it for some period of time and then go back to school. I came here and loved it." Each week Wheatley goes to schools or events in San Jose to give a speech or just to meet with people. "A lot of folks don't wear their uniform if they don't have to," Wheatley says. "I probably wear it a day or two a week because I still like going out there with the officers." Today about 1,400 officers—including nearly 150 women—are part of the SJPD. As one of four deputy chiefs, Adonna Amoroso of Willow Glen is the SJPD's highest-ranking woman. Wheatley says the Willow Glen community's biggest concerns now are the increased traffic in the area, which recently resulted in the new traffic restrictions and photo-radar measures around the Hicks Avenue area. According to Wheatley, technology has changed police work, especially during the past decade. "There are computers in every police car now. People who left 10 or 15 years ago wouldn't recognize some of the things that are used, but some of the basics are still here." The ongoing impact of Sept. 11 Wheatley and Lansdowne have an unwritten agreement that one of them will always be in town. Wheatley was in San Jose on Sept. 11 when Lansdowne was flying back to California and wound up being grounded in the Midwest for about four days. With Wheatley's background in the intelligence unit, he was accustomed to working with agencies such as the FBI on information-gathering and other issues dealing with intelligence. But Sept. 11 put a different spin on the work. "We actually had had some inkling of terrorist-type troubles here and discussed with the FBI things our officers had found out," Wheatley says. "It's not that we knew who was coming to the airport, but we'd had an apartment in the area where it had been reported to us that there was possibly some criminal activity, and we found some diagrams of a plane and some other information. There was some follow-up done shortly before Sept. 11 and it was turned over to the FBI. The outcome is still pending on that." Other security issues have to do with San Jose as the center of the Silicon Valley. "We've really tightened up our security, given the high-tech industry," Wheatley says. "The big question was, 'What if everybody in the country lost email?' A lot of that goes through this area. There are certain portions of buildings in San Jose that handle most of the Internet traffic for the world and definitely for the United States, so those type of security issues and dealing with private security has been really a major responsibility with our department." Of major concern to area residents is the San Jose International Airport, and the SJPD is now stretching its resources to cover that location. "The National Guard is gone now, and we've taken over dealing with that," Wheatley says. The SJPD is running all the security at the airport using officers on overtime, the cost of which is being covered by the federal government. According to Wheatley, the situation might continue for at least a year, until the federal government officially takes over, but no one is certain about even that. Outside of the recent growth of domestic terrorism, Wheatley sees an increase in crimes of elder abuse, identity theft and scams in which people are cheated out of their life savings. "Identify theft has really grown quite a bit," Wheatley says. "It will become a major issue if we don't stay on top of it." The SJPD has fraud and high-tech units working together on the issue, but he says that it is the police officers working on the street who discover crimes and the clues to solving them. Overall, crime seems to have leveled off this year in San Jose, he says. "We're the safest large city in the United States, of the top 50 cities, and that's been for about six or seven years. One of the things this department has always been good at is staying ahead of the curve on gang violence. A lot of that is the officers on the street." A major challenge for the SJPD has been hiring officers to replace those who are retiring, but with the downturn in the economy, the department is now getting calls from people from a variety of backgrounds about becoming police officers. One of the biggest challenges is affordable housing for young officers, many of whom now drive in from as far as Tracy. Wheatley feels that the SJPD is an ideal work environment for any officer, new or otherwise. "This department has always tried to take care of the officers working here. We let them bid on their shift assignments, and we let them participate in working other units of the department." The real-life biker Over the years Wheatley has received his share of commendations. "Everyone in law enforcement gets plaques," he says. "I can't stand plaques." But he has two plaques on his wall nonetheless—one belonging to his daughter Sarah, 22, a Berkeley grad and 2002 student athlete of the year in lacrosse, and one belonging to his daughter Annie, 17, for being voted athlete of the year at her school. He doesn't want them to become police officers because, as he says, he would worry so much he would have to ride around with them. As a 50th birthday gift to himself in February 2001, Wheatley, an avid rider, went on a bicycle trip by himself, riding from Willow Glen to San Diego on Highway 1. "I turned 50, and I was not about to tell myself I'm lying down," he says. But for a little while during his trip, he was doing just that. "I got whacked by a truck and got knocked over near Big Sur," he says nonchalantly about his experience on a narrow stretch of road. "But I stayed ahead of the rain until I hit Malibu, which is amazing. I was able to get down Highway One and all through these little cities and trails, but in Malibu it rained on me for two straight days." He spent the nights in motels, since he admitted it was too cold to camp in February. Going home from San Diego, he rented a truck for himself and his trusty bicycle. "It's a pretty good life," Wheatley says before suddenly mentioning as an aside that he had cancer nine years ago. He had taken his daughters to the doctor for sore throats and mentioned to the doctor that he had a lump on his neck. It turned out to be cancer of the larynx. Following surgery, he was off for six months, and he calls that time a life-changing experience. "I deal quite a bit with officers and other people who have had cancer," he says. Three years ago the department was contacted by some volunteers doing the Avon Breast Cancer 3-Day walk from San Jose to San Francisco. Wheatley arranged for SJPD volunteers, including himself, to provide security for the event on bicycles. Last weekend, he and other SJPD bicyclists will do it for a third time. "I started this job to be a police officer, and I loved it," he says. "Unfortunately, somebody has to get promoted." But he has no aspirations for the top job in the office next door. In January 2003, Wheatley will celebrate his 30th anniversary as a member of the SJPD, and he says with the retirement system that is in place, it doesn't benefit officers to remain much beyond 30 years. "So, we'll see what happens," Wheatley says. But he has been heard telling people, only half-jokingly, that he would like to stay with the department until he is 80. |
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