Law officers flock to support colleague at Benicia ceremony
CHIEF ERIK UPSON and his wife, Janet, at his swearing in ceremony on Tuesday.
Donna Beth Weilenman/Staff
Upson’s wife, Janet, pinned the new chief’s seven-pointed golden star to his dark blue uniform, and City Clerk Lisa Wolfe administered the oath of office.
Saying he had learned from both his superiors and his subordinates in a 17-year career at Berkeley Police Department, he promised, “I’ll try to make you proud” as he started what he called “an incredibly challenging job.”
He also had assurances for his new department and city.
“Our greatest success is collaboration,” Upson said. “Weaving that fabric tightly is what I’m all about.”
He said Benicia isn’t made up of a police department separate from members of its community. “We are one,” he said. “I look forward to connecting with everybody.”
He promised Benicia police would focus on hard work and the fundamentals of police work, and be “relentless in crime-fighting efforts.” He also made a strong commitment to work with Benicia’s youth.
“It’s critically important to the community, if you are to stay connected with youth.”
To Benicia Police Department, he pledged “to give you everything I have.” He told the city’s officers he would be there to lead, to walk beside them when they needed someone with whom to talk “and to carry you when you need to be carried.”
He turned to a front row where Janet sat with the couple’s children, Stephen, 13; Erika, 9; Ariana, 8; and Grayson, 5.
“My rock,” he called his family, saying they’ve endured difficult times, but “they always stand beside me.”
Mayor Elizabeth Patterson and City Manager Brad Kilger, who said he came to know the new chief during the city’s lengthy and thorough interview process, praised the new hire.
BENICIA POLICE CHIEF ERIK UPSON is sworn in Tuesday by City Clerk Lisa Wolfe.
Donna Beth Weilenman/Staff
To be successful in Benicia, a department leader also must fit the community, Kilger said. “His record is impeccable,” he said, adding that Upson also has deep commitment to his profession and compassion for those with whom, and for whom, he serves. “I feel the chief is an excellent addition.”
“At the end of the day, public safety, for me, is a sense of community,” Patterson said. “We are about each other and community.”
After attending the city’s interviews of Upson, she said, “I knew he was our perfect fit.”
Benicia police Chaplain Dan Wolke, who has been a Berkeley police inspector, had his own personal observations of the new chief.
When Upson, 42, became a Berkeley police lieutenant in charge of the traffic division, he started an honor guard to attend officers who had died on duty, Wolke said. When one of Wolke’s close friends died of cancer, as people filed out of the service they saw Berkeley officers in uniform, standing at attention. Wolke remains touched by that memory.
Upson made sure other officers were able to take time off when they needed it, Wolke said. While picking up a shift for a fellow officer, he became involved in the capture of a murder suspect who also was linked to the killing of a 7-year-old.
When Upson led the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team and a training session had limited admissions, he stepped aside so others could take the classes, Wolke said.
And once, when he was off duty, he intervened in a domestic dispute that had become violent: Arriving officers found the future chief holding down the suspect, who told police, “You don’t have to do all that judo,” Wolke said.
The crowd Tuesday included Vallejo police Chief Andrew Bidou, who was Benicia’s chief before accepting his current job, as well as members of Solano County Sheriff’s Department, California Highway Patrol and police departments as close as Suisun City and as far as Pleasanton, Union City and Calistoga.
Plenty of Berkeley police officers also drove to Benicia to see their former police captain receive his badge.
“This is the beginning of a really wonderful relationship,” Patterson said.
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