LAKE COUNTY ? Lt. Dane Hayward is retiring from the California Highway Patrol after seven years as the commander of the Clear Lake Area office. His retirement is official Sunday, but his new duties with the Lake County Sheriff”s Office Marine Patrol begin the next day.
Hayward owns a 26-foot fishing boat and is affiliated with the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, but said he has a whole new set of rules to learn with his new position.
Hayward began his law enforcement career in the Hanford Police Department, 40 miles south of Fresno, before signing on with the CHP for the next 30 years and nine months. He has served in Central Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley, among other CHP offices.
“After a year of answering barking dog calls, and manhole covers off the street, and my cat”s in a tree, I discovered that I really liked traffic more than I did city police work,” Hayward said.
In his nearly 31 years with the CHP, Hayward said he has seen the introduction of semi-automatic weapons, computers, TAZER guns and radar used to catch speeders.
Hayward said CHP manuals give him 1,193 responsibilities, making his job a mix of administrative and law enforcement duties. He oversees personnel, prepares an annual budget and is ultimately responsible for the Clear Lake office”s fleet of 12 cars.
“The nice thing about being at a small command in a place like Lake County is you have limited personnel. So I do traffic control, I have arrested people, I have stored vehicles ? we had a pursuit here about two months ago, and I did a legal intervention and rammed a guy ? so there are all kinds of things you get to do,” Hayward said.
Hayward said one of his greatest accomplishments is having decreased intersection-related accidents by 65 percent in 2007 from the five years prior, and an overall reduction in DUIs. Another, he said, “I”ve never lost an officer.”
The Clear Lake office consistently handles one of the highest rates of DUI and collisions in the CHP”s northern division, according to Hayward. DUI collisions account for half of the fatal collisions his office handles, he said.
On average, one out of every 100 applicants is hired as a CHP officer. For the northern division, four out of every 100 is hired, according to Hayward. Lake County is the southernmost area in the northern division, which stretches north to the Oregon border and east to the Nevada border. The Clear Lake Area CHP office is responsible for 867 miles of roadway, including county roads in unincorporated areas.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com.
