Inspiring Our Officers – 2025 Is Our Year
Article By Chief Amy Watkins, MBPD
Happy New Year to you and your loved ones. What a great year we had in 2024. Numerous accomplishments and great work by everyone. The theme of 2024 was the quality and thoughtfulness of the service the PD provided to our community members and visitors. A true testament of the work and sacrifice you have all made throughout the year for this community was often expressed during the dozens of community events where our community would approach me and many of you expressing thanks and appreciation for the work you all do each day.
On a larger scale, 2024 showed a shift in community acceptance for the anti-police rhetoric that we experienced in 2020 and 2021. I am proud of how our agency and law enforcement agencies across California maintained their courage and dedication for the job and continued to do the job each day to show our communities that we will not be dissuaded from maintaining our oath as law enforcement officers and we will continue our pursuit of criminals and work hard to protect those who cannot protect themselves. One offer of proof to the shift was in the elections in November that brought about major changes to California laws to increase criminal penalties, and the dismissal of two District Attorneys who spoke against the police and for the rights of criminals.
2025 is an important year for law enforcement. I feel as though this era is the singularly most important in my career because we are coming out of a “depression” of our chosen careers. We need leaders with both experience and enthusiasm to mold the next generation of law enforcement. I am confident and encouraged about our MBPD family and what we have in place to lead this agency into this very exciting future. Each one of you are leaders within this department and the community. We have weathered many challenges and have shined through adversities. I have seen the dedication from all of you and I am honored to continue to commit to you all and the community we serve. Cheers to exciting things to come for us here at MBPD and I look forward to many more successes this year and many years to come
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