R-Town: Sitting down with one of Redlands' Finest

Finally it's raining!  The first rain of the year is here, but unfortunately it's on a day I'm interviewing and photographing Officer Eric Pendery of the Redlands Police Department.   Luckily, Eric and I have kids at the same school and are able to meet in a room on campus to get out of the rain! Of course that won't help for the pictures, but we make other arrangements.  (Just gotta go with the flow)

I've known Eric for about 5 or 6 years.  I met him through his wife, Jackie, who taught Dylan in 2nd, 3rd, and 5th grade, and currently has Brookie in her class.  (By the way…best teacher EVER!!!!).  So he and I have gotten to know each other over the years through various events at the school.  Sitting down with Eric to talk Police work was a lot fun and very interesting!

SF:  OK…let's get this started.  How long have have you been a police officer?
EP:  Well, it's kind of a long answer.  I've been with Redlands full time, for 11 years.  I worked for San Bernardino School Police for 4 years, before that I worked as a reserve for Redlands for 5 years, and before that I worked for Redlands Explorers for 5 years.  So all together that's about 25 years including the Reserves.
SF:  Ok, so is it safe to say you've always wanted to be a cop?
EP:  Yes
SF:  But if you weren't a police officer, what would you see yourself doing?
EP:  (Long pause) I would probably…well it would depend.  If I didn't have a family or if I had a family, it would be different.  If I didn't have a family I would probably go live on a boat somewhere and be a scuba instructor teaching scuba diving and dive everyday.  But that's not very family friendly.  If I didn't do that, I would probably go work at the guide school and teach guide dogs.
SF: Oh yah, I forgot that you guys raise guide dogs!  I remember when Jackie would bring your guide dogs, well the one you were raising/training, to school.  The kids loved that!  Taught the kids a little about guide dogs, as well.  I'm surprised you didn't say a teacher because I know you do a lot with kids, including chaperoning week long field trips!
EP:  I do love teaching and I love kids, and love to see that moment when they get it…but I don't know if I would want to do it full time.  I would be afraid it would lose something for me if I did it full time.  I think what I do now, I have the best of both worlds.
SF: So I have to ask you…I know the stereotype of cops is that they hang out a donut shops!  (we both laugh)  And I actually did a little research on this stereotype.   But, do you even like donuts?
EP:  I do… I do like donuts.  But I won't go get donuts when I'm working.
SF:  Because of the stereotype?
EP:  Yes…although the other night we did because it was the only thing open.
SF:  And that's where the stereotype came from!  That's what I found out!  The reason cops are associated with Donut Shops is because it was the only place open in the middle of the night for them to get a hot cup of joe!
EP:  Well yah, I can tell you the other night, my team went and we were able to get fresh donuts that were hot out of the oven {along with our coffee}. So if you are going to get something at 4:00am, that's right when they come out of the oven!
SF:  YUM!  So speaking of coffee, what is the longest you've ever gone without sleep?
EP:  I worked 21 hours one day, so probably about 24-25 hours.
SF:  Before you leave your house for your shift, are you in your full uniform?
EP:  No, I usually head into work in jeans and a T-Shirt.  We have lockers at the station so I get ready there.  But when I worked on the motorcycle, I would get dressed at home because the motorcycle lived at my house.  Then as soon as I got on the motorcycle, I would call in that I was available.  So it would just depend.
SF:  My next question I'm going to dig a little deep.  What's the hardest thing you've ever had to do on your job?
EP:  (heavy sigh) See a toddler who was run over by a car…and my son was the same age.  He was about 2 1/2 and my son was about 22 months.
SF:  Oh, that's horrific!  I couldn't even imagine.
SF:  What's the hardest thing you've ever had to do in life?
EP:  umm..I would say having to balance being a cop and trying to balance a family/personal life.  To be able to turn off being a cop and turn on being a dad, the cop part doesn't turn off very easily.
SF:  You mentioned earlier that you like Scuba diving.  When did you start scuba diving?
EP:  We {speaking of his wife and himself} got started about 10 years ago.  We were going on a cruise with some friends of ours to Belize, Cozumel and Key West, so we decided that it would be a horrible tragedy to go to those places and NOT scuba dive!  So we all got certified at Empire Scuba, and went scuba diving on our trip. When we got back, I just kept going and going and going, and Jackie finally said "this is costing us a lot of money…!" so we had to figure out how to make it cost effective.  So I basically became a Dive Master so I could dive for free.  Then when the new owners came in to Empire Scuba they sent me to instructor school so I could teach.  I don't know if it's ever been cost effective, but now it holds its own and is basically a wash.
SF:  Well I won't be asking for Scuba instruction because I am deathly afraid of it!  I can't imagine being that far under the water.  I would be afraid of running out of air!
SF:  Recently Redlands was voted in the top 10 cities to raise a family in.  Would you agree with that?
EP:  I would.  And the reason I would is because if you look at what our competition is around here, San Bernardino, Colton, Grand Terrace, Beaumont, Banning, and you put the total package together of what we've got, we are the obvious choice.  I can't speak for Northern California cities so I don't know what they have up there, but I can speak for Inland Empire and part of LA, and it's not surprising.  You look at all the things we have, and I look at the Police Department.  {Redlands} Police Department provides phenomenal customer service!  So when you put that together with what our city has, great schools, great parks, market night, farmers market, the Redlands Bowl, the Theater Festival, Bicycle Classics, Lifehouse Theater, Redlands Footlighters, the University of Redlands…we have all these things that support the "raising a family" idea, that yah, we should be ranked as one of the best places to raise a family.

Thank you for trying!

SF:  Ok..random question.  Can you do a cartwheel?
EP:  uh…no I can't really do one.
SF:  Well I wanted to get a picture of you at least trying!
EP:  OK we will get one…

SF:  Tell me something you can do that maybe not a lot of people can do?  A hidden talent, per se.
EP:  I'd say, for me, would be raising the guide dogs.  I have a good read on dogs.  In fact, on my team, I will always get the dog calls.  In fact, funny story, we got a call about a pit bull, and I was really comfortable approaching the dog, and my partner was not, so I was able to approach the dog without hurting him.
SF:  Now, I know about you raising guide dogs, but maybe tell me a little more about that.
EP:  Well it's not just me, it is our family.  Right now we have a breeder.  Once she has puppies the puppies will go to the guide dog school.  But for the most part, {when we are training guide dogs} we do a lot of socializing, getting the puppies when they are really young and teaching them until they are about 15-24 months.  Jackie would bring them to the school and the kids would know that the dog was "working" if he/she had a vest on.  They would only be allowed to pet the dog when the vest was off.  My kids even help with the training.  It's really rewarding when you see your 5 year old walking the dog through Costco, and pretty much knowing what to do.  We would watch the traffic, and our daughter would watch the dog.  People were always amazed that we would let her walk/help train the dog.
SF:  So cool!  You guys are probably the only people that I know that raise guide dogs!  As a fellow dog lover, I find that truly amazing!

Thank you Officer Pendery for taking the time on your day off to sit down with me and be so open and candid!  And thank you for meeting me again, when it wasn't raining, to do some pictures!  I feel very safe with you out there protecting our city and I thank you for your services to the city of Redlands!