Petaluma native fulfills lifelong dream

Jeremy Walsh, a lifelong Petaluma resident and 12-year veteran of the Petaluma Police Department, has been named the 2014 Police Officer of the Year.

Walsh will accept the award at the Petaluma Community Awards of Excellence at the Sheraton Hotel on March 26, a co-sponsored event of The Petaluma Chamber of Commerce and Petaluma Argus-Courier.

“It’s truly humbling, but also it’s bittersweet because this department is so full of talented people and they work so hard on a day-to-day basis,” Walsh said. “When I found out about the award, there were so many emotions. I was honored, proud, and then I fell into this sense of guilt. I know that my brothers and sisters are equally deserving of this award. I wouldn’t be nearly as successful if they were not right there with me, supporting me in all that I do. I am just fortunate to have my name put to it.”

Field training officer Bill Baseman, a 20-year veteran of the force who trained Walsh more than a decade ago, said Walsh’s is a story of a local boy making good.

“He is a local kid, grew up in Petaluma, and comes back to become a police officer in the town where he is raised,” said Baseman. “That is the good story. Personally I think it is fantastic. You talk about what you’re trying to establish as a police department and where you want to go and the type of service you want to provide to the public, he provides a top-tier quality police service. He is the product we are all looking for.”

Walsh said he was always going to become a police officer, but cannot remember when the desire started as he has no family history of law enforcement. His father worked for 25 years at PG&E and his mother worked for a Ford dealership in Sebastopol.

Walsh’s enlistment in the Army at the age of 18 fell more in line with family tradition. His father served in the Air Force Reserves, his cousin rose to the rank of Brigadier General and his grandfather served 30 years in the Air National Guard.

In four years of service, Walsh split time between Germany and Fort Lewis, Wash., with a light infantry unit. It was this service experience, he said, that gave him leadership abilities and traits he could apply to law enforcement. Walsh’s career in law enforcement began as a correctional officer with the Sonoma County Sheriff’s department soon after he returned home. About a year later, he was hired as a trainee with the Petaluma Police Department.

Since then, Walsh’s career has blossomed. Walsh serves multiple roles with the police department. A SWAT and sniper team member, he can also train others in firearms, Taser, diversionary devices, chemical agents and less-lethal weapons. Experience as a gang-enforcement officer and an undercover agent with the Sonoma County Auto Theft Task Force added further depth. Walsh returned as a patrol officer, with a collateral assignment of corporal field training officer, in January 2014 after six years with the auto theft task force.

“When he came back to us after working auto theft he just brought that talent and that knowledge,” said Lt. Tera Salizzoni, the officer who nominated Walsh for the award. “I think he learned that doing simple, good police work solves crime. Jeremy has an incredible work ethic and uses that ethic in all the calls he handles. Whether it’s someone who gets their car broken into, contact with citizens or a significant domestic call, he treats everyone well.”

Walsh is currently in the process of testing for sergeant, a rank that will allow him to lead a task force. The promotion will continue to further a career within the police department.

“I want to take the newer generation, a task I am able to do as Corporal Field Training officer, and mentor them into the kind of officer I think is best suited for this department, this community,” Walsh said. “When it comes time for me to retire, I will be proud of the legacy I leave behind. I will be proud in seeing the younger generation coming through the ranks, and that I had an intricate part in their career.”

(Contact Joshua Gutierrez at argus@arguscourier.com).