Leadership Lodi is a course dedicated to inspiring and motivating individuals from our community to attain higher levels of leadership. Formed through the Lodi District Chamber of Commerce in 1990, the hands-on workshops, interviews with local leaders, and non-profit projects have made an immense impact on Lodi as a whole. During the course of Leadership Lodi, participants go through ten all-day meetings with different facets of the community. The mission for this month was to introduce all of the Leadership Lodi 2019 participants to the wonderful educational opportunities that exist in and around Lodi.  
 
Law & Justice Day for the Leadership Lodi 2019 class was very enjoyable for all. The class began the day with Chief Tod Patterson welcoming them to the police station. The class then walked to the dispatch center and jail with Andrea Patterson. There are bilingual dispatchers and they also have a translation service they can utilize. Lodi Police Station has 10 cells and can house up to 20 inmates.
 
After leaving the police station, the class carpooled to the K-9 Training Yard where they were given a canine unit demonstration by Officer Dominic Carillo and Officer Will Hinton and their dogs, including K-9 Stryker. Stryker demonstrated his bite and release technique as well as running through an obstacle course while being given French commands from the officer.
 
We then walked to the Grape Bowl parking lot where we were met by Officer Delgado and Tim Ivey. They discussed the training required to become a traffic officer and they demonstrated riding through a road course set up with safety cones. Their bikes are approximately 1,000 pounds and it requires much finesse and commitment to not lay the bike over while riding through the course. Leadership Lodi members were able to try out a Lidar detector as officer Tim Ivey drove back and forth at various speeds.
 
After the motor demonstration, the class went back to the police station where they were given an equipment demonstration by Sgt. Kevin Kent. They toured the inside the ballistic armored tactical transport vehicle, which is used by the SWAT unit. All patrol unit officers are trained to drive the SWAT vehicle. They also demonstrated one of their drones - and the police station just obtained a new state of the art drone equipped with a thermal imaging camera. Sgt. Steve Maynard then discussed the bomb squad unit’s duties and operated the bomb disposal robot. The robot is military grade and can be weaponized but can also be used in search and rescue situations utilizing the microphone and speaker.
 
After lunch, Lt. Steve Nelson demonstrated the use of force simulator, which is a fully immersed virtual reality experience where you act out various scenarios to gain insight and skills on how to handle certain difficult situations. The class then went across the street to the firing range where Det. John Nickel and Eric Shaw displayed and educated the group on various weapons used by the police department.
 
Law & Justice day concluded with a tour of the rest of the Lodi Police Department with Lt Eric Versteeg which included all the police officers’ offices as well as the evidence/property room. Cpt. David Griffin, who is a past Leadership Lodi graduate, then shared some words of wisdom. He expressed the importance of being flexible and adaptable to all situations. Applications for Leadership Lodi 2020 will be available to the public soon. For more information or questions on the program, email Karen Alvarez at KAlvarez@LodiChamber.com.