Watsonville Deputy Police Chief Manny Solano (left) shows a 1974 wanted poster for Patricia Hearst as former Watsonville police reserve officer Joe Myers looks on. The poster is part of the Watsonville Police Department’s historical archive. (Photos by Tarmo Hannula)

“Ooooh …. Man alive look at that thing,” said Joe Myers as Watsonville Deputy Police Chief Manny Solano pulled a giant red light out of an old cardboard box.

The light once hung in front of City Hall. When it was shining, police officers knew there was a message for them at the station.

“It was mainly for the officer on the beat in lower Main Street,” said Myers, who served as a reserve officer with Watsonville Police Department from 1960-74.

Myers has been helping Solano compile the department’s history, which Solano has stored in boxes, chests, closets and even behind a glass case in one of the department’s rooms. The “museum” includes old pistols, billy clubs, photos, radio sets, rifles, badges, mug shots, radar guns, cameras, caps and even the original FBI wanted poster for Patty Hearst. On Wednesday morning, Myers brought some more stuff for Solano to add to his growing inventory.

Solano has items on display inside the department, and some of the collection is also featured occasionally at the Pajaro Valley Historical Association. Community members and families of retired officers have been contributing more and more items.

“Years ago, people like (former police Capt.) Chuck Carter and Joe (Myers) really valued this history,” Solano said. “So we’re keeping the history alive here. Fire departments are often great at doing this, but police departments generally aren’t.”

Solano said the changes and advances in police equipment are startling to look at when they are put side by side.

“We have certainly advanced a lot,” Solano said. “The personal control devices we use today compared with this old stuff — we could never use that today.”

Solano points to a “claw” used to restrain unruly suspects. Shaped like a handcuff with a handle on one end, officers could clench down on a suspect’s wrist and yank his or her arm behind their back with it.

Master Officer Steven Nakamoto, who began working as a cadet at WPD in the late 1970s before joining the force in 1981, said technology has changed everything from writing tickets to restraining suspects.

“Just look at the Taser, for example,” Nakamoto said. “It’s much less painful than that claw.”

A book of old arrest records is among Solano’s treasures. He noted the way reports were written years ago and pointed one out from March 5, 1947.

“Here’s one — look at this description of the crime, ‘Hit old man in the puss on the lower end (of Main Street),’” Solano said. “Isn’t that great?”

Among the old police badges is the one worn by WPD’s first policewoman, Kathryn Johnson. Female officers were called police matrons, and Myers said the addition of a woman to the force was not a controversy among the officers because the need was recognized.

“We needed a woman,” Myers said. “We were picking up female suspects and one had claimed an officer attempted to rape her. So the matrons would accompany these suspects when they were arrested.”

In addition to the collection of memorabilia, the department has also done some research and updated its Web site with a history of the department. Officer Monica Gonzalez has been in charge of the project, and discovered that the first death of a Watsonville policeman in the line of duty was actually in 1897, not 1920 as previously thought. On Feb. 6, 1897, night watchman Wesley Alford was shot and killed on South Main Street during a patrol. Officer John T. Whalen was shot to death on Oct. 25, 1920, in a city lot near the jail.

Myers recounted a couple of close calls he had with some of Watsonville’s worst. A brothel owner once pulled a knife on him and, armed only with a can of mace, Myers was forced to flee into the street.

Solano said Watsonville has changed a lot since the rough-and-tumble days when rowdy bars and brothels dotted the town.

“We’ve really come a long ways,” Solano said. “Those bars really added an element that was unsafe.”

For the complete article see the 07-23-2009 issue.

Click here to purchase an electronic version of the 07-23-2009 paper.

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