PASO ROBLES, CA – In advance of a powerful storm expected to arrive tomorrow, the City of Paso Robles is issuing an evacuation warning for the Salinas Riverbed within the City limits. The Salinas Riverbed is extremely hazardous during significant rain events and river levels can rise rapidly.
Tomorrow’s storm is associated with an “Atmospheric River” bringing potential for significant rainfall and wind gust up to 60 mph. The storm is expected to be heaviest Wednesday night into Thursday. This storm has the potential for significant damage and threat to human life.
Recent rainfall has saturated the ground and winds associated with these storms increase the potential for downed trees and power lines. Always be aware of your surroundings, drive safely, stay clear of downed utility lines, and avoid all water crossings.
Please do not call 911 to report power outages. You can report outages to PG&E at 1-800-743-5002 or visit http://www.pg&e.com for more information on outages in your area.
Paso Robles, CA – The Paso Robles Police Department routinely conducts compliance checks of subjects on active probation, parole, or are deemed a threat to the community. A compliance check was conducted on December 22nd, 2022, and Bill Benjamin Hernandez, a 51-year-old resident of Paso Robles, was arrested on a warrant for felony traffic evasion, and Stephanie Joy Dukes, a 43-year-old resident of Paso Robles, was arrested on 14 outstanding warrants. Both subjects were transported and booked into the San Luis Obispo County Jail.
The Paso Robles Police Department is requesting anyone with any important criminal information to call the PRPD at (805) 237-6464 or persons wishing to remain anonymous are encouraged to call Crime Stoppers’ 24-hour hotline at 805-549-STOP or by texting “SLOTIPS” plus your message” to CRIMES (274637).
In a press release from Paso Robles Police Department the press release said.
PASO ROBLES – On 12/13/2022, Winifred Pifer Elementary School was notified of a SnapChat cyberbullying issue. Additionally, a picture was sent of a possible weapon.
School Resource Officers (SROs) were immediately notified and follow-up was conducted. The weapon pictured was a BB gun and there was no threat made to any school or person. The Paso Robles Joint Unified School District and our SROs collaborated on a joint effort to educate students and parents of the dangers of social media use and cyberbullying.
Paso Robles Fire and Emergency Services recently took delivery of its first Type III fire engine in the department’s history. The Paso Robles City Council approved the purchase of the fire apparatus built by Pierce Manufacturing INC. on February 16, 2021. The engine was placed in service for emergency response on Feb. 19th 2022. This specialized fire engine is designed to respond to wildland fires that pose a risk to the community of Paso Robles and across the State of California. In 2021, Paso Robles Fire and Emergency Services responded to 144 wildland fires. The 4×4 fire engine can access areas with difficult terrain and is equipped with specialized equipment for combatting wildland fires. Due to the drought conditions we have experienced over the last few years, wildfires locally and throughout the state are accelerating at unprecedented rates. The rapid growth of these wildfires is even stunning many of us that have been doing this for a very long time. The addition of this specialized apparatus to augment our response capabilities is a significant milestone in serving our community,” said Chief Stornetta. The engine is also well equipped and prepared for other types of emergency responses including Medical Aids, Structure Fires, and Vehicle Accidents.
Picture provided by: Paso Robles Fire Department.Picture provided by: Paso Robles Fire Department.
Media Contact Name: Scott Hallett Title: Battalion Chief Phone: (805) 286-5820 Email: shallett@prcity.com
Picture Provided by San Luis Obispo Police Department.
A stolen vehicle entered Paso Robles Tuesday afternoon an automatic license plate reader alerted Paso Robles police department that a stolen vehicle had entered the city and was traveling Eastbound over the Niblick bridge, officers were dispatched to the area to look for the vehicle a white Acura officers spotted the vehicle in the Walmart parking lot and when officers were approaching the vehicle in their patrol cars the pursuit began the vehicle led 3 Paso Robles police officers southbound highway 101 into Atascadero, then the 3 Paso Robles police officers turned the pursuit over to Atascadero Police Department, then the vehicle continued to through Atascadero and led police officers from Atascadero police onto Highway 1 into Morro Bay then after leading officers to Morro Bay and attempting to steal 2 additional vehicles in Morro Bay the vehicle continued to travel into San Luis Obispo that ended with the white Acura crashing into a SLOPD patrol vehicle. The suspect then attempted to flee on foot but was forcefully taken into custody. CHP and SLO County Sheriffs Department also were. apart of the pursuit.
The City of Paso Robles has announced the appointment of a new Police Chief, Damian Nord. Chief Nord assumed his new position with the City on Tuesday, December 21, 2021.
Chief Nord was selected after a competitive nationwide recruitment process with over 20+ applicants.
Chief Nord began his career with the Kern County Sheriff’s Office in 1998 as a Detention Deputy, later promoting to Deputy Sheriff in 2001. Chief Nord worked his way through the ranks serving as a Detective, Sergeant, Lieutenant, Commander, and most recently as a Chief Deputy in charge of the Investigations and Detentions Bureaus. Chief Nord also has prior local experience having worked for the City of Paso Robles as a Police Officer in 2007. Nord holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Emergency Management and attended the Executive Leadership Program at USC Price School of Public Policy.
“I’m excited the city was able to recruit a top-notch Police Chief like Damian Nord,” said City Manager Ty Lewis, “Chief Nord brings a wealth of experience, strong character, and positive energy to our community. Chief Nord’s proven ability to effectively work with diverse communities, like Paso Robles, will serve us well.”
Chief Nord is replacing Interim Police Chief Stephen Lampe, who retires at the end of the year.
Chief Nord is in the process of relocating to Paso Robles from Bakersfield. “I am honored to be joining the City of Paso Robles and a team of talented professionals,” says Chief Nord. “I look forward to working with everyone to keep the city safe, build trust and strong partnerships throughout the community.”
Media contact: Mary Sponhaltz, Support Services Manager Paso Robles Police Department
Paso Robles Police Officers Alex Ellis and Walter Canizalez.
Paso Robles Police Officers Alex Ellis and Walter Canizalez take over as school resource officers after most recent school resource officers Tony Ruiz and Dustin Virgil. Tony Ruiz recently promoted to sergeant within the department and Dustin Virgil has chosen to continue his public safety career with the Paso Robles Fire Department.
Meet Officer Alex Ellis. Alex is from the city of Paso Robles, Ellis attended Cuesta College and Cal Poly. And joined Paso Robles Police Department 4 years ago.
Meet Officer Walter Canizalez.
Walter has been a officer with Paso Robles Police Department for 2 years. Walter was a firefighter for the forest service for 12 years and enjoys his new position as a school resource officer because he loves to serve his community by serving the youth, “when I was young, I grew up in Southern California and there were a lot of police and fire agency programs such as The D.A.R.E. Program, the Explorers Program that played a big part in my life coming up and guided me to where I am now in public service which I love and enjoy and I want to share my experiences with youth and help in any way I can, I’m big in The Paso Robles Police Departments Police activities league and I see the value in athletics in our youth because it helps out a ton just to burn off energy, but then it teaches great skills like team building, discipline and all of the above so we want to be incorporate that and be involved in the community in those fashions. As far as developing children in the community at all ages, we really want to do a lot of outreach in the schools for things like drugs, vaping, drunk driving, similar to the D.A.R.E program but curtailed more to things that are currently going on in communities. My goal is to make sure that we are having presentations and doing the out reach and having the kids participate in activities that we have going on as a department such as Junior Giants for example so we can integrate the kids that we see in schools that want to be a part of something like that and see if something like that would benefit them and it would be my job to try to put them on the right track to be a part those activities. Officer Ellis is my counterpart and as a new school resource officer. As resource officers we work as a team to make sure that we have overlapping coverage through out the school year for whatever the needs are of the high school, we have a high concentration of kids at the high school so we spend a lot of time there, but the idea of having 2 resource officers is that we can divide up and have more outreach and talk to more youth, yes we are law enforcement officers, we are there to be assistance to the kids should they need our assistance if the school administration is unable to fulfill the needs of the students then we want to step in and help wherever we are needed, We also want to focus on the other schools in the district because everyone needs our attention. We don’t want to take away from the middle schools and elementary schools because they also have needs and our goal with the lower schools is to mitigate issues that could possibly come up in the later years. The more people we can help early on is what we want to do and we want a balanced approach to everybody is what we are looking for as resource officers.
Officer Tony Ruiz
Officer Tony Ruiz was one of the most recent school resource officers Officer Ruiz has promoted to Sergeant with the Paso Robles Police Department. Tony has been with the department for the last 21 years and looks to continue his career as a sergeant.
Officer Dustin Virgil
Officer Virgil was the other school resource officer along side Officer Ruiz, Officer Virgil has decided to change careers and continue his public safety career with the Paso Robles Fire Department. Officer Virgil has been with the police department for 3 years.
‘Paso Robles Breaks Ground on New Public Safety Facility’ Fire Station 3 will be located on Union Road near Ardmore
~The City of Paso Robles held a groundbreaking ceremony this morning to celebrate the beginning of the construction of a new public safety facility located at 2924 Union Road. Once complete, the facility will house Fire Station 3 and a public safety training facility.
Attendees to the ceremony included city council members, members of the Supplemental Sales Tax Oversight Committee, project contractors, and consultants.
“This new facility is emblematic of the city council’s dedication to the primary importance of public safety and just one of the strategies in place to keep Paso Robles residents and their property safe,” said Mayor Steve Martin.
According to reports dating back to 2015, Paso Robles Fire and Emergency Services (PRFES) is understaffed compared to communities of similar size and population. This new facility will allow the City to increase its public safety services and decrease response times by having a fire station on the northeast side of the city.
Property for a future fire station was purchased in 2019, and the development of plans for Fire Station 3 was initiated at that time. Due to the fiscal impacts of COVID-19, all Fire Station 3 planning was put on hold until the passage of Measure J20, the ½-cent sales tax that will provide the $3-$10 million in funding necessary to complete the project.
In 2018 and 2020, the City of Paso Robles accepted SAFER Grant awards of $1.4 million and $1.2 million, respectively, to cover the salary and benefit costs for a total of nine firefighter positions over a three-year period for each grant. The City reported that this funding is helping to make up for the shortfall in staffing until the facility is completed and more staff can be hired.
Fire Station 3 will be built in phases. Grading of the site should start in mid-September, and construction of the fire station is expected to begin in mid-November. Fire Station 3 staffing is anticipated to be completed prior to winter 2022.
Multiple Recreational Vehicle Fire PASO ROBLES, CA – At approximately 10:25 p.m. on August 28th Paso Robles Fire and Emergency Services responded to the report of a commercial structure fire in the 2500 block of Theatre Drive. Upon arrival, firefighters found multiple recreational vehicles (RV’s) burning at a commercial sales and service location. The rapidly spreading fire was quickly contained by arriving units and did not extend into an adjacent building. Three recreational vehicles were destroyed and 5 adjacent RV’s sustained minor damage. Estimated dollar value saved during this incident, exceeded 1 million dollars. Estimated dollar loss to the recreational vehicles was $100,000 dollars. Two fire engines, one ladder truck and one Battalion Chief from Paso Robles responded to the incident. Under the City’s automatic aid agreement, two engines from CAL FIRE/SLO County immediately responded to assist. In total, 16 firefighters worked to control the fire. Additional assistance was provided by Paso Robles Police Department. (Media Contact: Battalion Chief Scott Hallett)
Members of PPA and BSU at the Street Clean Up On 8-14-21.
Paso People’s Action and Paso Robles High School Black Student Union held a joint clean up on Saturday, August 14th. Both groups have taken on the task of adopting a street on the North end of Paso Robles. This entails a monthly commitment where volunteers pick up trash along their adopted street. Paso People’s Action has adopted Park Street between 28th and 36th street and the PRHS BSU has adopted Oak Street starting near the Paso Youth Arts Foundation and ending near Georgia Brown Elementary School. The mission of Paso People’s Action (PPA) is to invest in the diversity of the community in northern San Luis Obispo County. PPA aims to support, amplify, and empower the historically marginalized voices of the community, and works to disrupt the systems that push neighbors to the margins of society. PPA’s vision is to create a community where every person can live and thrive. Elena Garcia, founding member of Paso People’s Action and creator of the PPA Adopt-a-Street team has been leading trash clean-ups for nearly a year. While advocacy and direct engagement are critical, Elena believes that tangible community service cannot be overlooked or undervalued. “We need to take direct action in order to see positive changes within our community.” PPA’s Adopt-a-Street team has had a positive response during their street clean-ups and often have neighbors stop to say hello and give thanks as well as greetings from energetic children waving hello from their apartment windows. PPA’s Adopt-a-Street team is looking to add volunteers with hopes of adopting additional streets throughout Paso Robles. For more information on Paso People’s Action or their Adopt-a-Street team please email – pasopeoplesaction@gmail.com
Clean ups will alternate between Saturdays and Sundays on the 2nd weekend of every month. Below is our schedule through the end of 2021.
Sunday, September 12th
Saturday, October 9th
Sunday, November 14th
Saturday, December 11th
Kelen Macharia, president of PRHS Black Student Union has been an admirable leader for students and is looking ahead to a great year ahead as a PRHS Senior. Kelen’s vision for BSU is to educate and promote diversity within the club, Paso Robles High School, and outwards to the community. As PRHS BSU heads into a new school year, their club is looking forward to expanding their reach and welcomes new member engagement. Connect with PRHS BSU on their Instagram page at – https://www.instagram.com/prhsbsu/?hl=en
Paso Robles Incidents / Action 