Chief Neth To Receive Mayor's Award Tuesday****

FIRST THE NEWPORT HARBOR HIGH SCHOOL HALL OF FAME...
As some know, former Costa Mesa Police Chief Roger Neth received word this week that he will be among several alumni to be inducted into the Newport Harbor High School Hall Of Fame later this year.  Bradley Zint wrote a nice article in the Daily Pilot about that announcement HERE.

...NOW THE MAYOR'S AWARD!
Well, Chief Neth is on a roll.  At the abbreviated City Council meeting on Tuesday, February 2, 2016, he will receive the Mayor's Award from Mayor Steve Mensinger.

HE CREATED A GREAT DEPARTMENT
Chief Neth is legendary in these parts.  As mentioned in Zint's article, he was Costa Mesa's second police chief and held that job for more than two decades beginning in 1964.  During that time he created a police department that was second to none technologically, including the creation of the A.B.L.E. helicopter program, which was the model for all municipal law enforcement helicopter programs in the country. ****  (See Below)

HOPING FOR A CROWD
While it's wonderful that Chief Roger Neth, shown below with former chiefs Dave Snowden and Tom Gazsi, will be recognized by The Mayor on Tuesday, it's too bad that this ceremony will occur at a meeting that will likely be sparsely attended due to the limited agenda - there's only one item on it.

DON'T BE LATE!
I hope you all will join Chief Neth's friends when he receives this honor.  The meeting begins at 5:45 in City Council Chambers and his award will occur promptly at the beginning of the meeting.  See you there.

****CORRECTION 
A good friend who's in the know sent me a note to correct the A.B.L.E. record, above.  My friend tells me that Chief Neth started the Costa Mesa helicopter program in 1970 and was actually a pilot in that program.  He tells me that Costa Mesa took delivery of the first helicopter a couple months after Huntington Beach acquired theirs.  He tells me that Chief Neth was instrumental in leading edge technology and put computers in the police cars decades ahead of the other agencies.  He tells me that Costa Mesa also had the leading edge communications center that other agencies throughout the nation would visit.  Although he was the father of the Costa Mesa helicopter program, he retired before the formation of A.B.L.E.

A.B.L.E.
I'm told that A.B.L.E. was a Joint Powers Agreement between the Newport Beach Police Department (Chief McDonell) and the Costa Mesa Police Department (Chief Snowden).  It was formalized in 1996 and continued to operate as an effective, efficient air support model serving three communities - Santa Ana contracted with A.B.L.E - until the short-sightedness of the Costa Mesa City Council folded it up on June 30, 2011, HERE, and HERE.  Thanks to my friend for the clarification and amplification of this issue.