Tales of Heroin Busts and DUI Arrests as Lake Forest Cops Are Honored

When Deputy Christine Chang saw three people sitting in a car in an area of Lake Forest where they, in the words of Lt. Douglas Doyle, had "no business being," Chang called for backup and went to investigate.

The outcome?

"When she’s done, she’s got 48 balloons of heroin, bags of cocaine, methamphetamine, some syringes, and three people in custody for various narcotics violations," Doyle, the chief of Lake Forest Police Services, told the audience at Tuesday's City Council meeting. "This is outstanding work. This is the type of case Christine puts together day after day after day."

Chang was being recognized as the Lake Forest Deputy of the Year. A 10-year Orange County Sheriff's Department veteran, she has been working in Lake Forest since 2008. Doyle said that in nine out of 17 statistical categories used to measure deputy performance—categories that can range from the number of citations written to felony arrests in a year—Chang was first among Lake Forest deputies.

The council also issued a proclamation to honor three Lake Forest cops who were the recipients of awards from Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Deputy Dallas Hennessey racked up 112 DUI arrests in 2010 and received the MADD Century Award, given to cops with more than 100 DUI arrests. Deputies Corey Mayer and Boris Garcia both received the MADD Deuce Award, for making more than 25 arrests; Mayer's count was 35, and Garcia's was 30.

"We’re very lucky in this city to have a chief of police who supports drunk-driving efforts," said administrative Deputy Richard Nelson, introducing the MADD award recipients. "DUI enforcement is one of the few proactive enforcement activities that we can do out there."

During council comments at the end of the meeting, each of the three council members present—Mayor Peter Herzog was away in Washington, DC, and Mayor Pro Tem Mark Tettemer had called in sick—thanked the police for their efforts.

"The bottom line is every time they pull somebody off the street, you never know how many lives are being saved or how many families are being kept intact because they don’t have the stress of what can happen when someone is hit by a drunk driver," said Councilwoman Marcia Rudolph.