Eureka Police Chief Andrew Mills has accepted a job offer from the city of Santa Cruz and, pending a background investigation, will be leaving after three and a half years on the job here. Reached this evening, Mills said the change is bittersweet and comes for a mixture of personal and professional reasons. Personally, he […]
Eureka Police Department
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McClain Witness: ‘There Was No Reason to Shoot’
Thomas “Tommy” McClain was walking toward Eureka police officers with his hands raised above waist level while navigating a barrage of conflicting commands when he was fatally shot, according to witness testimony today. Nichole Mottern, the wife of McClain’s cousin, who was standing in front of the Allard Avenue home the three shared that night, […]
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‘It Needed to be Done,’ EPD Officer Testifies in Wrongful Death Trial
The Eureka police officer who fatally shot Thomas “Tommy” McClain testified Tuesday that he stood by his actions and believed he had no choice but to shoot when the 22-year-old reached for what he believed was a gun in his waistband. “I was scared that the gun was going to come out and he was […]
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Close Call Leaves Mills with Lessons Learned
Eureka Police Chief Andrew Mills has a PSA for would-be wave-watchers: “When they say don’t go out on the jetty, don’t go out on the jetty.” Mills was driving along the north jetty with his wife last Saturday when he decided to walk out on the jetty and take pictures of the large waves sweeping […]
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EPD Shooting Case Heads to Trial
SAN FRANCISCO — Parents who say a Eureka policeman shot their son to death though his hands were in the air can take their case to trial, a federal judge said Wednesday. Twenty-two-year-old Thomas McClain was shot to death by Eureka police officer Steven Linfoot on Sept. 17, 2014, his parents say in the lawsuit […]
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Controversial “I Like Eureka” Logo Given New Heart
Live music? Bounce houses? Balloons? Face painting? Emergency management training? Sounds like quite a time at next month’s Neighborhood Watch Block Party! But, wait, what’s that in the far right corner of this jam-packed flyer? Yes, it’s the latest iteration of the “I Like Eureka” campaign, now tinted a badge-proud blue and festooned with a […]
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City of Eureka: Pick Up Your Stuff
On Tuesday night the Eureka City Council voted 4-0, with councilmember Kim Bergel absent, to approve a Storage of Personal Property Ordinance that will allow the police department to tag, then bag property left on city land. The ordinance comes as a response to recent issues with people leaving items behind after staying in designated […]
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Numbers from the PalCo Marsh Cleanup
The Eureka Police Department has released some information from the May 2 and 3 cleanup of the PalCo Marsh, in which over one hundred homeless people were displaced and/or rehoused. According to the press release, more than 60 tons of trash were collected in the two-day operation. Dozens of sharps containers, used to safely store […]
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Evictions Ongoing in PalCo Marsh
There were more reporters, police and clergy than homeless people in the PalCo Marsh this morning as the City of Eureka made a final sweep of the area, forcibly evicting those remaining in the camps. As of 7:30 a.m. at least half of the residents remained, according to accounts, despite repeated warnings over the last […]
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Psychedelic Pizza Hoax Spawns EPD Investigation
In what has to be one of the stranger crime reports in recent memory, the Eureka Police Department is investigating an apparent hoax designed to make a local woman think she’d gotten way more mushrooms on her pizza than she bargained for. On Wednesday evening, a Eureka woman in her early 20s used the Domino’s […]
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UPDATED: Man Dies in EPD Custody at Hospital
Police have released the name of the man who died in custody on April 2. According to previous reports, Jeremy Edward Jenkins, 33, died from an unspecified medical emergency after being taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital. Officers said he “had ingested a substantial amount of methamphetamine.” Jenkins was a frequent name on the EPD’s arrest […]
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Mills Mulls Prison Reform With Gov. Brown, Other Chiefs
Eureka Police Department Chief Andy Mills and police chiefs from around the state met with Governor Jerry Brown on Thursday, March 17 at the 2016 California Police Chiefs Association Symposium to discuss Brown’s November ballot initiative, which would ostensibly streamline the early release of nonviolent offenders from prison. The proposal — allowing corrections officials to […]