Anderson Police Department, the early days

By Donald R. Canada, 

Guest Writer for Anderson Historical Society

When the City of Anderson was incorporated in January 1956, the decision was made to have some of its services contracted. This included the police department, which was contracted by the Shasta County Sheriff’s Department.

Some time later, in 1956 or 1957, the city council decided that Anderson needed its own police department.

In early 1957, Victor W. Armitage, a Long Beach police officer, was hired to be the first Chief of Police for the City of Anderson. Max Montgomery, a Bend, Ore., police officer was hired as a sergeant. Both were sworn in as deputy sheriffs and were to patrol Anderson and organize the police department.

About April of 1957, examinations were held at Shasta College in preparation to hire three police officers to complete the new personnel for the Anderson Police Department. Fifty-three applicants took the examination.

Three men, Donald P. Childress, Donald R. Canada and Eugene Serna were hired as a result of the examinations.

A training session of about a month and a half was held at the old community hall, site of the present city hall, to prepare the new officers for their duties.

At 00:01 hours, July 1, 1957, the Anderson Police Department officially took over the policing duties for the Sheriff’s Department.

One of the requirements of all employees of the city at that time was each employee was required to move into and reside in the city limits. After the six months, Eugene Serna and his wife chose not to move and Serna resigned and went to work for the sheriff’s department. Rodney Constance, a reserve police officer for Anderson, was hired to fill this vacancy.

The police department formed a Reserve Police Officer unit which assisted the police department and was used during the fair, parades and also riding with the regular officers. Twelve to 15 reserve officers were in this unit, including Craig Williams, George Burns, Bill Bishop, Dave Darrah and Harold Sass among others.

In 1958, an election for three city councilmen was held. Three incumbents were defeated and three new councilmen were elected.

Shortly after the election, a conflict arose between Armitage and the three new councilmen and a vote of 3-2 was made to fire Armitage. Don Canada was appointed acting chief until a permanent chief was hired.

The local editor of the Anderson Valley Post was instrumental in starting a recall election of the three new councilmen who had voted to fire Armitage. This election was successful and the three city councilmen were recalled.

Carl J. Wallace, a retired police officer and deputy sheriff from Ventura, was hired to be the second police chief. Wallace only stayed three months and resigned stating his wife did not want to move to the area and at 68 years old, the job required a younger man.

Wallace left in January 1959 and Don Canada was appointed as the third police chief and held this position until he resigned in 1965.

In 1959, Anderson felt it needed its own dispatch system and Mildred “Millie” Ceaglio was hired to head up the new dispatch unit. Some others who worked for the dispatch unit at the time were Margaret Mossom, Bonnie Keadle and Emily Pollard, among others.

In the early years, Anderson had quite a few bars and card rooms and the department was quite busy, especially on weekends. The City of Redding Police Department, Shasta County Sheriff’s Office and Anderson Police Department had formed a mutual aid pact and this proved to work quite well when additional help was needed by any of the three agencies.

Nineteen-fifty-nine also saw Anderson’s first murder occurred in 1959 and was handled by the new police department. The couple who ran the bowling alley café got into an argument after work and when they arrived home, the husband shot and killed his wife in Anderson Heights.

Anderson had its share of losing many fine officers to other agencies due to looking at better pay and benefits. In the late 50’s Anderson paid its chief $613 a month, the sergeant $385 a month and the officers were paid $375 per month for a six day work week. No retirement benefits were in effect and medical plans were not adequate.