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SAN JOSE — Over the decades, the San Jose Police Department has accumulated different kinds of transports, from patrol cars to motorcycles to armored cars and helicopters.
If you get stopped by the department’s latest vehicle, it might help to have a sweet tooth.
Monday, the department rolled out a state-of-the-art ice-cream truck aimed at both honoring one of its fallen and strengthening its image and relationship with residents, starting in East San Jose at the Boys & Girls Club of Silicon Valley.
“The sooner you build that positive interaction with someone, the better,” said Chief Eddie Garcia, who along with Mayor Sam Liccardo handed out frozen treats at Escuela Popular school.
“The very first time that someone ever meets a San Jose police officer, or any police officer for that matter, cannot be in a moment of crisis,” he continued. “And I can’t think of anything else that represents non-crisis than ice cream and an ice cream truck.”
The centerpiece of “Operation Frozen Treats Patrol” is not your typical stepvan.The department commissioned Farber Specialty Vehicles in Ohio to outfit a 2017 Ford Transit Diesel Truck, which houses a deep freezer with the capacity for 1,200 pre-packaged ice cream bars and other standard features, including a side service window with counter space, a bay sink, and an awning.
But this ice-cream truck also sports a police siren and visor-mounted police lights. It also has an exterior graphic wrap, where the back doors are emblazoned with a tribute and image of Michael Katherman, a San Jose police officer who died in an on-duty traffic collision in 2016 while riding his police motorcycle.
It’s a fitting tribute to one of Katherman’s passions. When he was eulogized in a public memorial service, many officers and colleagues mentioned his fondness for ice cream, which he got from his mother, inspiring an affectionate mythology that he knew the location of every ice cream and frozen-yogurt shop within 100 miles.
“It’s a way for us to remember him,” Garcia said. “I know that he’s looking down on us smiling.”
Garcia said the ice cream truck cost about $177,000 and was funded largely through a Supplemental Law Enforcement Services grant. Going forward, it likely will be used for targeted outreach, but the chief didn’t rule out the possibility of it showing up on city streets.
The ice cream truck earned an enthusiastic thumbs-up from 8-year-old Carlos Perez.
“It looks nice, and it looks like it’s really going to give ice cream,” he said after wolfing down an ice cream sandwich.
Ten-year-old Anya Gupta, meanwhile, savored her snow cone. “That’s a really good idea because it’s nice for the community,” she said after learning about the ice cream truck’s purpose.
Liccardo offered a similar assessment.
“There’s no substitute for developing relationships of trust between police officers on the street and the families they serve,” Liccardo said.
“And to see kids be able to engage with officers over something as simple as a popsicle,” he continued, “it’s a gateway drug to a much stronger relationship, relationships that encourage communication, encourage children and their families to come forward when there’s something that worries them in the neighborhood, and something that develops trust.”
