RIPON - Ripon’s Police Chief Richard Bull who brought the best in cutting edge technology to the rank and file officer on the street in his 10-year tenure with the department announced his retirement Wednesday afternoon.
Bull gathered his officers and staff together at a departmental meeting to make sure they were the first to know of his leaving with Aug. 20 set to be his last day on the job.
City Administrator Leon Compton announced that Lt. Ed Ormonde has been tapped to serve as interim police chief until a new chief is hired for the department. Ormonde has been with the department for 12 years and a lieutenant for the last three years.
The Ripon Police Department is one of the best in having the tools officers need in today’s world. With Highway 99 running right through the middle of the city, Bull made sure his officers were ready for anything they might encounter and had the fire power to protect the community from the real potential of high-powered weapons.
The many MESH System surveillance cameras around town and at the schools with live feeds to Ripon’s dispatch center was a product of Bull’s leadership as was the license plate cameras near the Highway 99 off ramp. Those cameras immediately alert the dispatchers of any reported stolen vehicles entering the city.
The powered parachute that came from the Department of Justice was due to his lobbying. The air unit surveillance was credited for the drop in home burglaries some 64 percent in 10 months’ time. It was also used to locate lost rafters on the Stanislaus River at dusk when search crews were unable to find them.
He spearheaded the 2005 upgrading and expansion of the Ripon Police Department’s headquarters which included the creation of a state-of-the-art communications center in 2006-2007.
Under Bull’s leadership, the Ripon Police Department was awarded the California Law Enforcement Challenge Technology Award from 2007 through 2009. It was also awarded the National Law Enforcement Challenge’s Technology Award for the same time period.
Additionally the Ripon department was awarded the California Law Enforcement Challenge first place award for 2009-2010 for an agency in its size category.
Chief Bull also welcomed the opportunity to serve the California Police Chiefs’ Association as their representative on a number of committees where he is currently the chairman of the California Statewide Data Sharing Task Force and Technology Committee.
Bull also serves on the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Small, Rural, Tribal and Border Regional Center’s Advisory Board.
Last year he was awarded the coveted California Police Chiefs Association’s “Joseph Malloy Award” – the highest they can bestow on a fellow member.
Bull has served in law enforcement for nearly 35 years coming to Ripon in 2000 from Red Bluff where he had been named chief in 1990.
Two years later he was appointed to the position of police chief/director of public safety taking over the additional responsibility of running the fire department.
Bull took on the duties of Red Bluff city manager for two years from 1995 to 1997. He began his career with the Patterson Police Department in 1976 working as a reserve and then a full-time officer until 1980 when he signed on as a deputy with the Stanislaus County Sheriff Coroner’s Department.
After two years with the sheriff’s department he was offered a sergeant’s position back with the Patterson Police Department.
Chief Bull is a 1974 graduate of Grace M. Davis High School in Modesto later attending Modesto Junior College where he majored in the Administration of Justice program, later attending the University of San Francisco where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Public Administration.
He and his wife, Kim, plan to continue their residence in the Ripon community where they will continue to take an active part.
Bull gathered his officers and staff together at a departmental meeting to make sure they were the first to know of his leaving with Aug. 20 set to be his last day on the job.
City Administrator Leon Compton announced that Lt. Ed Ormonde has been tapped to serve as interim police chief until a new chief is hired for the department. Ormonde has been with the department for 12 years and a lieutenant for the last three years.
The Ripon Police Department is one of the best in having the tools officers need in today’s world. With Highway 99 running right through the middle of the city, Bull made sure his officers were ready for anything they might encounter and had the fire power to protect the community from the real potential of high-powered weapons.
The many MESH System surveillance cameras around town and at the schools with live feeds to Ripon’s dispatch center was a product of Bull’s leadership as was the license plate cameras near the Highway 99 off ramp. Those cameras immediately alert the dispatchers of any reported stolen vehicles entering the city.
The powered parachute that came from the Department of Justice was due to his lobbying. The air unit surveillance was credited for the drop in home burglaries some 64 percent in 10 months’ time. It was also used to locate lost rafters on the Stanislaus River at dusk when search crews were unable to find them.
He spearheaded the 2005 upgrading and expansion of the Ripon Police Department’s headquarters which included the creation of a state-of-the-art communications center in 2006-2007.
Under Bull’s leadership, the Ripon Police Department was awarded the California Law Enforcement Challenge Technology Award from 2007 through 2009. It was also awarded the National Law Enforcement Challenge’s Technology Award for the same time period.
Additionally the Ripon department was awarded the California Law Enforcement Challenge first place award for 2009-2010 for an agency in its size category.
Chief Bull also welcomed the opportunity to serve the California Police Chiefs’ Association as their representative on a number of committees where he is currently the chairman of the California Statewide Data Sharing Task Force and Technology Committee.
Bull also serves on the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Small, Rural, Tribal and Border Regional Center’s Advisory Board.
Last year he was awarded the coveted California Police Chiefs Association’s “Joseph Malloy Award” – the highest they can bestow on a fellow member.
Bull has served in law enforcement for nearly 35 years coming to Ripon in 2000 from Red Bluff where he had been named chief in 1990.
Two years later he was appointed to the position of police chief/director of public safety taking over the additional responsibility of running the fire department.
Bull took on the duties of Red Bluff city manager for two years from 1995 to 1997. He began his career with the Patterson Police Department in 1976 working as a reserve and then a full-time officer until 1980 when he signed on as a deputy with the Stanislaus County Sheriff Coroner’s Department.
After two years with the sheriff’s department he was offered a sergeant’s position back with the Patterson Police Department.
Chief Bull is a 1974 graduate of Grace M. Davis High School in Modesto later attending Modesto Junior College where he majored in the Administration of Justice program, later attending the University of San Francisco where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Public Administration.
He and his wife, Kim, plan to continue their residence in the Ripon community where they will continue to take an active part.
