As a Law Enforcement Officer - Garden Grove

inside a bathroom. The officers tried for several minutes to talk the female into
surrendering and giving up the knife. Fearing the female was possibly going to harm
herself, the officers quickly formulated a plan to prevent this from happening. The
risk of injury to the female and officers was extremely high because they were in close
quarters and had limited space in which to maneuver. Due to the quick and decisive
actions taken by the officers, they were able to make their way into the bathroom,
preventing the woman from harming either herself or the officers. In situations such
as this, the end result could have been dramatically -and tragically- different. However,
the experience, tactics and compassion of the officers on scene allowed the event to
be brought to a successful conclusion.
Officer Olivo developed information regarding subjects at a residence possibly
selling methamphetamine. He spent many hours conducting surveillance and traffic
stops on subjects leaving the residence, which enabled him to identify the suspects
involved in the criminal activity. Officer Olivo then contacted the Career Criminal
Apprehension Team (CCAT) and, with their assistance, obtained a search warrant for
the residence. During the service of the search warrant, officers located one-half
pound of methamphetamine, a dismantled methamphetamine lab, a rifle with several
hundred rounds of ammunition, one stolen vehicle, a fully automatic MAC-10 submachine
gun, and three improvised explosive devices (IEDs). The Orange County
Sheriff’s Department Bomb Squad was contacted to recover the explosive devices,
and they determined that the only safe way to handle the devices was to detonate
them on site. Several homes were evacuated due to the potential for a larger
explosion and flying shrapnel. Because of Officer Olivo’s tenacity, four suspects
were arrested and a neighborhood problem was solved.
Officer Kovacs located two suspects stealing scrap metal from a commercial
lot in the area of Brookhurst Way and Garden Grove Blvd. During his
investigation, he recalled a similar vehicle being involved in a theft from a
business located in an industrial area in the west end of the city. As a result of
his thorough investigation, Officer Kovacs was able to connect these suspects
to another theft and charge them for the additional crime.