Former Oakley Police Chief Bani Kollo returned to Oakley Tuesday for a presentation by the City Council and City Staff thanking him for his years of service to the city.
Below, we have provided you with Bani Kollos words to the community.
I thought I had this whooped when I got promoted and I thought having an out date when everyone was on vacation we would avoid all this. Although I’m not the chief anymore I’ve been given a time limit and I guess I have to stick to it but I probably won’t.
I’ll start with a thank you to the two women in my life when this position opened up, and that is my Captain Parker and my wife, who encouraged me to no end to put in for this job which was a good move on their part and I appreciate it.
Boss, thank you for the opportunity, thanks for the growth, bringing me to a team more unique than anywhere I’ve ever worked, it was a great opportunity.
To the council, thanks for the ongoing support of the police department and all the issues that come with supporting a police department. I can only speak for my 39-months and we have been supported beyond I can imagine and I appreciate that, the boys and girls on the streets appreciate it, we couldn’t do what we do without your support so thank you.
City Staff, there is a reason that this place is called “Team Oakley”. I can’t really tell you what the reason is but if you have worked around the city you kind of understand it and so we will go with that. To all my friends at the city to each and every one of you I appreciate it and what you have done.
(Kollo then thanked multiple city staff members and shared a few stories)
Kollo also thanked the community.
We couldn’t do what we do without the community support. The level of service is directly affected by the amount of times you call us. I’ve said it before and I will say it again, the City of Oakley calls the police and we get things done.
What can I say to the boys and girls in blue, you know I could say a lot but I tried to figure out what I’d say and of course 4-pages later I threw that out and tried to reduce it to a 3×5 card I can’t read right now.
I’ll sum it up with a statement that a good friend gave to me the last time we spoke before he left this earth.It’s been a good run, it’s been a really really good run and I will miss each and every one of you.
Thank you for listening when you didn’t want to listen, when you didn’t have time to listen. Thank you for putting up with me when you had better things to do. I appreciate it and I won’t forget it. Hold your borders because the community expects you to hold the borders and I appreciate your work. Stay on the F.I’s. Captains watching.
To the best number two I ever had, thank you for the professional courage to close the door and talk real talk. The PD is better, I am better. I think your better for it. So hold that, stay the course and break the new guy down the same way.
Speaking about the new guy, probably gotta talk about him huh?
Dan Gomez, let me tell you about Dan Gomez. I’ve known him pretty much my entire career. We went to the academy not together, but very close together. 21-22 years with Office of the Sheriff, 8-years with the Air Force as a security officer. If Dan is 41, wouldn’t you had to start in the Air Force at 13. But you knew Chief is coming to you with 30-years of experience. His 8-years in the Air Force with a tour in Japan and Desert Storm. He comes to you with a great deal of experience
I guess one of the more notable things I can say is we were promoted together as Sargent. The reason I remember it so well for about 3-years because that name Dan Gomez was a profanity in the Kollo household. As you can imagine that those of you that work in the business that Dan was promoted one in front of me, so back then we had 4-month rotations. Every 4-months I had to come home on the rotation and tell my wife that I didn’t get those days off and it would be that Dan Gomez who is a good guy that took every good patrol shift I ever wanted
His experience started in custody services, court security, county patrol, City of San Ramon as a deputy sheriff. As a Sergeant, he worked custody services, County Patrol, and worked San Ramon. He has a great deal of contract services. As a manager, he worked for emergency services as manager of the day as the watchman in off-hours in the middle of the night when everything goes bad. He went to training manager for the office of the sheriff.
From there, most recent job was the assistant division commander of the patrol division which is what is going to make this transition as smooth as possible because Dan was essentially a point of contact for all the contract chiefs that manage stations.
He knows all about Oakley because he has heard all about it over the years.
Take care of my people!
