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Published on 07/20/1998 All articles from this issue

Clerks sporting new look at police dept.

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By Joanne Griffith Domingue

Town Crier Staff Writer

Marty Linton likes the new look. Three weeks ago the clerks in the Los Altos Police Department began wearing uniforms to work. And for most, the result is positive.

Linton, a senior office assistant, said the gray polo shirts with an embroidered police emblem show "we're part of the police department. It's a way for the records department to look very professional."

Stephanie Rowder, a records assistant, said she thinks the uniforms "give people confidence about who they are talking to, that we're with the police department and not just a civilian," she said.

The new look is the brain child of Jeanne Enberg, the manager of communications and records who began in Los Altos last April.

"After being here a month," Enberg said, "I realized how professional the staff was and wanted to project a professional image. I believe a uniform does that."

She took the idea to her supervisor, Capt. Jerry Little, and to the chief, Lucy Carlton. They liked the idea.

Enberg supervises 10 people, those in communications and the four in records who staff the front desk in the police department.

The communications staff already wore uniforms, but they wanted something more comfortable and casual, Enberg said. Having worked in communications herself with the Palo Alto Police Department before coming to Los Altos, she could understand.

So the communications uniforms changed and now coordinate with those worn by the records staff, Enberg said.

"The officers like the way the desk looks, the team concept," Enberg said.

In addition to the gray polo shirt, the new uniforms include a navy sweatshirt, a navy cardigan zipper-front sweater and a navy button-front sweatshirt jacket. Cost for the change was about $1,000, Enberg said.

Kim Payton, a court liaison and office assistant in the records department, is still getting used to the idea of wearing a uniform to work.

Enberg said she thinks the team concept and professional image works well in Los Altos because, "It's such a professional town."