By Jon Chown
Scotts Valley Police Chief Steve Walpole spent 30 years in law enforcement, including 11 with the Scotts Valley Police Department and eight as its leader. The day he will remember most: Dec. 14, 2024, when a tornado roared through the middle of town.
“The most memorable moment in my entire career had to be responding on my day off to a tornado that had hit our city,” he said recently while reflecting on his career. He retired as police chief on Oct. 30.
Steve Walpole
It was the first tornado in Scotts Valley’s recorded history, and Walpole said it looked exactly like you’d think a tornado would look as it wound its way down Mount Hermon Road, leaving a trail of destruction.
“You think you’ve seen it all,” he said. “Luckily nobody was critically injured. I think we got lucky with that one. There were no pedestrians on the street because it was hailing and raining hard.”
Walpole followed his father into the profession, who was Scotts Valley Chief of Police from 1986 to 2001. Walpole joined the Scotts Valley Police Department in 2014. Before Scotts Valley, he served as the director of the Santa Cruz County Anti-Crime Team, and a director of the Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter. As Scotts Valley’s police chief, he led a team of 28 staff members and 14 volunteers.
“It’s in my blood,” Walpole said of policing. “I really enjoy this type of work.”
But it’s not easy. The hardest time in his career was 2020, when the nation was dealing with a pandemic. Scotts Valley was evacuated in August of that year as the CZU Lightning Complex Fire raged through the Santa Cruz Mountains. It was overwhelming, Walpole said, because usually you can leave work problems at work and relax at home. But the pandemic still existed at home, and then officers even had to evacuate their homes.
Walpole said navigating the department through the worst times in Scotts Valley history was his biggest challenge and biggest success.
The most memorable moment in my entire career had to be responding on my day off to a tornado that had hit our city
“You really had to take your problems home with you in the summer of 2020, but everyone here at the department rose to the occasion,” he said. “It was a difficult time to be in law enforcement and a difficult time to be a leader in law enforcement. A lot of officers left nationally, but if you’re leading, you can’t leave because you’re the captain of the ship. You just deal with the cards you’ve been dealt.”
Walpole’s tenure will be remembered for significant advancements in technology and community engagement, as well as reviving proven policing programs. Under his leadership, the department began using body cameras and in-car video cameras, which not only increase transparency and accountability for police but also protect officers from false accusations. He also established the Police Explorer program, which provides high school students with insights into law enforcement careers and encourages future public service, and revitalized the department’s K9 program, which had been inactive for several years. Four police dogs have been added to the force in the past 12 years.
Walpole said he thinks his father was probably the last K9 officer the department had before the program was ended in the 1970s. Bringing back dogs was an easy decision, he said.
“Everybody loves dogs and so do I,” he said. “They are a force multiplier. People are much more likely to listen to what an officer is saying if they have a barking dog with them. You don’t want to have to escalate force, and if the dog helps people decide to surrender, all the better.”
Captain Jayson Rutherford will serve as interim chief while the city conducts a search for a permanent replacement.
“The retirement system is kind of pushing me out, and I want to leave the organization in a strong position, not during a crisis,” said Walpole. “I am confident that the Scotts Valley Police Department is going to be successful in the future.”
