Sgt. Dwight Waldo City of San Bernardino California

Sgt. Dwight Waldo has been a full time regular police officer for the city of San Bernardino California since1984.  San Bernardino is located about 60 miles east of Los Angeles and occupies about 80 square miles.  It has a population of about 190,000 people with diverse ethnic and economic backgrounds.

Sgt. Waldo has a background which includes patrol operations, specialized enforcement details, bicycle patrol, recruitment, SWAT, gangs, juvenile probation and youth crimes, and graffiti enforcement.  He currently supervises Patrol operations, the Graffiti Task Force, and IMPACT. IMPACT is an award winning program dealing with youth crimes and juvenile probation issues based on the Boston Night Light program.

While assigned to gangs and SWAT in 1991 he was approached to deal with the rising issue of “tagger” graffiti.  He was told to work it for a couple of weeks and then it would be turned over to reserve officers to monitor.  Tagger enforcement was not well developed and it soon became clear tagger graffiti was an organized pattern crime which had a devastating effect on quality of life and the financial health of a community.  As the culture of graffiti was better understood, it was found tagging was quickly becoming a gateway crime for youth.  Much of the youth who became involved in escalating criminal activity were not identified as at risk.  It was also found early intervention had a major effect in removing these juveniles from tagging and other criminal activity.

As Sgt. Waldo became more knowledgeable of the culture and more efficient in dealing with the issues, he began giving informal classes to assist other officers.  The need for education became so evident he developed an 8 hour class certified by the State of California for instruction to police officers.  He has taught over 1000 law enforcement professionals and has been involved in the development of approximately 200 graffiti programs.  He has become recognized as one of the most knowledgeable persons in the country in regard to law enforcement applications to the graffiti culture.  He has been recognized as an expert in California Superior Court and has testified as a graffiti expert before the California State Senate Safety Committee.  He has given training or presentations to officers from the following groups:

• City of San Bernardino

• San Bernardino District Attorney’s Office

• Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office

• Los Angeles County Sheriff

• San Bernardino County Sheriff

• Riverside City and County Law Enforcement

• City of Portland, Oregon

• City and County of San Diego

• Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office

• City of Farmington, New Mexico

• Los Angeles Police Department

• Oxnard, California Police Department

• City of Long Beach, California

• California State Juvenile Officers Association

• Multiple trainings for Keep America Beautiful

• Multiple trainings for California Code Enforcement Officers conferences

• Multiple keynote speaker for Southern California Graffiti Task Force

• Instructor for California POST graffiti certification

• California Narcotics Officers Association Graffiti Instructor

Sgt. Waldo can be contacted at:
San Bernardino Police Department
710 N. D Street
San Bernardino, California 92410
Direct phone 909-384-5658
Main station 909-384-5742
E mail Waldo_Dw@sbcity.org
Email ICGRAFF@SBCGLOBAL.NET