A Brief History of CLEARS from Joanne Hopkins
By Rebecca Waddell
When she became a Police Clerk in Records with the Santa Maria Police Department in 1968, Joanne Hopkins had no idea that she would later go on to help form an organization that would support and train California Records Personnel for years to come.
After three years in Records, Joanne was promoted to Records/Property Evidence Supervisor. She continued with Santa Maria Police for a total of twenty-nine years before she retired. It was in her role as supervisor that she saw the need and opportunity to join with others in her field for training and comradery.
In the 1970s, Joanne attended meetings in Fresno to discuss the formulation of the association that would become CLEARS. At the time, she was employed by the Santa Maria Police Department and became a founding member of the Central Chapter. When the Central Chapter split and formed the Central Coast Chapter, she was elected as the first Chapter President.
While at Santa Maria Police Department, Joanne developed and was an instructor for the second Records Clerk Class in the State, which was held for many years at Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria. She was exhilarated to be able to provide knowledge to those who were just at the beginning stages of their position. And of course, Joanne always encouraged them to become CLEARS members!
In February of 1997, her time with Santa Maria Police came to an end as she was chosen to become the Police Services Manager for the Santa Cruz Police Department. At that time, Joanne also served as State President and served two terms from 1997 to 1998.
At Santa Cruz Police Department, Joanne managed 5 divisions and 23 employees, including 2 sworn police officers who were on permanent light duty. For Joanne, the position was both challenging and a delight as a wonderful department to work for. At that time, they were in the planning stages of building a new facility, and she was able to get in on the ground floor of its development, move-in strategies, and implementation.
While working for the Santa Cruz Police Department, Joanne was a member of the Northern Chapter. However, upon retiring from the Santa Cruz Police Department in June of 2003, and moving back home to Santa Maria, Joanne returned to, as she put it, “MY CHAPTER,” the Central Coast as a Retiree! For all of her dedication and service to CLEARS, Joanne was also awarded a Chapter Lifetime Membership, as well as an Honorary Lifetime Member at the State Level.
Joanne met lifelong friends through CLEARS and said that she could not have performed her job as efficiently without the knowledge she gained as a member.
For all the years of dedication and her role in not only helping to found the organization but for serving it for the past 50 years. An enormous thank you goes out to Joanne Hopkins and all the others like her who helped to create a lasting legacy of camaraderie, training, and professionalism.
Featured Photo of Central Coast Chapter Meeting is: (Back Row) Ana Matosian, Darleen Thompson, Mary Myatt, Joanne Hopkins, Sherry Lange, (Front Row) Micki Kempin, Karen Thomas, Joy Elliott
