Longtime San Ramon Police Officer Retires

Police Officer David Heinbaugh is retiring after starting his law enforcement career in Contra Costa County 23 years ago.

Heinbaugh is to be recognized by the San Ramon City Council Tuesday night.

The following is a biography provided by San Ramon Police Chief Scott Holder:

After serving seven years in the United States Air Force, Dave Heinbaugh started his law enforcement career with the Contra Costa County Office of the Sheriff in 1990.  After working in the Detention Division for four years he transferred to County Patrol and then to the Sheriff’s Contract City of San Ramon in 1995.  In San Ramon he found his passion which was Traffic Safety and since July 1996 he has been a traffic officer for the City of San Ramon.

When the City of San Ramon created its own in-house Police Department Dave was hired as one of the original officers in July 2007.  During his time here in San Ramon he has been active in training for both the department and the community: he has been an instructor in our Citizen’s and Youth Academies; Driving Under the Influence Enforcement instructor; Traffic Accident Reconstruction Instructor; Driver Awareness Instructor; and as an Advanced Traffic Accident Investigation Instructor.

He has committed thousands of hours to community education at many events in our schools and has been an active in our School Bike Rodeo’s and other traffic safety forums.  For his efforts in traffic safety he received many awards:

• May 1997 – Mothers Against Drunk Driving Recognition Award
• August 2002 – Officer of the Month for SRPD
• May 2003 – “Avoid the 25” DUI Award for 2002
• May 2004 -  “Avoid the 25” DUI Award for 2003
• December 2003 – Selected as Officer of the Year, SRPD for 2002
• January 2005 – Officer of the Month for SRPD
• January 2006 – Selected as Corporal CCCSO
• November 2006 – Awarded Full Accreditation from ACTAR (Accreditation Commission for Traffic Accident Reconstruction)
• July 2007 – San Ramon Gold Star Award (Instructing Traffic for new personnel)
• October 2008 – Elected to Caars Board of Directors (California Association of Accident Reconstruction Specialist)
• October 2010 – Re-elected to Caars Board of Directors
• October 1011 - Re-certified ACTAR Accreditation

During his career he handled in excess of 500 Driving Under the Influence Investigations; over 1,500 Traffic Accident Investigations; over 400 Hit and Run Investigations; over 140 Major Injury / Fatal Traffic Accident Investigations; and over 50 Auto vs Pedestrian Accident Investigations.

Many view traffic officers as “officer who give tickets”; however, Dave dedicated the majority of his career to traffic safety and education…much more than tickets but dedicated to saving lives through traffic safety enforcement.  His expertise and commitment to the San Ramon Community will definitely be missed, but we congratulate him on his retirement.