As the newest police officer at Taraval station, Ray Vuillemainroy is known in police lingo as a “slick sleeve.” Translation: that’s a newcomer to the force with no stripes on his uniform sleeve -– a slick sleeve.

Ray might be new to Taraval station, but at age 58, he brings a lifetime of policing experience — nearly 30 years’ worth of police work, most recently as a lieutenant in the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Department.

After retiring several years ago, he missed police work. And as a newlywed, Rays says he needed more income. He also realized that due to the effort to fill a shortage of police officers in San Francisco, police work has become well paid here and comes with the job security that private-sector jobs often don’t have.

“San Francisco is where I’ve always dreamed of doing police work,” says Ray, who grew up in South San Francisco and attended San Francisco State University.

Career path
Ray’s original police career was in South San Francisco and Santa Barbara, where he gained recognition for his work as a school resource officer, a gang expert and an advocate for community policing and troubled youths. In his spare time, he even earned a Phd in education.

Ray started at the Taraval station last October after several weeks of field training in the Mission.

“It was very busy, with lots of violent calls every day,” Ray says. “That was eye-opening, especially coming from sleepy Santa Barbara.”

Ray says the transition to Taraval station has been seamless.

“The partners I’ve been with have been fantastic. They are helpful, smart officers and have been kind and supportive of me,” Ray says. “I’ve been especially impressed by the way they interact with the public. They’re good officers and they know their stuff.”

Taraval Captain Brien Hoo is dealing with a shortage of officers. San Francisco is short 500 officers citywide and Taraval station has half the officers it had just five years ago. Captain Hoo is happy to welcome Ray — one of seven new officers who joined Taraval station the past year.

“Officer Vuillemainroy brings more than 25 years of law enforcement experience and wants to serve the residents in the best way possible,” says Captain Hoo. “One of his goals is to be a foot beat officer in the Taraval district.”

Ray has been patrolling on the midnight shift responding to alarms, domestic violence, and auto accidents.

Community policing background
Ray wore a lot of different hats during his policing career in Santa Barbara, where he became a strong supporter of community policing.

As a lieutenant commanding a station adjacent to the UC Santa Barbara, he confronted a serious residential burglary problem.

“I found that the students weren’t locking their doors and windows. The problem was really that simple,” Ray says.

And the solution was equally simple. With the help of student body leaders, Ray launched an anti-burglary media campaign. It featured a caricature of a burglar — drawn by one of his deputies — that was turned into stickers that business owners put on their shopping bags.

The campaign brought the burglary rate down 35 percent and also gained the attention of the U.S. State Department, which sent Ray to Egypt to teach community policing to members of the national police force.

While in Santa Barbara, Ray also served for several years as a school resource officer, beginning just days after the shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado.

At Columbine, Ray says one of the problems was police didn’t have the information they needed on the scene, like campus maps and rosters and photos of students and teachers.

Working with teachers and officials in Santa Barbara, Ray compiled an information-filled “school violence response kit” that became a template for an emergency response kit used nationwide.

Ray also developed an after-school program for at-risk kids focused on teaching them about responsibility.

Ray recently completed and published two books that grew out of his work with at-risk children — the Brotherhood Leadership Handbook for students and the Brotherhood Leadership Program for parents and teachers.

“I like to think that those books will be my legacy,” Ray says. “Now, I just want to get out and walk a beat and help make a difference in the Sunset community.”

Reported and written by volunteer community journalist Tom Colin. We encourage residents with journalism experience, retired journalists, and student journalists in high school and college to volunteer as writers for Supervisor Engardio’s newsletter. Interested? Apply here. Do you know a story you would like to see featured in the newsletter? Tell us about it here.