Later this month, Sergeant Sam Marsh and Records Clerk Donna Kiely will retire from the Ukiah Police Department (UPD), and I must say, they are truly going to be missed. Both Sam and Donna have had long careers serving the Ukiah community, and their contributions to our success here at UPD have been endless.
Sam Marsh started with UPD in 1989 as a patrol officer after serving in the United States Marine Corps. During his career, Sam served as a field training officer instructing new officers, as a corporal and mid-level supervisor, as a detective specializing in fraud and computer-related investigations, and as a patrol sergeant leading a team of officers.
While working as a detective, Sam was instrumental in rewriting our procedures for investigating fraud and computer-related crimes; his work solved countless crimes. And as a patrol sergeant, Sam has shared his extensive investigative knowledge with our less experienced patrol officers. I know they say everyone’s replaceable, but it really doesn’t feel that way as Sam prepares to leave.
Not surprisingly, during Sam’s career he received countless accommodations and awards, but I think his greatest contribution to our community has been convincing his son to follow in his footsteps and come work at UPD. As Sam retires later this month, his son, Sam Jr. will begin his studies at the Police Academy. After Sam Jr. completes his training, he’ll return to Ukiah to begin serving our community.
I can’t thank Sergeant Sam Marsh enough for the contributions he has made while serving our community for the last 29 years. Thanks, Sam, for everything!
Donna Kiely started with UPD in 2005 as a police records clerk after working at a local business. During the last 12 years, in addition to her regular duties as a records clerk, Donna has taken on additional responsibilities like coordinating and managing our training and travel program, our department’s website, and our social media accounts.
Because of Donna’s hard work and her commitment to posting timely safety and crime information on our social media outlets, we now have more than 5,000 Facebook followers, and we’ve had as many as 18,000 people visit our website in a given week. In emergencies and storm events, like our recent fires and last winter’s flooding, Donna made sure our entire community received regular updates and timely, safety-related information.
And just like Sergeant Marsh, one of Donna’s most appreciated contributions to UPD was her ability to convince her son to serve our community as an officer. In fact, as Donna retires from our organization, her son, Tom Kiely, is beginning a new phase of his career here as a detective.
I can’t imagine how we will find someone as helpful and capable as Donna when she retires. Thanks, Donna, for everything you have done for our department and our community!
As Sam and Donna leave, I’m reminded of the one challenge that remains constant in law enforcement: hiring great people. If you’ve ever considered a career in law enforcement, please consider serving Ukiah.
Whether you’re interested in working as an officer, in dispatch, or in our records department; we welcome you. We need great people to enter our profession, men and women from diverse backgrounds who want to serve their communities.
We are committed to recruiting and developing local candidates—people like you—who have grown up here, people who have made the choice to live and work in Ukiah, people who are invested in keeping our neighborhoods and business districts safe.
We think finding local, community-minded men and women is essential to creating a great police department. So, as I said, that means we’re looking for you!
You can find out more by visiting our website, Facebook page, or giving us a call. We’d love to hear from anyone considering a career in law enforcement.
As always, our mission at UPD is simple: to make Ukiah as safe as possible. If you have suggestions on how we can improve please feel free to call me. If you would like to know more about crime in your neighborhood, you can sign up for telephone, cell phone and email notifications by clicking the Nixle button on our website: www.ukiahpolice.com.
