Cutlines

Cynthia Saporita and Scott Janes connect the teleprompter to the video camera. Photo by Danny McGehee

El Cajon policemen stage a “pursuit stop” for Danny McGehee.

Depot, Coronado Police form partnership

Story by Bill Bartkus
Photos by Danny McGehee, Scott Janes

Naval Air Depot North Island and the Coronado Police have formed a partnership in communications, namely how all San Diego County law enforcement officials in Southern California – federal, state and local – can readily talk to one another. NADEP North Island helped produce the video that is being distributed to County law enforcement agencies.
“Dave Craig, a Coronado Police officer, asked me a few questions because he knew that I worked in the Depot’s Video Department. I answered his questions and that was as far as it went,” said Danny McGehee, Code 7.2.1.4. A few days later, Craig approached McGehee again to discuss his video project. “We started discussing the type of equipment Dave intended to use such as a video camera and a format.”
“I told Danny that I was going to borrow a camera from one friend, and then the two of us intended to use another friend’s camera. This was my approach,” said Craig, who has no professional videotaping experience.
“All the while Dave was telling me how he intended to videotape his subjects, I started thinking that perhaps I could lend him some support,” McGehee stated. So he asked his boss, Dennis Araujo, Code 7.2, if it was possible to form a partnership with the Coronado Police to help them with the production. Several days later, Araujo gave him the green light. “I told Dave that I would help him with his project but only after my working hours. We videotaped the various scenes on the weekends or late afternoons,” said McGehee.
It took McGehee and Scott Janes, who also works in the Depot Video Department, about four months to shoot all the scenes with Craig and other police and sheriffs departments in San Diego County. “The hard part was putting it all together. But Dave organized the shoots, and I did the biggest share of videotaping, and Scott did all the editing,” McGehee explained.
Craig organized his shooting script on his computer. “This training scenario had been in the planning stages for 18 months and was finally getting off the ground. I really didn’t know how I was going to shoot the scenes,” he said. “I had no idea that Danny was going to offer so much help.”
The Law Enforcement Assistance Network (LEAN) wanted the videotape produced.” The shooting script incorporated all law enforcement agencies in San Diego County.
“I was very impressed with the production and quality of the video. This was more than a partnership between the Coronado Police and the Navy,” said Coronado Police Chief Robert Hutton. “This was a partnership between the Navy and all other law enforcement agencies in San Diego County.”
The rolling credits at the end of the 30-minute tape acknowledge McGehee, Janes and the Depot for their help.