His life is like a collection of short stories. Most lives are, but his are stories from 25 years of being a law man.
Coronado police officer Matthew Argandona has been keeping the peace in Coronado since 2019, and sitting in his black and white Chevrolet Tahoe, he feels right at home cruising the island. His beat is the west side of Orange Avenue, south of 6th St. to 10th St.
Coronado has 44 full time police officers and three reserves covering the community’s nine-mile radius. From Aug. 15, 2023 to Aug. 15 of this year, they had 46,080 calls for service.
It’s about 6:30 in the evening, and Coronado is washed in pink as the sun slowly goes down. Argandona is starting his 12-hour night shift, a coffee and pastry in hand. His uniform is clean and he just got a haircut, but he apologizes for a messy patrol car – it doesn’t look that messy.
Argandona first drove a cop car when he was 16. His stepfather was an LA County sheriff’s sergeant and he took the wheel during a ride along. He’d known he wanted to be a police officer since he was a little boy. His stepfather had to get out of the car for an incident and then radioed in to ask Argandona to drive to him to pick him up.
Argandona beams as he tells this story. He says he was so excited to drive that car a few hundred feet, joking that the statute of limitations had run out by now and he could admit he drove the car.
And now, Argandona patrols the beaches, taking bites from his pastry as passersby wave at him. One calls him over because of a stingray incident, asks for a Band-Aid, then kids with Arandona about taking a picture with the cop car.
“They were absolutely comfortable to joke around and flag me down in the first place and say, ‘Hey, listen, this is a problem I have,’ You know, as simple as a Band-Aid,” Argandona says, reflecting on the stigma around police officers.
He started in Coronado just months before the George Floyd protests.
“Last couple of years, we kind of, you know, took a beating there,” he says, referring to public criticism of police.
But Coronado has always been tremendously supportive of law enforcement, Argandona adds.
If we’re not reevaluating how we do our business, then we’re going to fail.
Police officer Matthew Argandona
“If we’re not reevaluating how we do our business, then we’re going to fail,” he says. “It would be irresponsible for us not to reevaluate how we do things.”
He had friends at other agencies who were wary of going out during the unrest, he notes, and they had talked about the declining number of police officers since 2020.
According to the Public Policy Institute of California, California lost 2,100 sworn police officers and 1,100 civilian staff – around 4.5% of the entire police force, from 2020 to 2021. The following year, police forces lost another 3% of their employees.
“But, you know, they’re just as dedicated as I am,” Argandona says about his friends in the force. “They’re going to put the uniform back on, they’re going to go out there and do it.”
Argandona loves being a police officer, he says, and there’s nothing else he’d rather do. Even on the night shift, he laughs.
He drives around slowly, noting the things he automatically watches out for.
He points out the e-bikes, saying that those have been a problem in the past with kids speeding or being reckless.
He mentions a busy downtown sidewalk where teenagers like to hang out.
“The kids here are absolutely cool,” Argandona says with a laugh. “They’re so respectful, it’s hard to be upset at them.”
He hops out of the car. He says foot patrols show a uniform presence and provide an opportunity to look for municipal code violations. He takes his sunglasses off joking that he doesn’t want to look like the Terminator walking around town.
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Uniform Crime Report (UCR) from 2022, there were 54 violent crime incidents and 57 offenses reported by the Coronado Police Department to the FBI.
An incident is defined as one or more offenses committed by the same offender, or group of offenders acting in concert, at the same time and place, according to the UCR program.
There were no homicides, 13 rape incidents, six robberies and 35 aggravated assault incidents reported in 2022.
But even though Coronado seems like the picture-perfect town with minimal crime, it doesn’t make this job less serious, and Argandona says he doesn’t take it lightly.
You understand and realize that this job carries those responsibilities and potential dangers, different than anywhere else. Interacting with people, you know, it’s a constant reminder of the expectations. And it’s a weight I’m willing to bear, to be out there to serve the community.
Police officer Matthew Argandona
“You understand and realize that this job carries those responsibilities and potential dangers, different than anywhere else,” Argandona explains. “Interacting with people, you know, it’s a constant reminder of the expectations. And it’s a weight I’m willing to bear, to be out there to serve the community.”
He also says that Coronado doesn’t do anything differently than the other agency he worked at in Imperial County as a police officer.
“The way [Coronado police officers] approach the job, the mindset, the intelligence that they bring in doing this job – very impressed.” he adds. “Very impressed with the organizational structure.”
Later that evening, around 8:30 p.m., he gets a call about a problem on the bay bridge – a sensitive subject.
He doesn’t like to talk about prospective jumpers. “It’s very serious and it’s a tragedy for the families that have to be involved with that after, and bystanders who actually have to witness that,” he says grimly.
The Coronado Bridge is under the California Highway Patrol’s jurisdiction but the Coronado Police Department also gets the call if there is a potential jumper or other issue.
Coronado officers help direct traffic or shut down the entire bridge, which Argandona says they don’t like to do because there are only two ways to drive onto the island – the bridge and the Silver Strand.
As he approaches the bridge, red and blue flashing lights reveal where the incident is. He sees that it is just a U-Haul trailer that got unhitched. Two other police units are already there and helping.
He drives back into Coronado, the sky is darkening.
Out of all that he does – all 25 years of the excitement and sadness and scariness of being a police officer – he knows that being with the community is the biggest part of his job.
The most important thing? Easily — continuously maintaining the public trust. That’s just not a fluff statement, or the right thing to say. It is absolutely fundamentally important to maintain that trust.
Police officer Matthew Argandona
“The most important thing? Easily – continuously maintaining the public trust,” Argandona says. “That’s just not a fluff statement, or the right thing to say. It is absolutely fundamentally important to maintain that trust.”
