Chief-Turned-Actor Recalls Police Career

Dan Monez, 62, began his law enforcement career in 1971 with the Berkeley Police Department. From there, he worked his way up the ranks from officer to captain while at the Solano County Sheriff’s Department and Vacaville Police Department.

In 1987 he tested for Napa police chief and was hired for the job he would hold until retirement in 2004.

“It was like coming home because the majority of the earlier time (with law enforcement) my family and I lived in Napa,” Monez said.

During his 17 years at the helm, Monez said he doesn’t believe he saw many changes in Napa.

“Napa was smaller, but law enforcement problems have been pretty much the same. We had drug problems, domestic violence, homicide. 

“Gang issues didn’t surface until the 1990s,” Monez said. “Gang shootings and violence — that was a first for Napa.”

Survived a stabbing

Now pursuing a retirement career in acting and singing, Monez received more public attention than he cares to remember the night he was stabbed by a Vallejo youth in 1996.

At the time he was attacked, Napa residents were still celebrating the annual Cruise Night, a tradition called “cruising the ‘J.’”

The last Saturday in August, before school started after the summer vacation, Napans, their families and almost all of the area’s teenage population would line Jefferson Street to watch the parade of custom cars snake along the roadway. For years it was a peaceful and even a family event.

But by 1996 it had become a rowdy affair attracting drivers from out of town. On the night Monez was stabbed, a large fight broke out in front of a convenience store on Jefferson Street.

Police officers swarmed to the scene,Monez among them. During the melee, Monez was stabbed in the chest. His injury was not life-threatening. A Vallejo man was arrested.

Achievements as chief

During a recent interview, Monez cited some of his most rewarding accomplishments during his 17-year term as police chief, such as improving facilities for police officers.

“When I first came aboard, the police department facilities were deplorable. The (officers’) lockers were in the basement. Sewer water ran through it. It was disgusting,” he said.

Under his leadership the department was expanded to almost twice its original size. He also updated the equipment, he said.

Monez is proud of the programs he helped implement while he was chief, such the D.A.R.E. (anti-drug) program in the schools and the school resource officer program, which put a full-time police officer at high school and middle school campuses.

Napa Police Capt. Steve Potter remembers Monez’s concern for keeping Napa’s young people out of trouble.

“Dan was instrumental in adding youth programs (to the police department,)” Potter said. 

“He was also heavily involved in finding solutions to the (then) emerging gang problems.”

Monez also helped form the Law Enforcement Chaplaincy of Napa County, which provides chaplains who assist victims of disasters and helps police and fire officers cope with the stress of their jobs.

“Dan and I had a special love for the chaplain program. He would do whatever was needed to help us succeed,” said Senior Chaplain Lee Shaw.

“Dan had a deep concern for his staff. He always spoke about the chaplaincy with pride. The program is abut 17 years old and has helped thousands of people,” Shaw said.

Officers fired for misconduct

The years as top cop also had their downside, Monez said.

“During my time, I had to terminate 13 officers for misconduct.

“I hated that. But we must hold our law enforcement to a higher standard,” Monez said.

“And then there is all of the politics I had to deal with. It’s just part of the job.”

Monez also said Napa’s unsolved homicides and other violent crimes weighed heavily on him.

“The victims and their families need closure. It’s part of the healing process. They desperately need it to move on.”

A North Bay farm boy

Monez was born in Solano County and grew up “on the family farm,” he said.

He moved to Napa in 1972 when he married his wife Diana.

The couple has a grown daughter, Mindy, a producer for the ABC network in New York. Monez also has a stepson, Bob, who works as a caretaker for an Upvalley estate.

For part one of Marsha's interview with Dan Monez, please see .

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