West Marin has a new watch commander. In June, Lieutenant Brennan Collins replaced Lieutenant Jim Hickey, who presided over the coast since 2018 and was reassigned to a night commander position over the hill. Lt. Hickey said the switch allowed him to spend time with his family on the weekends. The watch commander defers most administrative duties to the sheriff’s captains, to whom he reports and who are third in command under Sheriff Robert Doyle. On the coast, the watch commander is primarily responsible for managing, deploying and directing the patrol units, which since last month no longer operate out of the Point Reyes substation between the hours of 11 p.m. and 11 a.m. After the Board of Supervisors decided to withhold half of the budget increase requested by the Sheriff’s Office, Lt. Hickey told the Light that it would be unwise to cut resources on the coast; that cut has now occurred. “A lot of the people in the county don’t understand that the coastal communities triple in the summer months because of the tourism,” he said. Aside from tourism, calls related to homelessness and mental illness account for 30 to 40 percent of the calls made to deputies in West Marin. Lt. Hickey underscored the importance of the connections he made and the trust he built during his tenure. “I’m really proud of the relationships we’ve made. I loved my time on the coast: being the West Marin commander has been the highlight of my career,” he said. In such small communities, he said, “You learn how to talk to people better, learn how to work things out with people better. It becomes less contentious.” Lt. Collins said he also plans to incorporate a community-oriented policing model: “That’s what I will stress for the people assigned out of Point Reyes: Get out and engage, make contacts that aren’t a result of being called in an enforcement capacity, let them see who you are. That’s my philosophy, because I think in the long run it keeps us doing the job safer, and the community safer,” he said. A lifelong San Rafael resident with a history degree from the University of California, San Diego, and three small children at home, Lt. Collins has worked for the Marin County Sheriff’s Office for the past 15 years, most recently helping with a training program for deputies based in Marin City. There, he said he came to appreciate the importance of relating to community members outside of his job. An avid basketball player, he said he organized a team of deputies who competed in a local league. “That was a really positive thing,” he said. “Anything outside of when we are called to go with a situation, when sometimes people are at their worst, [is beneficial].” Both Lt. Collins and Lt. Hickey commented last month on the anti-policing sentiments they are experiencing first-hand. Lt. Hickey, who is a fifth-generation law enforcement officer and a Novato native, said the hostility became tangible countywide after the killing of George Floyd. He said he regularly gets flipped off whenever in uniform now, though his department is not responsible for the kind of brutality seen in other police departments. “People will take the national information and cast it upon us,” he said. “That’s wrong. We don’t do that stuff. No one I know thinks that what happened to George Floyd was proper, or correct, in any way.” Lt. Collins said it is hard to be painted with such a broad brush. “It’s hard to deal with and it’s frustrating,” he said, “but it’s also an incredible opportunity. It’s an opportunity to listen to what the community is trying to tell us, to forge ahead to find the relationships to try to repair some of the trust that’s been broken by law enforcement.” To reach Lt. Brennan Collins, call the Point Reyes substation at (415) 663-1151.
Sheriff places new watch commander in Point Reyes
