With the holiday spirit upon us, residents who have traffic warrants or any misdemeanors with no violent charges, can go into the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department and walk out with a new citation. The new citation will have a new scheduled court date and will allow you to bypass being arrested and processed into the county jail.

According to the Santa Clara Sheriff’s office, “Operation Second Chance 2010” is for any misdemeanor warrants, despite the bail amount, and even those warrants which normally have “No Cite and Release,” “No Walk-Over,” and “No Bail” stamp.

The program is not designed to accept felony warrants or those warrants that involve any sort of violence.  However, the Sheriff’s Department is encouraging those folks to go ahead and turn themselves in, as it will at least give them their day in court.

During the last five years this program has been implemented, there have been approximately 1700 people participate.  These people were successfully given new citations and a new scheduled court date stipulating released “on the spot.”  In 2009, 327 people participated in the one-month offer.

“Operation Second Chance 2010” will only run through December 31, 2010.  For those who have questions about this program are encouraged to call the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office at 408-808-4717.

Captain Riley was a local hero who demonstrated time and again how much he cared for those who were down on their luck.  He created both a work furlough program and a chaplaincy program for county inmates.  He also played a large role in establishing Friends Outside, another county program started in 1955 to aid prisoners’ families.

Melvin Riley was born in Salem Ore., but grew up in Bakersfield.  He attended San Jose State University.  Riley served his country twice — first in the Army Corps of Engineers during World War II, and later, as an MP during the Korean War.  He eventually moved to Elmwood, where he spent nine years on the “Farm.”  This was his nickname for the Elmwood Jail, which offered an agricultural rehabilitation program for inmates.  Riley helped design both the man jail and the Elmwood facility.

Over the years he was promoted several times, including a stint as head of the detective division, but he chose to devote most of his career to the detention side of law enforcement.  By doing so, Riley cultivated his own soft spot for helping prisoners, their families and the homeless.

Every Christmas the Captain offered a prisoner’s family food, presents and, if necessary, shelter in his San Jose home.  “He felt deeply about the homeless,” said his daughter, Maureen Riley-Behlen.  “He really got to know them.  When winter came around, he’d be concerned about them and put them in jail so they had a place to sleep.”

“He was a real straight-arrow guy,” agreed Glenda Parmentier, who worked for Riley at Elmwood and also knew him well from church.  “He always seemed to know the right thing to do.”

Captain Melvin Riley, you will be sorely missed.