February 8, 2008

Beacon

Cecil Lawson: Be prepared

By Bill Highlander
Editor

The Boy Scout motto – Be Prepared- pervades Cecil Lawson’s work, family and community activities.

In his day job, Lawson, 47, is the Chief Information Officer for the San Jose Police Department. He ensures that the state-of-the-art electronic and software systems are ready for the police to enforce public safety and to catch the bad guys.

Lawson and his department of 14 technical experts service over 2,300 computers, printers, servers and other devices. The computers of SJPD that are linked on at least seven different networks to various law enforcement agencies. Computers are installed in 440 police cars and the department is currently experimenting with cameras that constantly scan license plates and instantaneously check records for stolen cars.

Don’t believe the crime movies that take elaborate steps to trace a call. The SJPD does it the moment the phone rings. Calls to 911 immediately start gathering information so that help can be dispatched. Lawson also helped deploy www.crimereports.com so that anyone can type in an address and get information about any criminal activity. He also developed the system for completing a police report online and downloading an accident report to send to your insurance company.

Lawson enjoys checking out new technologies for police work. Since policy now bans high-speed chases, there is, for lack of a technical term, a “goo gun” as one of the technologies available. A car-mounted cannon fires a blob containing a GPS tracker at a fleeing car. The goo is nearly impossible to remove and the police follow the signal to make an arrest.

After several years as CEO of a start up and advisor to several organizations, Lawson has been with the police department for seven years. After graduating from college as a computer science engineer, he went on to earn a M.S. in computer science and an MBA. He had a hand in developing an early Internet system during the Bill Clinton administration, working out of the White House.

He moved to the Bay area in 1985, and is now a resident in the Bel Aire community of Evergreen. His wife, Lucia, is a trained software engineer but has stayed at home for the past ten years to raise their children. A daughter is a Girl Scout, one son is a Cub Scout and another son is working toward being an Eagle Scout. Being prepared is part of the lifestyle.

Preparing young men for the future is also important. As a Cub Scout master, he led the largest Cub Pack in the area. For the past two years, Lawson has presided as the chairman for the Boy Scout Coyote Creek District, responsible for nearly all of the east side of San Jose. His schedule usually affords only one night a week without some community activity. Now he is overseeing one of the largest Pinewood Derby events ever. Thousands of Cub Scouts will race their pinewood creations at Eastridge Mall on Feb. 23.

A community volunteer, Lawson has been active with the East Side Union School District and is a member of the District 8 Community Round Table. He also helps organize community safety programs to keep streets safe and neat.

Cecil Lawson is affable, a community leader, and a valuable BEACON in our Evergreen community.

BEACON

A country song says “you can’t be a beacon if your light don’t shine.”

The Evergreen Times would like for the lights of interesting Evergreen residents to shine through a profile on such persons. Our community has educators, activists, business people, inventors, sportsmen, hobbyists, public safety persons – a plethora of fascinating people who should be recognized by their neighbors as a beacon for community involvement. If you know a person who should be recognized as a BEACON, contact highlander@timesmediainc.com and they will be considered for future issues.