Corporal Bill Baseman retires from the Petaluma Police Department on Friday. We couldn’t let him leave the force without thanking him for his service to the community and our clients.

Corporal Baseman has been instrumental in almost every partnership we have in Petaluma and the county. He convened the first mental health committee, bringing together resources and know-how from healthcare, emergency services, law enforcement and mental health.

“We knew we all had shared priorities, but through conversation and collaborative baby steps, we were able to build the trust that ultimately led to big partnerships to serve our clients and the community as a whole,” our CEO Mike Johnson said this morning.

A guitarist, Corporal Baseman sees the relationship this way: “We’re like Mick and Keith,” he says. “We’re good alone, but we’re even better together.”

Our clients aren’t necessarily aware of Corporal Baseman’s “big picture” approach, Mike said. They know him a different way. 

Mike was able to share a story from a former client, one of many who credit Corporal Baseman with helping them change their lives for the better.

“Ben” was causing a ruckus in a shopping center several years ago. “Instead of handcuffing me, Corporal Baseman sat down and had a talk with me.  He talked with me about my future. He encouraged me. That was the last time I drank. I came to the Mary Isaak Center, which he had recommended I do.” Ben is now working and renting his own place. “I think about him [Corporal Baseman] all the time when I think about sobriety, when I think about the police. I really feel that he helped me out a lot. I really appreciate what he did for me.”

Corporal Baseman told us he often feels a kinship with our clients. “There’s a hundred souls down there [at the Mary Isaak Center shelter] who are working every single day to get their lives together, just like we have cops out on the street every day who are just working and doing great things. And it’s unfortunate in this society that all it takes is one—whether it’s a person who chooses to go act out at six in the morning in front of 7-11, or the cop who goes off the rails and does something stupid. We both have that in common. There’s so many great things that are happening every single day, but it’s easy to want to say ‘All these people are this way.’

Thank you, Corporal Baseman!