Kent Eischen

Kent was born in Long Beach, California and grew up in Redmond, WA (before Microsoft came in and hipsterized the area). He attended Bellevue Community College and received his associates degree then went to Central Washington University and received his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice with a specialization in Law Enforcement.

He attended the OCSD Sheriff’s Academy Class 87, May-Sep 1988 and was hired at NBPD on May 5, 1988. His memories of his first year were: “My first FTO was Dan Holub who is still a close friend to this day. One week into training, we were working 216 and received a 925- subject call at Olive/W. Oceanfront. We walked in from different directions and I contacted the guy first. I said, “hello,” and he immediately went rigid and began shaking. I recognized him as being under the influence of PCP and thought I was going to be in for a hell of a fight. Luckily, I spoke calmly to him and as Dan walked up got him handcuffed without incident.” His first specialty was K9 which he worked from 1994 to 2000. He worked K9 with JW Cantrell, Wojo, Mike Johnson and Jeff Petsche over his 6 years in the unit. Mike McDonough and Doug Parmentier were their sergeants. His memories of that time: “It was great to be able to help keep our buddies safe utilizing the K9s for searches and finding suspects who might have otherwise got away. It was also a blast to work with a variety of agencies, since we would be constantly requested to help out with searches, SWAT callouts and pursuits all over the county.” I thought K9 was the best until I got assigned to OCATT with Joe Thrasher in 2003. I thought that was the best assignment until I became a member of the EAGLE Air Support Unit in 2007 working for Tim Starn from CMPD, Jeff VanEs and Tom Fischbacher and with Bob Rivers. It was an honor to be a part of one of the finest air units in the country and help keep my brother and sister officers safe from 800 feet AGL. Memories of those years: 1. It’s funny how suspects don’t care that you’re pointing a pistol at them but will sure comply when you have an 80-pound shepherd barking at them at the end of a three-foot leash. 2. I think all told I recovered about 3 million dollars in stolen VIN switched vehicles in 3 ½ years at OCATT. 3. Receiving the Medal of Valor in 2003 for being part of the team (along with Kirk Jacobi, Mario Montero and Neil Harvey) who ran into a burning home with an armed suspect inside to pull the tied-up victim to safety. What a helluva day that was! 4. The countless pursuits, FLIR searches, yard-to-yard searches and just plain fun we had patrolling the skies of OC. There is nothing like chasing a suspect on the ground from a helicopter! It was always incredible to have patrol officers from myriad agencies thank us and tell us that they hoped when they called for a helicopter they would hear, “EAGLE is 10-97 on scene.” Worse assignment and any memories: After being a black sheep under the regime in the early 90’s and turned down for several specialties, I was truly blessed for the specialties I got for the rest of my career. I would not have changed a thing. Funny stories or memories of “you’re not going to believe this, but…” “In 2008, after being in EAGLE for just about a month, we were at the hangar and monitored a radio call of a bank robbery in progress in Costa Mesa. We lifted from John Wayne and monitored a unit on scene advising that the three suspects were seen dumping a cold plated stolen and jumping into a black Toyota SUV with out-of-state plates. KC Gleason was flying, and I was TFO. We figured that the suspect vehicle would come N/B and decided to orbit at the 73/55 interchange. As KC was a quarter of the way into our first orbit, I looked down and said, “you’re not going to believe this, but I’ve got the vehicle N/B 55 to N/B 73.” He said, “yeah, right!” We directed units in and the pursuit was on. The pursuit went all the way to the Crenshaw Mall in South Central L.A. and was televised live on the local stations. The suspects were throwing money out onto the street as they careened through the hood. All of the suspects were eventually caught and are all now doing long terms in federal prison. Talk about being in the right place at the right time!” “Every person I worked with at NBPD had some effect on my life. We are truly blessed to have the caliber of officers and employees we do.” Events that you remember, i.e., cases, arrests, daily life at the station, etc.: “In 1997, Wojo and I were working K9 and were parked in the Superior Hill Lot. We monitored a radio call of a guy who just stole a loaded spear gun from the dive shop at the triangle lot. We drove down the hill and there was the vehicle W/B on Coast Hwy. We lit him up and the pursuit was on. We had a 998 when the suspect vehicle got stuck in traffic near Cal State Long Beach and tried to run Wojo over as I was trying to yank the suspect out of the vehicle as he reached for the loaded spear gun. The suspect continued the pursuit with three bullets in him until the engine died on the 210 freeway in Pasadena. That pursuit ended up on the “Wildest Police Chase” TV show!” Kent has been married to his best friend Nhorma since 2001 and has two beautiful German Shepherd rescues who are their pride and joy! He had been flying medevac for Mercy Air but left that in 2017. They are in the process of moving to Wyoming where they have a ranch and enjoy just about any outdoor activity you can think of. He is also going to get his real estate license and work with some friends in Afton, WY at Canyon River Realty. Since he loves to fly, he is going to keep current flying helicopters and fixed wing and might get a flying gig here and there. Produced by Kelly Bennett