Harbor Police Lieutenant Ken Franke to Retire

Monday, 05 October 2009
Contact: Dale Frost (619) 686-6200, John Gilmore (619) 341-5684

When Harbor Police Lieutenant Ken Franke was 13 years old, his father taught him how to operate the family’s 26-foot speedboat. “A half-hour later I was rescuing a man whose boat had gotten stuck in the rocks on the Niagara River,” Franke said.

During his years as a Harbor Police Officer, he has logged thousands of hours patrolling San Diego Bay aboard the vessel Point Loma, and has rescued many people who’ve fallen from boats and docks and ended up in the bay.  After more than 28 years of service to the Harbor Police Department, Franke is retiring on October 28, his 50th birthday.

“It’s been a great career,” Franke said. “I’ve enjoyed working with the waterfront community that includes business owners and military organizations.”

A lieutenant for 21 years, Franke was an incident commander for many of the major events occurring on San Diego Bay that drew thousands of people to the waterfront and boats to the bay.

This includes the recent Red Bull Air Races where tens of thousands of spectators lined the waterfront to watch planes flying low over the bay, Super Bowl waterfront festivals attended by 250,000 football fans, and America’s Cup yacht races during the 1990s.

“Coordinating water and shoreside security for these events is a team effort,” said Franke. Harbor Police lieutenants and sergeants regularly work with the U.S. Coast Guard, and at times, the U.S. Navy.

“I’ve worked closely with the Coast Guard for my entire career here. They’ve been great partners,” Franke said.

An especially memorable day in Franke’s career was September 11, 2001.

“I was at the gym that morning and saw the terrorist attacks on television. I was kind of in shock, and immediately reported to work,” he said, adding that all of the Harbor Police officers called in and offered to report to work.

The Harbor Police and U.S. Coast Guard immediately closed the harbor to ship traffic and set up a blockade at the entrance to San Diego Bay.  The bay was closed for eight hours while the Harbor Police and U.S. Coast Guard created a plan that allowed vessels to enter the harbor after being searched by Harbor Police or U.S. Coast Guard officers. The U.S. Navy handled patrol and security on San Diego Bay.

After developing the plan, with the Coast Guard, Franke contacted local sport fishing and harbor excursion boats to inform them of how to proceed with their operations.

“All of the lieutenants were working around-the-clock to provide increased public safety,” Franke said. This included stepped up traffic patrol, especially around San Diego International Airport which had been closed.

All 126 Harbor Police officers began working 12-hour shifts to ramp up security around the Bay.

It is most fitting that Franke has worked with the U.S. Coast Guard throughout his career.

His grandfather was the lightkeeper for 30 years at the Ballast Point Lighthouse at the entrance to San Diego Bay. His grandparents lived at the lighthouse. His father grew up there, joined the U.S. Coast Guard, and retired as a captain after serving as the Executive Officer of San Diego.

When he was 16 years old, Franke started working at San Diego Harbor Excursion on San Diego Bay and learned how to dock large boats. A few years later, he obtained a 100-ton ocean operator license from the U.S. Coast Guard.

He became the captain of the vessel Cabrillo and ferryboat Silvergate and was at the helm during numerous public tours around San Diego Bay. “I often talked to the Harbor Police on the radio while operating the Bay tours,” Franke said.

“Continuing with a career on the water seemed natural to me,” the affable Franke said.

Before joining the Harbor Police, Franke was also operating overnight sportfishing trips out of Mission Bay.

He began his career as a Harbor Police officer in 1981.  One of his first projects was to coordinate with the Coast Guard to remove over 1,000 old wrecked boats, and illegally anchored boats, that were scattered throughout San Diego Bay.

“The bay looks a lot better now,” Franke said.

More recently, Franke was involved in planning for the relocation of the Harbor Police communications center from Shelter Island to the U.S. Coast Guard station on San Diego Bay. Known as the Joint Harbor Operations Center, it provides increased security on the waterfront and at San Diego International Airport. It opened in 2004.

Franke said that during his decades with the Harbor Police, the organization has grown from a tiny station at the tip of Shelter Island to multiple stations with sophisticated communications and law enforcement equipment.

“The Harbor Police organization is more technical and the caliber of the officers is excellent. They truly care about the community,” he said.

A highlight for Franke was attending the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia. For three months in 1991, he studied police management with law enforcement members from throughout the world.

Offering crucial assistance throughout the region, Franke participated with a Harbor Police team assigned to the mobile field force for the San Diego County Sheriff’s office during the October 2007 firestorms in San Diego.

Franke was also on a Harbor Police team that worked with the U.S. Coast Guard to devise a system that pumps water from tugboats to shoreside fire trucks in the case of earthquakes or other emergencies where landside water pipelines may not be operating.

Harbor Police Chief Kirk Sanfilippo said Franke’s leadership in the Harbor Police Department was vital to the development and progress toward contemporary public safety practices.

“Lt. Franke’s expertise in the maritime arena generally, and the sport fishing industry specifically, has helped contribute to the wonderful and successful business we experience in our harbor,” said Chief Sanfilippo.

Around the Bay, Franke just finished working with Port tenants to regulate motor home parking on Shelter Island. “This has greatly improved public access and organized the area,” said Franke.

Sharon Cloward, San Diego Port Tenants Association executive director, said Franke has worked hand in hand with Port tenant businesses over the years on many issues to improve the waterfront.

Among the areas of tenant interest where Franke lead Harbor Police efforts included establishing the oversized vehicle ordinance, tackling safety concerns at a former boat anchorage in the South Bay, homeless issues, and expanding the La Playa anchorage for the 4th of July fireworks show.

Cloward said Franke has assisted with problem solving for marinas, yacht clubs, boatyards, the sportfishing industry, hotels, restaurants, retail businesses and the boating community at large.

“The Port tenants are united in their admiration for the way he performed his job with great enthusiasm and cooperation with the tenants and other community groups,” she said.

The San Diego Port Tenants Association hosted a retirement reception for Franke on October 1 to personally thank him for all he has done while serving on the Harbor Police Department. A celebration is also being planned by the Harbor Police Department.

In retirement, Franke said he will continue to work with fishing and maritime communities to promote tourism between San Diego and Mexico. He serves on a Mexico-city based tourism advisory panel that promotes fishing and sailing events between the U.S. and Mexico.

For years, Franke has owned and operated a 65-foot sportfishing vessel named Outer Limits. Based in Mission Bay, Outer Limits offers two-day fishing trips to Mexico during the summer. Franke has a crew that operates the boat, but sometimes serves as captain.

During the winter, Franke charters and also volunteers his vessel for marine research projects conducted by Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

As a sport fisherman and business owner, Franke is interested in assisting scientists to improve fish counts while allowing sportfishing operations to also thrive off the Pacific Coast.

Last year, Franke received recognition from the U.S. Department of Commerce for his support of a NOAA project that uses sonar and submarines to track stocks of fish. Franke was instrumental in coordinating NOAA’s marine research operations with the commercial fishing community. After an upcoming peer review, the statistics can be used to better manage California resources. NOAA considers this project one of its top five projects on the West Coast.

Projects Franke has been involved in for Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute include an ongoing program to increase the local rockfish population.

With crew and scientists aboard, his boat travels 100 miles offshore to the Cortez Bank. Along with rockfish, grouper and yellowtail are caught, kept alive in holding tanks, and delivered to SeaWorld for reproductive studies to achieve coastal repopulation of the species.

In addition to retirement time on the water, Franke plans to spend a lot of time with his wife Karen raising their two teenagers, 14-year-old Michael and 12-year-old Megan.

“Ken will be missed greatly, but we wish him a wonderful retirement with his family and friends,” said Chief Sanfilippo.

Fair winds and following seas Lieutenant Franke!

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