Eureka! Harpham to retire
After 55-years, Murl Harpham is one of the longest-serving
lawmen in California history
He was appointed a sergeant in 1968 and a captain in
1978, but his passion always has been being a street
cop. “That’s what police work is all about,” he says.
“Helping people out.”
“Back when I started,” he says, “we went out on the
streets with a baton and a handgun and handcuffs.
We had one portable radio, and it took two of us to
carry it.”
Murl Harpham is considering retiring later this year
to spend more time roaming around his 25-acre
mountain property on his beloved tractor, or lolling
around on his houseboat on Trinity Lake, in Trinity
County north of Redding.
Harpham has thousands of stories, but a few that
quickly come to mind include the day he helped
deliver a baby in the back of a patrol car in the early
1960s, and the time he stopped a rape in progress
while out on patrol at night.
Now, like most police agencies, the Eureka PD has
fancy things like license-plate readers to locate stolen
cars and cameras on buildings to help solve break-ins,
as well as a vibrant presence on social media sites.
If and when he does step down, Harpham – police
chief of Eureka, the redwood-rich city situated along
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