The Telescope

Issue Date: 12/8/08

Police trainer dies after 18 years at Palomar

By CRYSTAL EVANS

Sgt. Geoff Galindo taught wellness classes at the Palomar Police Academy that included physical fitness and nutrition.

Part-time Palomar professor and police Sgt. Geoff Galindo died Nov. 8 after suffering a heart attack in October.

Galindo began working at Palomar on Feb. 19, 1990. He taught Administration of Justice and worked as a wellness instructor at the Palomar Police Academy. He was also a 27-year member of the Escondido Police Department.

"He is the only person I know that you can't say anything bad about," said Juliette Barnes, who was a student of Galindo's and later became his coworker. "He was inspiring and encouraging and never had to use anything negative to get people to perform their best. He left a mark on everyone who passed through his class."

Tom Love, a cadet at the Palomar Police Academy who graduates this week, Galindo taught him how to treat people.

"No matter who you were he treated you with respect," Love said. "If you were a homeless drug addict he had pulled off the street, he'd talk to you the same. He always listened wholeheartedly to whatever you had to say."

Galindo showed respect to everyone he came in contact with, even those on the other side of the law.

"When I was younger people he had arrested over the years would thank him for turning their lives around and for treating them with respect," said Galindo's stepson Dave Perkins.

Friends say Galindo, who was large of stature, had a kind heart.

"He was larger than life and epitomized everything you would want to be in this profession," said Damien Jackson, a colleague and close friend of Galindo. "Looking at him you would be intimidated, but they always say that the biggest guys have the softest hearts."

Although he valued everyone, family always came first with Galindo.

"He was a cop, but that was just part of who he was," Perkins said. "He was a loving father, coach and instructor. He took joy in teaching and being a family man."

Family was so important to Galindo that he carried a picture of his family with him at all times and expected his coworkers to do the same.

"He expected us to carry a picture of our families in our wallets," Jackson said. "He'd ask to see it in order to make sure I had a picture of them in my pocket while on duty, it was like taboo if you didn't."

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