Santa Ana’s Police Chief Ray Davis to Retire

Santa Ana Police Chief Raymond C. Davis--progressive, controversial and nationally renowned for his bold policies on immigration and community-oriented law enforcement--will retire April 17, ending a 14-year career with the county’s second largest city.

A formal announcement of retirement of the 53-year-old chief, who was given the title of deputy city manager last February, is expected today. Davis, who declined to be interviewed Wednesday, said through his secretary that he will be retiring in the spring.

However, city officials with knowledge of Davis’ retirement plans confirmed the April date and said a farewell party for Davis will be held the following night.

“I’m sorry to hear of his retirement. I think he is one of the top five police chiefs in the United States today,” Santa Ana Mayor Dan Young said Wednesday. “I credit him with saving the city millions of dollars through civilianization of the department. . . . He went out of his way to create an immediate rapport with all the minority groups and did an excellent job of developing (those) relationships.”

Young said the City Council has not yet considered who will succeed Davis but will soon begin a sweeping recruitment drive.

“I imagine there will be a number of police chiefs up and down the state interested in that job,” said Seal Beach Police Chief Stacy Picascia, president of the Orange County Police Chiefs and Sheriff Assn. “I think there’s going to be a lot of interest in Santa Ana. . . . The size of the department, the professionalism and the challenges involved (in a city with such) an ethnically and financially diverse makeup. I think that’s going to be a fairly sought-after job. They may even go on a nationwide recruitment.”

In 1983, Davis announced that his department would not be cooperating with federal Immigration and Naturalization Service agents in their sweeps through the city in search of illegal aliens. That move prompted, and continues periodically to prompt, the outrage of INS officials, one of whom said, “He has turned Santa Ana into the only city in the whole country that has its own immigration policy.”

Undaunted, Davis maintains that stand today, arguing that the immigration raids are “wasteful and worthless” and that the Police Department needs the support of the entire community--legal or otherwise--to keep the peace and fight crime.

Last February, Davis was named deputy city manager in charge of Santa Ana’s police, fire and emergency services by then-City Manager Robert C. Bobb. He is responsible for 510 police employees alone, 325 of them sworn officers.

Davis, who is married and the father of two children, began his police career in 1954 at the Fullerton Police Department, working in numerous positions before resigning as a captain. In 1964, he became the police chief of Walnut Creek in Northern California, a post he held for eight years. The department had 79 officers at the time, according to one published biography, and “the highest educational level of any police department in the state.”

In February, 1973, Davis became Santa Ana’s chief of police. Three years later, Davis created a civilian crime-watch program that would become a national model for Neighborhood Watch programs. He has been featured on the CBS network’s “60 Minutes” television show, discussing the Community Oriented Policing (COP) program and its officer foot patrols that dramatically reduced crime in downtown Santa Ana.

His policy on dealing with the INS has drawn criticism from some patrol officers who believe reported high percentages of crime committed by illegal aliens justifies more participation in INS arrests. But Davis’ stand has also earned him praise from Latino activist organizations.

“It’s amazing he’s been able to hang onto it (the immigration policy) for so long without being drummed out of town,” said Gordon Bricken, a former Santa Ana city councilman who was mayor when Davis announced his INS stand. That is because of the large population of Latinos in the city, he added. “In any other city (that policy) would not have survived.”

The same year he announced his INS policy, Davis faced a no-confidence vote by the Santa Ana Police Benevolent Assn. Sixty-three percent of the members who voted--during a labor dispute--said they had no confidence in Davis. The same day the vote was announced, a press conference was held by civic leaders to demonstrate community support for the chief.

Numerous Duties

Davis presided over numerous law enforcement and community organizations at the state and local levels. He was named chairman of the California Council on Criminal Justice by then-Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. and has been named police chief of the year by the California Trial Lawyers Assn.

“He’s done so much it would take volumes,” Vice Mayor Patricia McGuigan said Wednesday, noting the COP program and the national attention that resulted. “I feel he’s a very special person.”

Precisely what prompted Davis’ retirement and what his future plans are were not known. However, colleagues and former city officials speculated that the robust chief has simply fulfilled all the goals he outlined for himself in Santa Ana and will move on to private industry, perhaps in law enforcement consulting.

“Ray did a good job,” Bricken said. “I think he’s reached the point where he’s accomplished as much as he can accomplish--here, anyway. He’s quite a motor home buff. Three years ago he purchased a brand new motor home and outfitted it to the gills. It cost him $50,000. He said he bought it in anticipation of his retirement in a few years.”