Hermosa Will Study Contracting With Sheriff’s Dept.

The Hermosa Beach City Council has asked its staff to study replacing city police with sheriff’s deputies after a preliminary investigation found that the change might save as much as $1 million a year.

The idea of disbanding the Police Department in favor of the county Sheriff’s Department was raised Tuesday when the City Council met to discuss the 1988-89 budget.

The council will look into the possibility of contracting with outside agencies for a number of other services, including parking enforcement, street light maintenance and animal control.

Council members stressed that the investigations are informal and an ordinary part of the budget process.

“We want to understand our options on a number of different topics,” said Councilman Chuck Sheldon. “We are a long way from contracting for any services.”

Council members asked Public Safety Director Steve Wisniewski to survey cities that contract with the Sheriff’s Department. If the survey finds that opinions about service are favorable, council members said they will ask for another report, specifying the cost of bringing the Sheriff’s Department to Hermosa Beach.

Such a study would cost about $3,000, Wisniewski said.

Wisniewski said he has already made an informal study of the cost--at the request of City Councilman Roger Creighton--which shows that the city could save $1 million a year.

Wisniewski said he used Lawndale’s cost for sheriff’s service and extrapolated to get a “quick thumbnail sketch” of how much Hermosa Beach would pay. The cost would be about $2 million, compared to the estimated $3 million the city will spend next year on its own police force.

The public safety director said most of Hermosa’s 35 officers would be absorbed into the Sheriff’s Department if the change is ever made. And the new deputies would remain in the Police Department headquarters on Pier Avenue, so there would be no costs for building new offices.

But Sheldon said money will be just one criterion in deciding whether to maintain a local police department.

“I feel strongly that we need a crack police department in Hermosa Beach,” Sheldon said. “The ultimate analysis I will make is which department gives us that, even if it costs a little more.”

He said several incidents have raised questions about the effectiveness of the Hermosa Beach Police Department, including the mistaken conclusion by detectives in February that a woman died of natural causes when she actually had been strangled.

Sheldon said it is “highly likely” the best service can be obtained “through the existing structure, but we want to know what our options are as a council.”

Hermosa Beach officers have not been alarmed by the discussion, according to Detective Wally Moore, a 25-year veteran of the force. Moore said the council has discussed switching to the Sheriff’s Department at least three times in the past 20 years.

“There has been some talk periodically,” Moore said. “But it’s not cost effective and it’s not what the folks here in town want.”