Merger of Harbor and S.D. Police Is Proposed

The Harbor Police should be merged with the San Diego Police Department as part of the city’s “war on drugs,” two City Council members urged Wednesday.

Ed Struiksma and Gloria McColl said in a morning press conference that the current 85-member force, which polices San Diego Bay and the airport for the San Diego Unified Port District, is ill-equipped to combat the flow of drugs into the city.

San Diego representatives will bring up the proposal at the July 11 meeting of the Port Commission, Struiksma said.

Port Commission Chairman Louis Wolfsheimer, one of three San Diego representatives on the seven-member body, called the plan “an idea whose time has come.”

Need ‘Big-City’ Department

“This is not the same port it was in ’62 or ‘72,” Wolfsheimer said. “We need a big-city police department to patrol it.”

But Port District Director Don L. Nay questioned the motives of the plan’s supporters. “Any time you want a cause to go through, you link it to drugs,” Nay said. “The Harbor Police have been coveted by the San Diego Police Department for quite some time.”

Harbor Police currently perform functions such as traffic control and emergency repair assistance around the harbor, according to Wolfsheimer. Serious crimes such as homicide or robbery are already referred to the San Diego Police Department, Struiksma said.

Proponents of the merger say it would help shift police efforts in the harbor area toward drug interdiction. They point to the example of the Los Angeles Police Department, which so far this year has seized $3.5 million of drug smugglers’ assets at Los Angeles International Airport.

Nay said such thinking “is the most naive thing I’ve ever heard. You already have the Customs and the Coast Guard. We have just one international flight a day at the airport.”

Mayor Supports Proposal

Mayor Maureen O’Connor supports the proposal as part of her effort to beef up the city police force, said spokesman Paul Downey. The port “is the richest public entity in the county,” and can afford to subcontract San Diego police for law enforcement, he said. The proposal enjoys strong backing in the City Council, he added.

But Struiksma and McColl emphasized that there would be no decrease of police presence at the port or the airport. “If anything, it will probably increase,” Struiksma said.

San Diego Police Chief Bob Burgreen favors the plan, according to Struiksma. Burgreen could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

“I will only say that most of our officers are happy being part of the Harbor Police,” said Harbor Police Chief Arthur LeBlanc. Harbor Police union head Don Black declined to comment.

Port Commissioner Robert Penner of Chula Vista said he would consider the plan, if the San Diego City Council requests it. “It is a substantial enterprise,” Penner said, “and I would want to have all the t’s crossed; all the i’s dotted. We don’t want to end up degrading Port services.”

But Wolfsheimer said he would ask the Port Commission to tentatively back the concept by the end of July, and then have the details ironed out in the next three months. The Port Commission and the city have the ultimate authority to approve the merger, he said.

Port Commissioner Ray W. Burk of Coronado said he needs time to study the plan before discussing its merits.