Port District Approves Study of Merging Harbor and City Police

Prompted by the San Diego City Council’s “war on drugs,” the Port District on Tuesday approved a study of merging Harbor Police with the city Police Department.

By a vote of 5 to 2, the Board of Port Commissioners instructed Port District director Don Nay to meet with City Manager John Lockwood and San Diego police representatives to discuss the proposal and report back in 45 days.

If approved by commissioners, the 100-member Harbor Police force would be absorbed into the 1,000-plus man Police Department.

The idea of the merger has been pushed by the City Council, which has three representatives on the seven-member Board of Port Commissioners.

On Tuesday, Mayor Maureen O’Connor and council members Ed Struiksma and Gloria McColl told commissioners at a Port District meeting that merging the two departments would close an “exposed flank” in the city’s drug interdiction efforts.

Struiksma and McColl have spearheaded efforts to merge the departments, saying the Harbor Police is ill-equipped to combat the flow of drugs into the city, a contention that is in some dispute. The City Council has already unanimously approved the idea for the merger. Under the City Council’s proposal, the Police Department would take over responsibilities for policing the harbor and Lindbergh Field.

Increase Police Presence

Struiksma said the merger would probably increase police presence on the harbor and at the airport. The merger would not take away officers from the Harbor Police and move them elsewhere in the city, Struiksma said.

“The San Diego Police Department can provide a stronger drug enforcement program,” Struiksma said. “There is that depth of personnel, there are those specialized departments within the Police Department that would benefit not only the harbor here but all of the San Diego region.”

According to O’Connor, Harbor Police aren’t as well trained as San Diego police to handle sophisticated drug-smuggling operations that operate through airports and harbors.

McColl said many felonies are turned over to the Police Department.

Harbor Police Chief Arthur LeBlanc would not comment on the merger but disagreed with the council’s assessment of his department.

“We make felony arrests every day,” LeBlanc said “We don’t ask the San Diego Police Department’s permission to make felony arrests.”

About 80% of felony investigations are handled by the Harbor Police, LeBlanc said. In some instances, such as a homicide, the Harbor Police will turn over the case to another agency, LeBlanc said.

As for drug flow through the airport, LeBlanc said: “The county Narcotics Task Force is lessening their presence. You can draw your own conclusions.”

LeBlanc said federal agencies are more apt to make large-scale drug arrests, either in the harbor or at the airport. The airport sits on land owned by the Port District.

The Harbor Police has jurisdiction over all of San Diego Bay and the tidelands in the cities of San Diego, Chula Vista, National City, Coronado and Imperial Beach.

Not All in Favor

Even though a majority of commissioners voted for the study, not all of them believe the merger would necessarily help the city’s so-called war on drugs.

“I’m not at all impressed with the argument about the drugs, although I recognize the problem exists,” said commissioner Ray Burk from Coronado. “I’m not impressed . . . the change . . . is either going to reveal or cure the drug problems. They are not doing well with it now in the jurisdiction that they have.

“But I am impressed with the possibility of improved police services by such a change, and I do want to see this system thoroughly investigated.”

However, Chairman Louis Wolfsheimer, had a different view. “I don’t mean this as any disrespect to our Harbor Police Department, but I don’t think they have the same quality of training that the San Diego Police have,” he said. “It concerns me that a (Port District) jurisdiction that really is an awful lot bigger than some of our constituent cities has a police department that is not equipped or trained to deal with the kinds of things that a big city faces.”

The two commissioners who voted against the study, Robert Penner of Chula Vista and Delton Reopelle of National City, said they thought the proposal, authored by commissioner William Rick of San Diego, was too restrictive.