Panel Opposes Merging Harbor Police, City Force

A special committee appointed by the City Council has unanimously concluded that the Harbor Police should remain under the jurisdiction of the Port District and contract for 29 additional officers from the city at a cost of $2.1 million a year.

Officials have debated whether the 100-member Harbor Police should merge with the San Diego Police Department, which has more than 1,000 officers. Last spring, City Council members Ed Struiksma and Gloria McColl were among those pushing for a merger of the two police forces, arguing that the Harbor Police are ill-equipped to battle illegal drugs sweeping into the city--an allegation that senior officers of the Harbor Police have denied.

The newly released recommendations, issued in a memorandum from Assistant City Manager Jack McGrory, suggest creating three beats in the tidelands area that would be staffed by 19 officers around the clock; a six-officer investigative team that would focus on combating drugs, and a four-officer detail would assist with traffic at Lindbergh Field, which is operated by the Port District.

The arrangement would increase police presence in the tidelands, harbor and airport by 29 officers and “should also result in increased police services to the downtown area because police officers would no longer be diverted from their downtown beats to respond to problems in the tidelands areas,” McGrory said in the memo. The Port District would pay the city $2.1 million a year for the increased manpower provided by San Diego Police Department, he said.

Port District Director Don Nay declined to comment on the recommendations, which are scheduled to be presented at a Port Commission meeting Dec. 5. Harbor Police officials were unavailable for comment.

Harbor Police have jurisdiction over San Diego Bay and the tidelands in the cities of San Diego, Chula Vista, National City, Coronado and Imperial Beach. During the first six months of 1989, 1,333 crimes were reported in the tidelands, 132 felony arrests, 143 misdemeanor arrests and 200 traffic accidents. In fiscal year 1989, there were 3,476 calls for assistance and, from January to October, 105 stolen vehicles were recovered.

But, in a memo addressed to McColl and Struiksma and dated Nov. 14, McGrory said: “The Tidelands Patrol is largely ineffective. The Harbor Police Department is inadequately staffed for the size of the tidelands patrolled.”

The committee, which included Struiksma, McColl, and two members of the Port Commission, met several times this fall, discussing whether to merge the two police forces or to devise another option. McGrory’s later memo, which sketched the committee’s recommendations and backing away from the proposal to merge, was addressed to Mayor Maureen O’Connor and the City Council and dated Nov. 21.

Saying that his first choice would have been combining the two police forces, San Diego Police Chief Bob Burgreen added that he supported the plan outlined in McGrory’s memo because it would shore up police services.

“The major advantage of our taking over is that we’re a larger department and have services like a helicopter, undercover detectives, SWAT team and a canine unit that a smaller department cannot provide,” Burgreen said. “This (plan) will improve the level of service but does not have the benefits or problems associated with a merger.”

Struiksma called the recommendations “a compromise solution” that would keep the Harbor Police under the Port District while expanding its enforcement muscle.