Sheriff’s Study Fuels Hermosa Policing Debate

The city of Hermosa Beach can save as much as $1 million a year and get better police service if it abolishes its Police Department and contracts with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, according to a long-awaited county report that drew immediate criticism from some city officers and residents.

The report, which the city requested from the Sheriff’s Department in February, says deputies would improve law enforcement and cut costs to $3.4 million a year from $4.4 million a year by replacing the 42-officer Hermosa Beach Police Department.

But critics of the idea, including most Hermosa officers, questioned whether the value of a community-based police force can be measured in dollars and cents.

“This is my hometown,” said Cmdr. Anthony Altfeld, a negotiator for the Hermosa Beach Police Officers Assn. “I grew up here. I know many people in this town, and they know me. Can the Sheriff’s Department duplicate that? Can you buy that?”

The debate is expected to become a major campaign issue in November’s City Council elections--in which 11 candidates are vying for two seats.

City Manager Kevin Northcraft said city officials in the coming weeks will pour over the report, which was received Tuesday, to ensure it takes into consideration all of the city’s police costs.

Northcraft said the study is part of a comprehensive effort to make up for lagging tax revenues by cutting the city’s budget, which totaled $15 million for the fiscal year that began July 1.

Public hearings on the study will be held after the 35-page report makes the rounds of City Council members, union officials, police officers and residents. If there is further interest, the next step would be for the council to request a more detailed study from the Sheriff’s Department.

“They can say, ‘Thank you very much,’ or choose to pursue a ‘phase 2’ study that puts down names and faces and dollars,” said Sheriff’s Cmdr. John Hammargren.

In explaining the proposal, Hammargren said the Sheriff’s Department is able to police more economically because it consolidates overhead costs in the same fashion as bank and supermarket chains. At the same time, he said, the contract cities get individualized service.

“We do it differently in Avalon than we do in Paramount, different in Lancaster than Rancho Palos Verdes,” he said.

When the Sheriff’s Department takes over police service, Hammargren said, it hires the municipality’s sworn officers as deputies and places the civilian employees in other county jobs. Hermosa Beach officers could request assignments in the new Hermosa Beach substation, which would be opened in the current Hermosa Beach Police Station, he said.

Although the report estimates that deputies could duplicate the current level of police service in Hermosa Beach for $3.4 million, it recommends a different deployment, especially in the summer. At a cost of $3.5 million, the Sheriff’s Department says it would add a special four-member beach patrol, deploy six civilian parking control officers and rent a helicopter to monitor occasional special events.

City officials and union representatives will probably meet with sheriff’s officials within the next month to discuss certain parts of the report, Northcraft said. The issue may return to the council as soon as a month, he said.

Ever since February, when the council authorized the study to help cut its budget, a debate has continued in and out of the Police Department on whether cost-cutting ought to outweigh community policing.

Councilman Roger Creighton said those who oppose saving money by contracting with the Sheriff’s Department should be willing to accept a parcel tax to pay for the more expensive local department.

“I think it’s a way of getting the same professional level of police service,” he said of the contracting proposal. “If you want to continue with the luxury (of local policing), then you’re going to have to pay more taxes or figure out what to cut out of the budget.”

Opponents of the sheriff’s proposal say the city would lose control of law enforcement if an outside agency took over. Hermosa officers say just studying the idea has devastated morale in the department.

“The morale is the lowest I’ve seen it in 15 years,” said Altfeld, who went to Hermosa Beach elementary schools. “It’s in the toilet, and the toilet has been flushed.”

Public Safety Director Steve Wisniewski, who recommended that the city go forward with the cost-cutting study, said it makes good sense to investigate the issue. Any change riles up employees, the director said.

“If the city changed police cars from black and white to yellow that would have a drastic effect on morale,” he said. “If we changed the color of uniforms, that would affect morale. The weather affects morale.”

Copies of the study, which cost the city $3,500, are available to the public at City Hall and the main library.