Oxnard Police Chief Savors Accolades on His Last Day : Law enforcement: Robert P. Owens leaves office under far different circumstances than his Los Angeles peer, Daryl F. Gates.

June marks the last hurrah for two nationally known Southern California police chiefs.

For Daryl F. Gates of the Los Angeles Police Department, the tumult and bitterness between the chief and City Hall have taken ugly and shrill turns during his final days in office.

For Robert P. Owens of the Oxnard Police Department, the opposite was true as he quietly walked out of his office Friday for the last time, carrying with him accolades from his officers and the community.

“He’s been a real personable chief,” said Oxnard Patrol Officer Robert Vendt, 37, a nine-year veteran.

Michelle Avila, 29, who has been on the Oxnard force for three years, said Owens has fostered a cordiality on the Oxnard force that makes it a great place to work.

“People are amazed how warm it is here,” she said, while answering telephone calls at the front desk. “He’s a very kick-back type of person.”

Assistant Chief Bill Cady, 60, who will retire in November, called Owens “a friend as well as a boss.”

“Owens has charisma,” said Assistant Chief James Latimer, 52, a 26-year Oxnard police veteran.

Such observations speak volumes about the 60-year-old Owens, who stepped down Friday after 22 years as police chief of Ventura County’s most populous city.

As if to emphasize his longevity in a job often fraught with controversy, Owens said that by his count, 21 police chiefs have served in the five Ventura County cities with police departments during his reign in Oxnard.

Owens’ 149 officers--all but 15 of whom he hired--know him as a top cop who is accessible. His office door is almost always open.

In two weeks, Owens will be replaced by Harold Hurtt, 45, a 24-year veteran of the Phoenix, Ariz., police force. In the brief interim, Latimer will head the department.

Owens said Hurtt’s skill in community policing “was important in evaluating him. He also has good people skills.”

Indeed, Owens said, selecting Hurtt from the dozens of applicants was hardly a difficult task. “This guy came out head and shoulders above the other candidates,” he said.

Owens, who served 14 years with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, was chief of police in the city of San Fernando before becoming Oxnard chief. He is married and has two sons, a daughter and a stepdaughter.

Unlike Gates, who has frequently threatened to rescind his decision to retire, Owens said he made up his mind last year.

“It’s my decision,” he said. “I’ve reached the zenith here and it’s time to go.”

As for Gates, whom he knows, Owens said: “He’s playing a game. A power game. It’s a shame. Personally, he’s a nice guy. He’s just got this hang-up about his ego.”

A big contrast between the departure of the two chiefs, Owens noted, is the fact that the Oxnard city manager asked Owens to stay on the job an extra week beyond his planned retirement date, which he did. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, as recently as this week officials were engaged in a pitched battle with Gates to retire him by the end of this month.

And, with obvious pride, Owens said he is leaving behind a report by a Virginia-based consulting firm that declares the Oxnard police agency to be one of the finest in the nation.

Historically, however, Oxnard has had the county’s highest crime rate. Rather than view that as a disappointment, Owens said, “it is a fallacy to assume that merely because you have a fine police department, it will make crime go away. The demographics of Oxnard are vastly different than any other cities in the county.”

Compared to a city of comparable size, such as Pasadena, he said, the crime rate is “quite average.”

One problem that he is leaving for his successor is how to get more money from the City Council to increase staffing to a level reflecting the city’s size. To do that, he said, “we would have to add about 50 officers.” Realistically, given the tough budget constraints under which local government is operating these days, it won’t happen soon.

One project that Owens would like to have seen to completion is a computer-aided dispatch system to provide more data quickly for officers en route to emergency calls. Again, the problem is funding, he said, because the price tag is $1.5 million.

Owens’ legacy includes a much-publicized concept of community policing, which brought the neighborhoods and the cops on the beat closer; and a pioneering effort to curtail habitual lawbreakers which has become a blueprint for similar programs nationwide.

Now, Owens is looking forward to becoming a private consultant. He said he expects one of his projects to be a federally funded effort to evaluate the effectiveness of domestic violence laws.

After a recent retirement dinner plus a Thursday night party, Owens saved his last day for a quiet few hours of packing, contemplation and wet-eyed goodbys.

“I’ll miss these folks,” he said.

Outside his small second-floor corner office, Irma Coughlin, his longtime helper, described her boss’s departure: “It’s like losing a member of your family.”