5 Years Later, Stanton Has No Regrets : Law enforcement: City saved money and gained services by dropping its Police Department and contracting with county Sheriff’s Department.

It’s been five years since officials here, faced with dwindling city revenues, disbanded the Police Department and contracted for service with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, a plan now being considered in San Clemente.

Several Stanton officials say they have no regrets about making the change, pointing out that they saved more than $1 million in police-related costs in the first year alone, enjoyed a slight drop in the high crime rate, and have been able to add officers, equipment and other resources each year since the merger.

Except for a couple of patrol officers, all 32 sworn and civilian members of the Police Department--including Chief Robert Eason--were hired by the Sheriff’s Department and allowed to continue their duties in Stanton, if they chose.

“I still don’t know of any negativity that has been brought upon the city because of the change,” City Atty. Thomas W. Allen said. “The (police) station is still there. The citizens still get the same service, and in fact the city benefits because of the much greater resources.

“We do not hear citizens coming to City Hall and complaining that things aren’t as good as they used to be.”

Local officials say a key to the relatively smooth transfer of police power in Stanton involved Chief Eason, who became a captain in the Sheriff’s Department but largely retains control of coordinating law enforcement in Stanton.

Another important factor in making the merger work is that experienced city police officers were also able to stay in Stanton, a city of 30,491 people, when they became sheriff’s deputies.

“Everybody becomes attached to local officers, the logo on the side of a car,” said Mayor Don Martinez, who was serving as a Stanton planning commissioner at the time of the merger. “You feel you can call the chief all the time. But we’ve found that our captain is just as responsive.”

Eason, who became police chief of Stanton in 1984, said he fully supported the merger once he was assured of three things: it would save the city money, department employees would not lose their jobs and law enforcement services would be improved.

“It met all those criteria,” he said.

About a month before the City Council approved the merger in late 1987, Stanton voters had rejected a property tax increase to raise about $353,000 to help maintain the Police Department.

Unlike the situation in San Clemente, most Stanton police officers supported the merger. But like San Clemente, the issue evoked emotional responses from residents, and many were anxious about losing an important part of their city’s identity.

“Any time there’s a change in the city, people are afraid of it,” said Joan Thomas, executive director of the 150-member Stanton Chamber of Commerce. “What you are familiar with, you’re comfortable with. It’s very hard. I’m sure there were a lot of people who were leery of it in the beginning.”

Former Councilman David Shawver said he has no complaints about the quality of service but believes that the city should be freeing up money for even greater protection.

“The city never hired enough of the Orange County sheriff’s deputies to cover the city,” Shawver said. “If we had a chief of police, that guy would be screaming his head off.”

Councilman Sal Sapien, who was mayor when the merger passed, disagrees.

“We have seven officers in the evening to patrol 3.5 square miles of city,” Sapien said. “We could always use more, but as of now, I think we have very good coverage.”

Under the merger, the Sheriff’s Department added one deputy per shift in the first year to serve Stanton. And where there were four patrol officers on a typical night shift before the merger, there are now at least seven.

In the years after the merger, the city’s troubling crime rate has dipped a little, and law enforcement salaries have been improved.

Stanton in recent years has had the highest crime rate in Orange County, but officials say it has decreased slightly--by 0.7% during the five-year period from 1987 to 1991. In 1991 alone, Stanton’s crime rate dropped by 3.8%, according to statistics released last summer, but authorities can’t explain why.

When the merger was approved, Stanton police officers’ monthly salaries ranged from $2,264 to $2,752, making them the lowest paid in Orange County. Most received salary raises of at least several thousand dollars a year when they joined the Sheriff’s Department after the merger.

“We just have a myriad of services we wouldn’t be able to afford if we had our own department,” including helicopters and prostitution patrols, Sapien said. “I don’t think anyone can afford that service unless they have a ton of money.”