LAGUNA BEACH : Council to Discuss Police Staffing Issue

With residents here voicing increased concerns about violence in Orange County, city leaders are making a pitch to boost the number of police officers on the streets of Laguna Beach, where the number of officers has dipped and the population has risen.

Councilman Wayne L. Peterson said he will place the issue on the Nov. 16 City Council agenda. Peterson said he is concerned because, as the city has annexed various areas in recent years, it has not hired additional police officers to protect the population.

The Laguna Beach Police Department now has 43 officers, three fewer than when South Laguna was annexed on Dec. 31, 1987, and seven fewer than the city’s police chief said are needed. In 1989, a chunk of Laguna Canyon with several hundred residents was also annexed to the city.

“I just would like to get us back to the levels we were at before we started annexing,” Peterson said. “I think the residents of the community want this to happen and I think they have every right for it to happen.”

Police Chief Neil J. Purcell Jr. said a record number of residents have contacted him over the past six months to voice “frustration and fear” about rising crime in Orange County.

In response to several violent incidents, Purcell said, his officers have been working overtime on bicycle and foot patrols, and cruising the beaches on all-terrain vehicles.

“It’s my professional opinion we should be right at a complement of 50 sworn police officers,” Purcell said.

Purcell said his department is also hampered by budget constraints that have cut the total number of dispatchers from 10 to seven.