Mayor Wants City to Study Idea of Police Commission

Should Huntington Beach become the only Orange County city with a police commission?

Mayor Dave Sullivan will bring that question to council members next week. Sullivan, whose reelection was bitterly opposed by the city’s Police Officers’ Assn., will ask his council colleagues to create a subcommittee to study the idea and make a recommendation.

“Most large cities have police commissions,” Sullivan said. “We’re the 92nd-largest city in the country, so I’m just asking whether it’s time for Huntington Beach to have one. I don’t have the answer to that question.”

Councilman Dave Garofalo called Sullivan’s proposal “playing politics with the police.”

“We need to get the election behind us and get on with running this city,” Garofalo said. “My understanding is that of the 425 or so cities in the entire state, only two or three cities the size of Los Angeles or San Francisco have such a commission.”

A number of Orange County cities including Huntington Beach have personnel review boards that handle disputes within police departments, such as demotions and firings. But no Orange County city currently has a police commission or citizen oversight group, according to the California League of Cities. Irvine formed a short-lived police oversight commission in the late 1980s, according to City Manager Paul Brady.

“The feeling among some people at the time was that the Police Department needed some public review,” Brady said. “It lasted about two years and wasn’t really effective.”

Huntington Beach Councilman Peter M. Green said he is willing to consider the proposal.

“We need to ask why we would need such a commission,” Green said. “I don’t think this is a solution to the activities of the Police Officers’ Assn., which possibly is the intent of the maker of this proposal.”

Sullivan, who has been highly critical of political activity by the police union, said that wasn’t his motivation.

“I had thought for some time, well before this election, that Huntington Beach might be ready for a commission,” he said. “I’m not sure if we are, but it’s worth exploring.”