Simi’s Police Chief Proposes Reorganization

With a nod to the future and efficiency, Simi Valley’s top cop has put together a plan to reorganize his department that is scheduled to be discussed at Monday’s City Council meeting.

Police Chief Randy Adams said the rapid growth of the department in the past 10 years has overtaken the existing organization, which now is separated into two divisions--operations and support services.

The department has 116 police officers on duty and about 50 civilian employees. Adams said he to wants create a new captain position and a new top civilian post and break the department into four divisions.

As envisioned by Adams, the operations and support services divisions would be joined by an investigations division and an administrative division.

The reorganization would free top department officers from some of the drudgery of paperwork and give them an opportunity to interact more with the police officers who report to them, Adams said.

“The demands of the job now mean that the top supervisors are spending more time pushing paper and don’t have enough time to build positive relationships with the people that work under them,” he said.

Adams expects the three captains would have more time to do such things as occasionally go on patrol with their officers and attend daily briefings.

To pull off the reorganization with little cost, the department would eliminate a sergeant position to add a captain’s position. The net cost for the first year would be about $40,000, officials said.

Capt. Dick Wright and Capt. Tony Harper now supervise the department’s two divisions; if the reorganization is approved, one of the department’s eight lieutenants would be promoted to the new captain position.

“I’m excited about the opportunity to promote and excited by the effect it will have all through the ranks,” said Adams, adding that the promotion will create more movement within the department.

City leaders said they were receptive to the idea, but still needed time to review the plan before Monday’s meeting.

Mayor Greg Stratton said the reorganization “looks like it makes pretty good sense.”

“Part of this is an attempt to even out the workload between the captains, but I think more importantly it will free up the captains to let them get a little closer to the troops,” Stratton said.

Under existing department operation, the day-to-day oversight of patrol officers and detectives falls on the shoulders of the department lieutenants, but Stratton said the top commanders need to have the freedom to be more involved in those duties.

He added that assigning a civilian administrator to the fourth position is also important, because that will relieve some of the burden of paperwork from the captains, giving them more time for police work.

Adams, who took over the department 17 months ago, said he proposed the reorganization only after talking to his captains, lieutenants and line officers.

“After a year and a half, I’ve seen firsthand that we can experience a greater degree of efficiency,” Adams said. “I wouldn’t have just come in here and proposed this kind of change without talking to the officers and getting input from them.”

The administrative division would be headed by a civilian senior administrative officer--longtime department employee Mary Humphries--who would control most of the civilian employees along with handling business services and working as a liaison with volunteers.

The proposed change comes as the department is planning to move out of its leaky quake-battered 28-year-old station on Cochran Street, which officials said it outgrew more than a decade ago. The city is still seeking bids for a planned $12-million police station that would be built next to City Hall.

Adams said the new organization would also be better able to handle any future growth in the department.