Chiefs’ Chief Sets County Police Goals for New Year

Getting funds for new fingerprinting equipment, overseeing the launch of a countywide methamphetamine lab task force and studying ways to reduce costs associated with police officers’ court appearances are among the projects Robert J. McDonell plans to complete in the new year ahead.

McDonell, chief of police in Newport Beach, was recently chosen to head the Orange County Police Chiefs Assn. for 1998.

“I think we have a great spirit of cooperation in Orange County among law enforcement agencies, which really helps because we can get a lot accomplished,” he said.

McDonell has already started galvanizing support from police departments and city officials to increase vehicle registration fees by $1 to pay for a badly needed upgrade of the county fingerprinting system. The proposal will be voted on by the Board of Supervisors in early January.

The chiefs will also be involved in the early 1998 launch of a law enforcement project involving seven local police agencies and state narcotics agents to battle safety problems that have arisen with the increase of methamphetamine laboratories in Orange County.

As chief of the chiefs, McDonell will be involved in a study--in collaboration with the Orange County district attorney and superior and municipal court judges--to reduce the amount of money police departments spend sending officers to testify in court.

Police officers routinely appear only to discover that the trial has been continued or that they will not testify that day.

The unnecessary appearances, McDonell said, cost police departments more than $5 million a year.

McDonell, 50, has been Newport Beach’s police chief since August 1993.

Previously, he was chief of police in Woodland, in Northern California.