Community Policing Is a Hurtt Hallmark

If you boiled it down to one thing, Harold Hurtt’s legacy as police chief in Oxnard would be his emphasis on community-based policing, city officials say.

Even before he started the job in July 1992, Hurtt was asked how he would address the city’s sudden rise in crime that year.

“The only hope for policing in this country is community-based policing,” he answered.

With that response, Hurtt immediately set the tone for his tenure as Oxnard’s top cop.

“I wouldn’t mind being remembered for that,” Hurtt said Tuesday. “In Phoenix, I was involved in some of those same types of programs, and I just worked at implementing those here.”

The formula for a successful police department is fairly simple, he said.

“We stress a three-pronged approach to crime: prevention, intervention and enforcement,” Hurtt said. “Any city is going to be successful with that kind of program.”

While getting money to put almost 50 new officers on the streets during his tenure, Hurtt was also pushing for nontraditional law-enforcement programs.

He worked to place officers in police storefronts and substations in various neighborhoods. And in part through his efforts, the number of Neighborhood Watch programs went from one in 1992 to 35 this year, Mayor Manuel Lopez said.

“I remember an early meeting we had concerning Neighborhood Watch, and we were talking about setting up some groups, and Harold was always pushing for higher numbers,” Lopez said.

When Hurtt came on board, the department was also in the early stages of dealing with its home-grown gang problem, Lopez said.

Hurtt talked about alternatives to traditional police responses to gangs, and as he pushed for street-crimes details, he talked about youth activities, recreation and police youth officers working at schools.

Hurtt also helped obtain a $4.5-million grant to address juvenile delinquency in south Oxnard, calling it a vital component in the effort to stop high-risk teens from getting into more serious trouble as they get older.

Hurtt is praised for helping to add almost 50 police officers since he started. The city, which is the county’s most populous, accounts for more than 40% of the crime in the county.

But for all of Hurtt’s work in the community and in City Hall, he missed the opportunity to forge relationships with the rank and file, officers said.

“He did a pretty good job here,” said Sgt. Bill Lewis, a board member in the Oxnard Police Officers Assn. “I think he did a great job getting extra officers for us, which we needed . . . he supported us. But he never really got in touch with the line officers--the guys out on patrol.”

The department also drew flak for a series of lawsuits related to police brutality and a few wrongful death suits.

The families of two men who died in custody or while being arrested by Oxnard officers sued, as well as the family of a man shot and killed by a SWAT sharpshooter after a four-hour standoff with police. And the widow of Officer James Rex Jensen sued the department after her husband was accidentally shot by a fellow SWAT team member during a drug raid.

Hurtt’s response was to work with his officers to reorganize the SWAT team and improve training and the use of outside experts.

But when a new chief takes the helm, Hurtt said, he or she will find a quality department.

“They’ll be inheriting an excellent department that is loaded with talent,” Hurtt said. “This is an innovative place that has a good reputation. I’m sure the city will attract interest from people from all over the nation.”