Oxnard Police Chief May Leave

Months after dropping a bid to become city manager, Oxnard Police Chief Harold Hurtt said Friday he is planning to leave for Phoenix, where he hopes to become that city’s top cop.

Hurtt began his police career in Phoenix during the 1960s and spent 24 years there before leaving at the rank of assistant chief.

“I love Phoenix,” he said. “It would definitely be an honor for me.”

The 51-year-old Hurtt--who became Oxnard’s first black police chief in 1992--appears confident he has a strong chance to be the next chief in Phoenix.

His wife, Carol, 52, has resigned as a top county probation official. She already has taken a job in Phoenix as head of a private foster-care program covering Arizona, California and Hawaii.

“Oxnard and Ventura County will find nice qualified people to replace Carol and Harold without missing a beat,” he said.

Hurtt’s announcement comes eight months after he expressed interest in the opening for Oxnard city manager. Although a divided City Council decided this summer to look outside Oxnard for a new top administrator, Hurtt continued to lobby council members for the job, pitching his leadership skills and strong community ties.

But in September, Hurtt withdrew his name from consideration, saying he wanted to focus on a plan to convert the old Oxnard High School campus into police headquarters. Council members this week named Pasadena Assistant City Manager Edmund F. Sotelo the new city manager.

City Councilman Tom Holden, who urged colleagues to consider Hurtt and other in-house applicants for the top job, said he still believes the police chief would have made an excellent city manager.

“There’s a lot to be said about his down-to-earth style and people skills,” Holden said. “But he’s been put in a position where his wife has been offered an opportunity she can’t turn down. Harold’s going to do everything he can to support her.”

Hurtt said the failed bid for city manager had nothing to do with his decision to seek a return to Arizona.

“It had nothing to do with that whatsoever,” he said. “It was driven by the fact my wife got the job.”

Hurtt said that regardless of whether he is chosen to head the Phoenix police force, he will likely resign as Oxnard police chief and move to Arizona. The couple have discussed living apart, he said.

But Hurtt also said he is thinking about leaving police work altogether and going into business in the Phoenix area. He would not elaborate.

“I can’t let my competitors get ahead of me,” Hurtt quipped.

Mayor Manuel Lopez said he hopes Hurtt gets the Phoenix job. “It would be a big loss to the city,” Lopez said. “But you can’t dwell on those things.”

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The Phoenix opening came about in November after Dennis Garrett, who has headed the department for six years, announced his retirement.

This month, Phoenix officials began receiving applications for the post. They expect to draw up a short list of candidates after the Feb. 1 deadline.

Some in Phoenix have speculated that Hurtt has the inside track, in part because of his past experience in the city. He was a finalist for Phoenix police chief in 1991 before he left for Oxnard.

Mark Hughes, a spokesman in Phoenix City Hall, said Hurtt’s name has come up repeatedly.

Hurtt said many former colleagues in Phoenix have called to encourage a return to town. He has not yet filed an application, but said he plans to do so well before the deadline.

Hurtt’s tenure in Oxnard has been marked by a 30% decline in crime and a push toward community policing. In recent months, he has lobbied to put computers in every patrol car, so that officers have detailed information about criminal suspects at their fingertips.

The news of Hurtt’s possible departure hit neighborhood leaders hard.

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Vicky Gonzales, an activist in the city’s La Colonia neighborhood, said Hurtt has helped defuse much of the animosity and skepticism residents feel toward police.

“He’s done so much for us. I hope it ain’t true,” Gonzales said. “He’s brought the police and the community closer.”

But the Oxnard Police Department has also come under criticism. In particular, some have pointed to a number of in-custody deaths and alleged incidents of police brutality.

Those high-profile deaths have included the fatal shooting of Larry Pankey, a distraught Oxnard resident, last year.

In 1996, the department weathered criticism for a shooting in which SWAT team members mistakenly killed a fellow officer.

Despite his heavy workload in Oxnard, Hurtt has recently pushed to strengthen his Phoenix ties. In a training program launched last year, Oxnard homicide investigators went to Phoenix for a few weeks to get experience working on cases in a big city. Phoenix has close to 200 homicides a year; in 1997, Oxnard had six.

The Oxnard chief said that the size of the Phoenix Police Department is a powerful draw. The department has about 3,300 employees, about 10 times the number in Oxnard.

Hurtt is Oxnard’s top-paid employee, making a base salary of $128,214. His contract with the city expires this September. Garrett makes a base salary of $126,000.

Carol Hurtt, formerly a division chief for the Ventura County Correction Services Agency, starts her job with the Casey Family Program in March. The program is affiliated with the Annie E. Casey Foundation, which is dedicated to improving the lives of disadvantaged children.

“Arizona is our home,” Carol Hurtt said.