Mike Tracy Sworn In as Police Chief

Mike Tracy, a 24-year veteran of the Ventura Police Department, was sworn in Thursday night as the city’s new chief of police.

In a ceremony presided over by City Manager Donna Landeros and attended by dozens of city and county officials, Tracy became the city’s 27th police chief, replacing Richard Thomas, who retired at the end of last year.

“I am absolutely excited,” Tracy, 49, said during a reception after the swearing-in ceremony. “There has been some attention on our deficiencies, but we do a lot of things very, very well and we will work on those deficiencies.”

The induction was performed before a standing-room-only crowd in the second-floor council chambers at City Hall. The room was so full that several dozen people watched the event on a video monitor in an adjacent room.

The state and national flags were presented by the Police Department’s four-person honor guard, and Oxnard Police Officer Felice Epps sang the national anthem.

Tracy requested City Clerk Barbara Kam, a 37-year municipal employee, to administer the oath of office. Kam first met the chief when he was a teenage Ventura police cadet in 1967. He was hired as an officer in 1975.

“The police chief, probably more so than any other position in the city, touches the lives of the entire community,” Landeros said before handing Tracy his gold chief’s badge.

“I’m so proud of him, but I’ve always known that he was a great man,” said Tracy’s wife, Linda, as the couple stood shaking hands with guests in a receiving line. Linda Tracy is a teacher at Mound Elementary School in Ventura.

Former Chief Thomas said, “It is my hope Mike will continue to develop the department’s involvement with the community--the citizen academies and citizen patrols.”

Tracy said he is studying the possible creation of a community advisory committee that would allow police officers and residents to meet and discuss citizen concerns and priorities for the department.

Rank-and-file officers who attended the ceremony said they strongly supported Tracy’s promotion because he rose through the ranks from officer to sergeant to lieutenant before being selected assistant chief three years ago.

“He has a vested interest in the job and is personally involved. This is his career and his life,” said Officer Patrick Sears, a five-year law enforcement officer who joined Ventura’s department last year.

Tracy also won the support of by promising to hire more officers for the 123-person force.

City Councilman Jim Monahan lauded Tracy’s past efforts in helping to establish the city’s four police storefronts and his work for the Ventura Police Activities League.

“He came right off Ventura Avenue to the top of the Police Department,” Monahan said.

Tracy was born and raised in Ventura and grew up in a home off Ventura Avenue. During the ceremony, Tracy said he regretted that his parents could not attend due to their ill health.

The swearing-in ceremony came three weeks after the City Council, in a surprise announcement at a regular meeting Jan. 25, selected Tracy as the new chief.

Tracy’s appointment followed a four-month search for the city’s top cop and a complicated background check on Tracy. The council’s decision had not been expected until several days after it was made.

The process of picking a new police chief had been stalled over allegations that Tracy was part of a “good ol’ boys network” that created a hostile atmosphere of sexual harassment and discrimination within the department.

Tracy denied the claims, and the investigation found them to be unfounded.

Tracy said Thursday he has already started an informal mentoring program in which sergeants, lieutenants and other higher-ups talk to patrol officers--particularly females and minorities--and encourage them to seek promotions.

Also as part of his agenda, Tracy said, he plans to encourage business owners and citizens to fund the city’s police storefronts.

In his new post, Tracy will be receive base pay of $111,840 annually.