Interim Seal Beach Police Chief Joe Miller argued in favor of keeping the city jail at a sparsely attended Public Safety Town Hall meeting held Tuesday, Aug. 20. A consultant’s report, recently made available to the public, recommended closing the city jail, among other things.
Historically, Seal Beach Police chiefs have argued in favor of keeping the city jail on the grounds that officers return to the street more quickly with the “detention center” operating. Chiefs Jeff Kirkpatrick, Robert Luman, and Joe Stilinovich all argued in favor of keeping the jail during their tenures. All of them argued that the jail was needed so officers could return to the street more quickly. Past councils have raised concerns about the jail’s deficit. Miller said Tuesday night that he expected revenue from a contract with the U.S. Marshall’s service to significantly reduce the jail’s deficit.
Background
Miller presented the results of the Matrix Consulting Group’s “Report on the Police Department Resource Allocation Study,” along with the issues he and command staff had with the study. Of approximately 17 people in the audience, most were city officials such as City Manager Jill Ingram, Assistant City Manager Patrick Gallegos, and Treasurer, Finance Director Victoria Beatley. All five City Council members were also present.
“The City has paid about $36,000 of the $48,400 costs,” according to a Monday, Aug. 19, email from Beatley. The City Council commissioned Matrix Consulting to conduct the study in April 2018 for a maximum of $48,400, including unexpected (contingency) costs.
While the police services study was being conducted, city leaders and the police chief were promoting a ballot measure to increase the city’s sales tax by 1% as a way to pay for essential services, including the hiring of more police officers. Measure BB was passed in November 2018 and the sales tax hike took effect in April 2019. Five additional police officers have been hired in the last year and Chief Miller has said their hiring was made possible through Measure BB.
The study, dated Dec. 11, 2018, was recently made available to the public. You can pick up a copy at the City Clerk’s Office or view it at sunnews.org.
Miller began by discussing the lengthy process behind the police services study. According to Miller, the study was one of the objectives to come from the first strategic planning meeting of 2017.
He said one of the past council members brought up doing a police services study.
The police services study was approved by the council in April 2018. Matrix Consulting met with police, city officials, and residents Jim Brady and Robert Goldberg through June 12, 2018.
“It took a long time,” Miller said.
According to Miller, police sent the study back to Matrix multiple times. He said it was obvious that the people working on the study were not involved in law enforcement. Miller pointed out that the command staff had more than 100 years of police experience between them.
Miller said the SBPD currently has 36 active officers. (According to Mayor Thomas Moore, the city has budgeted 38.)
About the jail
The Matrix study recommended closing the jail. Miller disagreed with that recommendation and argued that the study was incomplete.
“They didn’t even have accurate data on DUI’s,” Miller said.
According to Miller’s handout, police officers are better suited to doing police work rather than transporting prisoners to the county jail.
Police Commander Steve Bowles said the process of booking prisoners in the county jail can be extensive. He described how on one occasion, he was transporting prisoners from Seal Beach when he saw a van of prisoners from another city. Bowles and his prisoners rushed to the kiosk to enter the information to be processed into the jail.
The Matrix study argued the money saved could be used for hiring another officer. Matrix estimated this would save the city $405,000. However, City Finance Director Beatley declined comment on the figure on the grounds she hadn’t seen the underlying numbers on the report.
Resident and activist Robert Goldberg questioned the accuracy of the figure in an email to the council. “The data in the PSS study is quite outdated. The projected General Fund operating deficit in the adopted FY 19-20 Budget is $421,400. This assumes revenue of $200,000 from the US Marshals contract.”
According to Miller, closing the jail would require the termination of six senior community service officers.
According to the SBPD handout, the city would need 4.2 officers to provide 24-hour coverage for jail transports without losing an officer to patrol. The Matrix study acknowledged that one reason to keep the jail was to return officers to the street as quickly as possible.
Miller also said that Matrix received community input by email.
“We were never notified of that correspondence,” Miller said.
During a discussion of the jail’s pay-to-stay program, Goldberg cautioned that if Seal Beach raises the price for staying at the city jail, the city could lose customers.
However, according to Sgt. Dave Barr, the detention center supervisor, no one yet has said Seal Beach is too expensive. He said the jail currently had five pay-to-stay inmates and eight to 10 more in line. “Seal Beach is not only a great place to live, apparently it’s a great place to do time,” Barr said.
Bowles said the report was not all bad. He said it validated what the police had been saying—that the department needed more civilian staff.
“It is good to hear that the addition of our 5 recently-hired officers has brought SBPD up to a recommended level of staffing,” said District Four Councilwoman Schelly Sustarsic in an email to the Sun after the meeting.
“Although the study mentions possibly closing the jail, the Police did a great job explaining why it is beneficial to keep the jail open to optimize how crimes are handled in Seal Beach,” said Mayor Thomas Moore in an Aug. 21 email.
Jeannette Andruss contributed to this story.
