The Seal Beach Police Department has three new officers on the force. The three officers were hired in December as the department seeks to increase the size of the force to 35 full-time officers amid a jump in violent crime in town. The new members of the force were recognized at a swearing-in/promotion ceremony last week and included Officer Jordan Mirakian, Officer Jacob Fillers and Officer Nicholas Lacarra-Baker.
The swearing-in ceremony at Old Ranch Country Club on Jan. 10 also included promotions for other SBPD employees including: Sgt. Joe Hardin, Cpl. Eric Hendry, Cpl. Joe Garcia, Officer Ryan Bedard, Officer Ben Jaipream, Police Aide Kevin Castellanos and Police Aide Dana Friedrichs.
The recent hiring of the three officers brings the total number of officers on the force to 33. There are two more officer positions still open and the department is continuing to recruit to fill the spots, according to Sgt. Michael Henderson. The money that will help pay to fill the two outstanding officer positions was approved by the City Council in November 2017. That vote approved borrowing $358,900 from the city’s designated pool fund to pay for the officers’ first-year salaries. The pool fund is a $4.8 million reserve fund set aside in 2008 to build an aquatic facility to replace the aging pool at J.H. McGaugh Elementary School.
Hiring more police officers is a goal of Interim Police Chief Joe Miller as he sees a spike in violent crime in town. Chief Miller has said he’d like to have 45 or 46 sworn officers on the force. In November, he told city council members there had been an overall 27.5 percent increase in Part 1 Crimes, or serious crimes, such as assaults and robberies, from the previous year. Crime statistics for all of 2017 are not publicly available yet.
The department is currently working on an organizational report to determine the department’s staffing needs. The report will be presented to city council at some point. Finding the funding to expand the force is still being examined.
At a Coffee with a Cop event last October, Chief Miller floated the idea of a tax increase to pay for more cops. Other funding ideas include: installing parking meters on Main Street and looking for new potential revenue from the oil industry.
