Retaining top cop is a shrewd move
Retaining Police Chief Jeff Miller on an interim basis, after he
retires in June, makes a lot of sense. That is, if city leaders are
serious about the prospect of consolidating the Hollister Police
Department with the San Benito County Sheriff’s Office.
During the coming transition, it must be the overriding
focus.
Retaining top cop is a shrewd move
Retaining Police Chief Jeff Miller on an interim basis, after he retires in June, makes a lot of sense. That is, if city leaders are serious about the prospect of consolidating the Hollister Police Department with the San Benito County Sheriff’s Office.
During the coming transition, it must be the overriding focus.
City council members this week approved a contract with Miller to stay on as interim chief once he officially retires Dec. 29. In the short term, it is expected to provide about $40,000 in savings for the final six months of the fiscal year – that is always a good thing when Hollister officials have a bankrupt reserve account waiting in the wings – after you exclude such costs as medical benefits and throw in additional expenses involved with recruiting someone from the outside who might be here for a brief time.
Looking toward the long term, it offers immense flexibility as a buffer while city and county leaders study the feasibility of combining the police department and sheriff’s office. City and county leaders in the past year have escalated talks on the subject – which is popular with the public and logical for all the right reasons, such as a significant savings and the curtailing of unnecessary overlap in coverage that has occurred for decades.
City leaders should head into the process fully expecting the independent study of consolidation will turn up as most residents – outside of the public safety unions and Miller – expect. With indications pointing toward the solution for Hollister to contract with San Benito County to provide law enforcement services, while likely moving most of the police force into new positions at the sheriff’s office. It is the right time to study consolidation, which city and county officials already are in the process of doing, because the recession and now-lifted building moratorium exposed the local governments’ structural weaknesses and broke a dam that won’t fix itself without bold solutions. It is the right time because there is a new sheriff in town, an open mind from the outside who has experience not only overseeing a large number of officers, but also in dealing with urban police issues.
By retaining Miller, it opens the door further for the smoothest possible transition toward offering the most sensible, cost-effective law enforcement in San Benito County.
