By Neil Farrell ~
“This is an important event for our city,” said Morro Bay City Manager David Buckingham, Aug. 1 on the occasion of swearing in an interim police chief.
With much of the tiny department turned out in uniform, a number of community volunteers, fire and harbor patrol officers, city staffers and a scattering of residents, Interim Chief Larry Todd, took a ceremonial oath of office outside the community center (an official oath was taken later administered by the City Clerk), becoming just the 10th chief — counting both interims and full timers — in MBPD’s 50-year history.
Chief Todd replaces former Chief Amy Christey, who is leaving Morro Bay for the chief’s job in Pacific Grove, in Monterey County. Christey has been away from the office for several weeks after she and wife Emily had a baby. Their family will be reunited in Santa Cruz County, where she was a Sheriff’s Department lieutenant before coming to Morro Bay in 2012.
Chief Christey’s imminent departure follows the departure of Cmdr. Bryan Millard in July. He was hired as Cuesta College’s police chief after about 15 years in Morro Bay.
Sgt. Rick Catlett had been filling in as acting chief for several weeks. The department also lost its K-9 unit — Ofc. Stephanie Pippan and police dog Xello — who left for a job with the Cal Poly Police Department. And Sgt. Derek Porter left a few months ago for a job in the Central Valley.
Sgt. Catlett said they’ve since gotten a couple of new recruits on board currently in training and with Chief Todd’s coming on board, they are down just one officer, the vacant commander position. The department has held together well.
Buckingham said Chief Todd would be interim for an indefinite time as they begin the search for a permanent chief.
That search can probably get on in earnest after the City Council was slated to discuss on Tuesday whether to seek a contract for police services with the Sheriff’s Office.
Though that discussion came after The Bay News’ deadline, Buckingham’s staff report strongly recommended against even beginning to investigate a contract at this time, noting that the City’s finances are not in dire straits and while some cost savings could be expected — about $500,000 in preliminary discussions — the level of service currently being provided is very good. He recommended not investigating a contract for police, fire nor harbor patrol services for at least 5 years.
Also, public support for the police department is very strong, as evident in a petition that has been circulating both online and in person by citizens with the Neighborhood Watch Association. At last count more than 1,000 people had signed the advisory petition.
Mayor Jamie Irons, speaking at the swearing in, noted that the City was in multiple transitions and was grateful for the way the department has stepped up to meet the challenges.
Buckingham said in searching for an interim chief, he wanted a seasoned professional law enforcement person, with significant and instant credibility. Chief Todd brings some 40 years of experience to the job, including 14 years as police chief in Los Gatos. He’s served as an interim chief for four other cities in the past. He was awarded a medal of valor in his early days as a police officer in West Covina after he rescued a family from a burning car, Buckingham said. He and his wife’s home was destroyed in the Loma Prieta Earthquake in October 1989 but he still went to work helping his city recover. “That is credibility,” said Buckingham.
Chief Todd started his career in West Covina, where he served for 15 years before moving to Pleasanton for 2-1/2 years as a captain. He was hired as chief in Los Gatos in 1988 and retired form that job in 2002. He has been an interim chief in Hollister, Novato, Clearlake, Fairfield and now Morro Bay.
He and his wife, Valerie, had been living in Las Vegas of late and joked that he was glad for the cool Morro Bay fog after the 109-plus degree heat in Vegas.
The couple has been married for 37 years he said, and she’s pinned on every badge he’s ever worn. “This is the first time its had a black band across it,” he said, noting the band of mourning that all the officers are wearing in honor of police officers killed in the line of duty in Dallas, Texas and Baton Rouge, La. “These are tough times in law enforcement. It’s a time to step up with the community and create greater bonds.”
He has great respect for those who pin on the badge. “I consider law enforcement to be the most important career path that exists in our country,” he said. “Only we and the fire department respond to the most deadly events that occur.” He added that just one in a 1,000 police applicants actually become police officers. “Too many others have come before us, as these bands represent, and have made the ultimate sacrifice.
“We will work together to make this a better department than it is and work together to find a permanent chief.”
