Is Public Safety An Election Issue?

Is Oro Valley public safety an election issue?

It is. According to Candidate Danny Sharp, Oro Valley is not as safe as it once was.

It is not.  According to Candidate and current Mayor Joe Winfield, Oro Valley is the safest community in Arizona.

 

The differences in their thinking were “front and center” at the Greater Oro Valley Chamber Candidate Forum of June 28.

Mayoral Candidate Danny Sharp believes that public safety isn’t as good as it was and isn’t good enough

Danny Sharp made it clear at the forum on two occasions that Public Safety in Oro Valley is not good enough. In his opening remarks, Sharp noted: “When I am elected Mayor I will work to restore public trust by getting the Police Department the staffing needed to address the safety issues in our community and the threats looming from outside.”

Later in the forum, when asked how Oro Valley will be different in four years of his leadership, Sharp said that Oro Valley will be safer: “We talk about Oro Valley being the safest community in the state. Those are based on figures from 2020. I’m concerned about the fact that we don’t have enough police officers to do the job. I’m concerned about the vision that this Mayor and Council has given the police department so we can be understaffed to the point where we have to pull high school resource officers out of our high school. I drive up and down Oracle Road, Tangerine, LaCholla and I don’t see any police cars. I don’t see traffic stops. I see speeders. I see red light runners. I see tailgating in my rear view mirror.

The town is not as safe as it was.. People cant’t go to Riverfront Park and go for a walk without their Catalytic Converter being stolen. Or breaking out their window and stealing their purse. That’s not a safe community”. 

Sharp said that public safety will be a top priority if elected.

Candidate Joe Winfield disagrees: Oro Valley is safe because Chief Riley and her team are getting the job done.

Joe Winfield asserted at the forum that Oro Valley continues to be the safest community in Arizona. He points to FBI statistics and crime scores. He noted that Chief Kara Riley was twice voted best community leader. He noted that Oro Valley has more police per capita than Marana, Tucson and Sahuarita and pays its police officers more than any other town.

According to Winfield, to say that Oro Valley is not safe is a disservice to Chief Riley, the command staff, and the 103 men and women to put their lives on the line every day in service to the community.

Some added information

Three points of information for you to consider. First, the above panel shows the latest publicly reported crime statistics.

Second, in May, Chief Riley addressed the council. As we reported at that time, the objective of the Oro Valley Police Department (OVPD) is to be the best police agency in Arizona. The department is adding four positions in fiscal 2023. Two of these positions are officer positions. One of the four positions will free an officer for field work. That is a net increase of three field officers. Chief Riley stated at that time that the added positions she requested in this year’s budget was everything the department needs to meet its objective.

Third, in June, the OVPD was again acknowledged for excellence. “Special recognition and congratulations goes to Chief Riley and her entire PD Team for successfully completing the Arizona Law Enforcement Accreditation Program (ALEAP). The department was found in compliance with the 170 established standards and will be recommended for accreditation at the next ALEAP Commission meeting, with final approval expected. Oro Valley joins 20 other agencies across the state with this accreditation.” (Source: Town Manager’s Executive Report To Council, July 2022)

You be the judge 

Whether you agree with Danny Sharp’s observations or Joe Winfield’s facts, it is clear that the approaches to public safety of the two will be very different. 

Joe Winfield has been “hands off” when it comes to the OVPD. The OVPD has operated without his direct involvement. He has expressed his confidence in Chief Riley and the police force on numerous occasion. He will not “second guess” her judgment. We expect this behavior to continue. 

A Mayor Sharp will have a more “hands on” role when it comes to the OVPD. How involving that role becomes is yet to be determined.

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Get To Know Chief Riley: "I Love This Community"

Last week we published some background information about Oro Valley's new police chief, Kara Riley. This week we focus on her relationship with our community, her reaction to becoming Chief, and her primary focus. 
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Chief Riley Loves Oro Valley
Kara Riley has lived in Oro Valley for 18 years. She's grown to love our community, not just in her capacity as a member of our police force, but as a mom and every day resident. We asked her why she wanted the job of chief.

"It came down to two things: The love of this community because I’ve been ingrained in it for so long. I love every aspect of it-the schools, the churches, a great community where people waive at us. And the fact that I have had 16 years of working with the finest men and women, both civilian and sworn, in the law enforcement profession in the nation. It’s all about the people."

Humbled
Riley told us she was humbled when she learned that she had been selected as the third police chief in Oro Valley's history.  She feels humbled to represent our sworn officers.

"I wish you knew what I knew in reference to the men and women of this agency. If you knew them, you would be humbled too because they are the best."

"I hear them every day. I wear a uniform. I have my radio on. I have a marked unit. I check on every morning like they do. I do traffic stops. I do sometimes go to calls with them. I hear them. I hear their efforts. They work hard. They do that extra check when it comes to public service. We continue to provide a service that meets the community’s expectations and then some."

Community service and outreach is #1
Chief Riley believes that the police force exists to provide outstanding community service; Even if that means picking up a garbage can for someone who can't! To her that means the officers are going the extra mile. “There is never a complaint" on the part of the officer, she related.  “They love this community. They have a sense of ownership. Pride.”

Riley wants the residents of our community to be comfortable with our police officers. “It’s why we do all of our community outreach. We want people to be comfortable with us...I think it’s important for people to not have surprises.” She wants people to call the police even if it's something that they feel is small. As she put it: "..if they’re comfortable with us in the beginning already, then they are not going to hesitate to call us when something really bad is going on.”
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Next week we will discuss Riley's three core focus areas as she begins her new job.

Kara Riley Approved 7-0 As Oro Valley's Police Chief

The result was never in doubt
Oro Valley Town Council Chambers was packed last night, with civilians and cops on site to witness the 7-0 approval of Oro Valley Police Commander Kara Riley as Oro Valley's new chief of police. Riley will assume her new position later this month.

Winfield introduced motion
Mayor Winfield introduced the resolution to retain Riley. Each council member then spoke in praise of her, the police force, and retiring Police Chief Daniel Sharp.


Riley was the best of 70 candidates
Winfield noted that Riley was the best of 70 candidates. In fact, he observed, that three Oro Valley police members were among the final 10.

Council Member Bill Rodman thanked Chief Sharp for insuring that Oro Valley would have someone from within to assume leadership upon his retirement; a promise, Rodman told the audience, that  Sharp made when he was retained as chief 20 years ago.

After the vote, Riley took the moment to thank Chief Sharp and her fellow officers for their support. She also introduced her family in attendance.

Commander Riley with Dad and Mom

Oro Valley comes together
Last night Council Member Rodman noted all the cops in council chamber. He said that this had to be the safest place in Oro Valley.

Mayor Winfield stated that it was also the happiest place in town.

Things haven't always been that way in council chambers. There have been some very tough decisions that have been made, some divisive to council. But this decision, the one to retain Riley, brought the council and the community together.

It was a great moment for Oro Valley
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Let's Meet Our New Chief of Police, Kara Riley

A rare event this evening
Tonight, Oro Valley will witness a rare event: The appointment of a Chief of Police. The appointment of an Oro Valley police chief is like the appointment of a US Supreme Court justice. It rarely happens. The appointee serves for many years.

Wolfe and Sharp: twenty years a piece
Oro Valley Police Department has had two Chiefs in the past 40 years: They are: Werner Wolfe, who served from 1980 to 1999; and Daniel Sharp, who will have served from 2000 until his retirement later this month.

Twenty years for Riley? "I hope so"
The new chief is Kara Riley, a Commander in the Oro Valley Police Department . She is a 16 year veteran of service to our community. We asked Riley during our interview yesterday if she would want to be our police chief for the next 20 years. She was enthusiastic in her response: “I hope so!” If that happens, she will accumulate a total of 36 years of community service to Oro Valley. Wouldn't that be something!

A career in law enforcement discovered because of a traffic stop
"At 17, I got my drivers license. I got a ticket. I got stopped by a Tucson police officer."  According to Riley, it was a pleasant stop. "I wish I knew who it was because he took time to explain to me what law enforcement was about, all the while writing me my ticket. I asked the question: 'Could women go into law enforcement'?” Apparently, the Cop told her yes.

"That was my Ah-Hah moment. Your moment of saying: 'this was the path I was going to take.' "

Perhaps Riley was destined to be in Oro Valley 
Riley's career took her from Rincon High to Oro Valley. She earned a degree in Sociology from the University of Arizona and was embarking on a masters degree when she had the good fortune of being accepted into the Police Academy. One of her instructors was Daniel Sharp. Later, she would meet the Chief's wife, a Sergeant in the Tucson Police Department. Their paths would cross while Riley was on the police force of the Tucson Airport Authority.

Family matters most
“To know me, you have to know my family...My greatest accomplishment in life is being a mother. I had one shot at it." In 2001, "My husband at the time and I decided we would focus on raising my daughter.” Riley's daughter graduates from Ironwood Ridge this spring. Riley is also proud of her father, James Riley, and his accomplishments; and her two sisters and brother. All are UA "through and through."

We have much more to write regarding our discussion with our new Police Chief in upcoming LOVE postings. In the meantime, let's celebrate this victory for our community tonight in Council Chambers.

Council Considers Four Police Chief Candidates Monday

A balance of internal and external candidates
The Oro Valley Town Council will meet Monday afternoon in executive session to discuss candidates for Police Chief. There are four candidates.

Two candidates work in the department. They are Commander Chris Olsen and Commander Kara Riley.

Two candidates are from outside the Oro Valley Police Department. They are Gregg Jacquin and Chris McCall.  We believe that both candidates are retired police officers. If we are correct, Jacquin retired in 2018 as Commander from the City of Chandler; and McCall retired last year as Police Chief in Hobbs, New Mexico.

The town identified these candidates after conducting a four month national search.
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Pina, Rodman and Solomon Want Police Chief Selection To Be Public Spectacle

Council members Pina, Rodman and Solomon ("minority members") want the discussion and selection of the new Oro Valley Police Chief a “public spectacle.” We base this conclusion on our analysis of the comments of the minority members of council as stated in council meetings.

The last “public spectacle”...
...was endless discussion of what to do about the 45, now 36 holes of town municipal golf. The discussion was dominated by golf course members, their families and residents who lived along the golf courses. They came to every meeting. Wore green shirts. They spoke endlessly at every meeting. It was a successful effort on their part, as the council voted to retain 36 holes of golf and made a commitment to invest in it in the future.

The objective is to put pressure on the council majority and to drive a recall effort
The objective of the minority members is two fold: First, to drive signups for a current recall effort; an effort, we suspect, that has no momentum and far less than 3,600 plus required signatures for a recall election. Second, to force council to pick an internal candidate.

Effort 1: Make survey results public
Minority council members Pina, Rodman and Solomon insisted that the results of an online survey and focus group session on police chief desired characteristics be made public. Both of these were conducted by Novak Consulting Group, the firm that is conducting the external search. Some claim that the survey results show overwhelming support for an internal candidate. They do not. The results were made public in December. LOVE wrote about the online survey results.

Effort 2: Make Council Police Chief selection discussions open to the public
The minority members in December began their pursuit of making the  discussion of who to hire as chief an open meeting discussion. They argue that this would make the decision "transparent;" and that, somehow, this is a good thing. They argue this after they participated in the 2017 Executive Session selection of town manager Mary Jacobs, a selection that was based on a national search.

Arizona statute and privacy issues block their effort
The Arizona statute recognizes that personnel matters should not become public displays. There are seven executive session "authorized topics" prescribed by Arizona Statute (link, page 3). The first of these is "Personnel."These are private matters to the individual who is being considered for the position of Chief. Candidate privacy "trumps" making these discussions public

Historically, Oro Valley has applied the statute...All personnel matters are considered in executive session.

• In 2016. Chief Sharp was appointed as interim council member in Executive Session. There was no public discussion of his selection.
• In May of 2017, Town Manager Mary Jacobs was selected as town manager in Executive Session. Her selection was the result of a nationwide search.  There was no public discussion of her or of other candidates. 

In 2017, Pina, Rodman and Solomon approved a national search and executive session hiring of a new town manager. Now, they argue for just the opposite when it comes to hiring a police chief. Why? Because it's all about politics to them; it's not about what is best for the community.

The Police Chief recruitment process is underway

As you know, the Town of Oro Valley is currently searching for a new Chief of Police due to the planned retirement of Chief Danny Sharp in February 2020.

The following is an excerpt from HR Director, Chris Brady’s speech to the Town Council during the July 31, 2019 council meeting

“I can tell you from personal experience, I’ve been through, between fire and police, probably about four recruitments on that level of local government. All but one was an internal/external search. The one where we did internal only did not work out. I’m not saying that would be the case here. I absolutely believe that we have good qualified candidates, but my job is to be objective and give you both sides of this for you to make the best decision.

I talked to my colleagues across the state. I asked them who’s had a police chief recruitment in the past five years. Help me out, what did you do? There was nobody that was internal only… Why they didn’t choose that [internal] I don’t know.

…I don’t think you would go wrong either way, but in the past, executive level recruitments, specifically chief recruitments, it was the goal of my previous councils/managers that they wanted to have a process that was transparent, seemed open to the community, and that’s why we did internal/external.

…The advantage you have there is that you’ll be able to compare internal candidates to other people to make sure that we do have the best of the best. Generally, the practice is for this level position, because of how critical it is, I’ve seen internal/external recruitments typically.”

The below options for police chief recruitment were included in a memo sent to the mayor and town council dated July 19, 2019 from HR Director, Chris Brady.

Options for police chief recruitment include:

• Internal Only Candidates. Supplemental services from an Executive Search Firm may be necessary. The time frame is 2-3 months with a cost estimate of $3,500 - $4,500.

Advantages:
• Faster recruitment process
• Relatively low cost to the Town
• Provides growth opportunities to internal employees
• Candidate will have institutional knowledge of the Town and Police Department

Disadvantages:
• Small pool of candidates
• Potential lack of appearance of a competitive process
• Costs could increase depending on level of outside services required

• Internal and External Candidates. Staff recommends utilizing the services of a Professional Executive Search Firm with experience in hiring local government executives. The time frame is 3-6 months with a cost estimate of $25,000 - $50,000.

Advantages:
• Experience working with elected bodies in objectively guiding the selection of high-profile positions
• Opens recruitment to large pool of talent
• Uses specialized expertise, professionally produced recruitment materials, and established contacts to identify candidates that meet Town Council’s preferred criteria
• Can provide for public input into the process working with consultant at direction of Council
• Capacity for a “deeper dive” into each candidate by utilizing services such as:

- Community Surveys
- Community Engagement Meetings
- Pre-Screened Candidates
- Utilization of the firm’s candidate pool and insight into the candidate’s prior interviewing experiences
- Objective, 3rd party Assessment Centers

•Internal candidates are still included in the process

Disadvantages:
• Costs for search firm fees and expenses
• Could result in the hire of a candidate with no institutional knowledge of the department
• There may be additional charges incurred such as travel for out-of-state candidates

The council voted 4-3 in favor of an internal/external search with Winfield, Barrett, Nicolson, and Jones-Ivey voting for this option with Pina, Rodman, and Solomon opposed.
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Note: In November 2019, Chris Brady left his position to work for Tenet Healtcare.
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Scheming in plain sight. The Hiremath gang continues attempts to undermine the Winfield Council.

On May 8th, The Town Council held a Budget Study Session to discuss the Town Manager’s Recommended Budget for FY 2019/20. A LOVE reader found the following synopsis, posted on the Next Door site by an Oro Valley resident, and sent it to us. We think it’s worth sharing. We’ve added the subheadings.
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Elevating the political discourse
In my opinion, Mayor Winfield and the three new council members are to be commended for embodying the spirit of "more elevated political discourse" in last night's budget meeting for Oro Valley.

Solomon makes a spectacle of himself…again
In terms of substance, the most controversial and contentious issue in my opinion was that the budget requested from the Town Manager included no additional FTE's [full-time equivalent positions] for any department, including the police. Councilman Solomon made a spectacle of this issue. He pressed the police chief [Danny Sharp] as to whether he had requested more police and not gotten them, and eventually he said yes. He also revealed, apparently for the first time in this budget cycle, that at certain peak times, 20% of requests for police officers had to go unanswered because no officer was available. There was no discussion of how long these peak periods were, how many "not available" situations were simply postponed without danger, like fraud reporting. All council members were shocked.

Chief Sharp admits that there is no crisis
This triggered an immediate, persistent, angry tirade from Solomon. He said that Oro Valley's sterling reputation for safety was being endangered, this was unacceptable, and that a firm and final decision should be immediately made to give the chief whatever he needed. Under questioning and clarification as to why the chief had not sooner made the danger clearer, the police chief confessed that it is normal to have peak periods with no officer immediately available for around 10% of requests; that the statistic had worsened slowly over the years; and that there was no immediate crisis. Eventually, he [Chief Sharp] apologized that the issue had arisen in this manner at this time.

Mayor Winfield remains composed
Winfield graciously said that of course it would be given another look and asked that the Town Manager give options for moving money around to make room for more police funding. Solomon was undeterred in his crusade for immediate action. He did not want options; he wanted a decision, now, with instructions to the Town Manager. This, despite that the meeting was a study session where no decisions were to be made, said Winfield, several times, very politely, until Solomon grudgingly capitulated.

It was an ugly, inappropriate, and unnecessary display in my opinion. People were relieved when the topic changed to parks and recreation, which began with the joke: "Next year, I refuse to be put on the agenda after the police." The tension finally broke.

Dave Perry’s lead balloon
Quite some time later, after much post-police discussion had occurred, Chamber of Commerce President Dave Perry asked to speak and gave an impassioned plea for more police funding, complete with extended anecdotes designed to project poignancy, like the Target employee who told him that in Tucson, police didn't even bother to come when called about shoplifting incidents. His performance had the buoyancy of a lead balloon.

Solomon’s palpable antagonism
After 4 hours of discussion and very few people were left, Solomon yet again found a back door into re-raising "prioritization of public safety." He pointed out that while no department, not even police, had gotten a single FTE, the Town Council had gotten a net increase of approximately ½ of an FTE in legal services. This triggered another hammering from Solomon. Why more legal service and not the police? Exactly why? What message does this send? Why did we never need this before? Was this a temporary increase just until the new and inexperienced council members are trained? No? What then?

It was tiresome and overdone; nothing more than political grandstanding in my opinion. Winfield and his allies met all this palpable antagonism with patience, forbearance, politeness, facts, perspective, and logic.

Hiremath’s cowardly absence
Conspicuous in his absence was Satish Hiremath who, [as published in his Explorer Op-Ed on May 1st] characterized them as liars who are threatening and intimidating the Town Manager into formulating an austerity budget guaranteed to result in an exodus of key personnel and a crime-ridden community without adequate police protection.

I have to say the Town Manager did not look in the slightest bit intimidated or threatened. She projected 100% calm professionalism. Moreover, her budget summary was exceptionally well-written so she is obviously competent and can find another job; she makes $180,000/year and probably has savings to carry her through a job loss, should that happen. I doubt that she perceives herself as "succumbing to threats of retaliation and intimidation by liars who are forcing her to compromise on principles."

Hiremath's method of elevating public discourse is apparently to let the remnants of his administration and former allies act as proxies for his bitter partisan rhetoric while he remains above the fray of face-to-face public meetings via cowardly absence. What a negative role model for the children and young adults who will lead us in the future.

A kinder, gentler mayor
What a refreshing and promising display of hope I saw last night for a kinder, gentler, unified community where elected officials are role models of public service for all citizens, regardless of age.
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LOVE’s Analysis
There is clearly a concerted effort going on by defeated former mayor Hiremath and his proxies to take down Winfield, Barrett, Jones-Ivey, and Nicolson. Solomon has spent the past 6 months using his position as a council member to launch into his bi-weekly lecture series attempting to discredit and minimize Winfield, et. al., while Hiremath and former councilmember Joe Hornat, along with the incorrigible Don Cox, take their phony rhetoric to the pages of the local newspaper.

Pavlov’s Dogs
It’s no coincidence that Hiremath’s May 1st Explorer op-ed, followed by defeated council member Joe Hornat's May 8th letter to the editor have both come exactly 6 months into the reign of the Winfield administration. What’s the significance of rearing their heads at the 6-month mark? You have to wait 6 months before initiating a recall against a newly elected mayor and council members.

It appears that the Hiremath posse is salivating in anticipation of a recall in hopes of retaking their majority voting block on council. And it appears that they are planning to use their repetitive and worn out scare tactic of being the only ones who will make public safety a priority.  And we all know that is not true. 

Be sure to read tomorrow's article on public safety funding during the Hiremath years.

Guest View: Brian Gagan ~ Oro Valley’s epic fiscal mismanagement from the Town Hall to the OVPD. Part 2.

Part 1 was published yesterday.

Below are some indicators that the Chief of Police and the Town Council are unskilled regarding contemporary and effective town staffing and law enforcement practice:

• Operational rejection of the fact that most law enforcement officer capability growth occurs largely from officers handling approximately 80% of case responses alone (there is no need for 2-6 officers on the scene more than approximately 20% of the time).

• Very significant and unnecessary headcount leading to excess expense for payroll, employment taxes, facilities, equipment, vehicles, training, and overhead.

• A command staff that is 50% larger than necessary for Oro Valley’s demographics and low incidence of felony and other serious crimes as revealed in the Uniform Crime Report (UCR).  Excess employees always correlate with excess command staff.

• Living a lie regarding supposed Community Policing in Oro Valley. Community Policing is always evidenced by things like foot beats, bicycle beats, always responding to and learning from citizens, and rejection of petty traffic enforcement activities that skilled officers have little interest in. Dispatching four officers or four officers simply showing up anywhere (except for felonies in progress and active shooter calls) is evidence of rejection of community policing by any agency including the OVPD.

• Almost no dash-cams and body-cams (body-cams are worn only by Oro Valley motorcycle officers). This appears to indicate that the OVPD is not concerned about either serious crime or officer safety. Yes, body-cams are slightly expensive, but the savings from laying off three officers is enough to buy body-cams for all remaining officers.

• No drug unit and a false belief within the OVPD that opioids are of no issue whatsoever in Oro Valley.

• Excess delineation and false specialization of duties, divisions, operational silo's, and responsibilities.  Silo's detract strongly from team and agency efficiency.

(Silo's refer to the multitude of separate operating units such as detectives, motorcycle division, school division, special operations, volunteers, etc. each with their own delineated command structure.  This approach is not taken within municipalities of less than about 75,000 population unless it is within a high or very high felony rate location.)

• A substantially under-capable special operations unit (CAT Squad) that works only 4 days per week…and not individually.  Criminals do not take three days off per week and most skilled investigators accept that working alone about 80% of the time leads to more arrests and a much greater conviction rate.  It is easier for a felon to know when he/she is being surveilled by police novices when four officers are engaged in it.

• A pointless (and bordering on useless) training function. Two examples: No officer has ever been trained to stay on their beat or to handle over 80% of their citizen contacts alone.

The above failings have come at an excess cost of between $2.8 million and $4.6 million per year within the police department alone.

A’s hire A’s and B’s hire C’s
We always share with our clients that, “A’s hire A’s and B’s hire C’s.” This explains all the C’s at the OVPD. It has remained overstaffed in a failed attempt to make up for all the C’s who were hired by all the B’s.

Take-home vehicles and IRS violations
The OVPD at last report had 126 vehicles. It should also be noted that the Town of Oro Valley has provided automobiles and motorcycles for personal and business use (take-home vehicles) to nearly 65 town employees, about 34 of which are taken home by OVPD officers. You should also know that the Town has a massive IRS regulation problem due to the fact that personal and commuting usage is not being logged and taxed (including daily commuting miles to as far away as Sahuarita and Casa Grande.) Nearly all commuting and personal vehicle mileage is taxable in Arizona and in the U.S.

Based upon common and contemporary acceptable practice, a town with Oro Valley’s population size (43,000) requires only 4 take-home vehicles within the police department. These should be assigned to the Chief of Police, the Deputy Chief, the Detective Commander, and the Senior Evidence Technician, all of whom are subject to fairly frequent call-out.

An additional 4-7 Town Hall Staff cars should be assigned to senior executives and those subject to off-duty calls on at least 8 occasions per year. This would include the Mayor, the Public Works Director, and perhaps one or two others, with the remainder of that small fleet being utilized on a pool basis (and never being garaged at homes).

All individuals with take-home cars must be subject to call-out and must be called out with significant regularity. ALL employees with take-home cars must be salaried employees with very few job necessity exceptions such as the Senior Evidence Technician.

In summary, there is no actual data or evidence to suggest that Oro Valley is being led intelligently, ethically, or in compliance with  regulations. It is not my intention to damage or disparage any persons…only to stop the financial idiocy of a town being habitually misled and, thus far, being unwilling to correct itself.

Part 3 will be published tomorrow.