Santa Cruz police chief begins new post

As Andrew Mills gets ready to be sworn in as the new Santa Cruz police chief, he knows he is entering a community that has some issues.

“We are having lots of break-ins around my neighborhood,” said Santa Cruz resident Laura Southerland.

“My bike was stolen when I was on campus. It was right outside of my apartment and all of the parts were stripped and it was horrible,” said resident Cameron Johnson.

“People who are homeless, hanging out, sometimes it can be sketchy at night but I haven’t had any issues personally,” said Ozzie Martinez, who works in Santa Cruz.

KION interviewed the new police chief on Monday and asked him about some of the concerns people have.

“First thing we are going to do is sit down and talk to as many people as we can, do as much analysis as possible so we can get a good sense of where this community is at because we police with the consent of the community,” said Mills.

His first day on the job comes just months after the death of Sean Arlt. In October, the 32-year old was shot by an officer after police say he threatened officers with a rake. The district attorney cleared the officer of any wrongdoing, but Mills says it’s a situation the department can learn from.

“What we want to do is make sure we are looking at and debriefing all of these incidents, learning the lessons and incorporating that into the tactical de-escalation,” said Mills.

During Mills’ time with the Eureka Police Department, he was upfront about the department’s responsibility when it came to immigration. He says it’s important to have a relationship with all different kinds of law enforcement agencies, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but has no plans to turn police officers into immigration officers.

“Those are relationships we need to have but what we will not compromise is the safety of our community and the safety of our public,” said Mills.

Mills also talked about the importance of having a diverse staff of police officers and said he hopes he can add more diversity to the force.

“We can’t police this community unless the people have confidence that we are going to see things from their prospective,” Mills said.

Another issue Mills is working on is homelessness. It’s not solely a police problem, and it’s an area in which Mills has experience. According to the city of Santa Cruz, under Mills’ leadership, the Eureka Police Department helped to lower the number of homeless people by 60 percent.

Mills will be officially sworn in on Monday.