DANA POINT : City Votes to Join Police Services Audit

The City Council voted unanimously last week to join five other South County cities in an audit of police services provided by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

Along with an analysis of the costs of the services on a city-by-city basis, the study will address how other regional policing alternatives might work for the South County area. Like Dana Point, the other five cities--Laguna Niguel, Laguna Hills, Lake Forest, San Juan Capistrano and Mission Viejo--contract for all their police services on an annual basis with the Sheriff’s Department.

“We’re not unhappy with the service we’re getting, or our personnel. We just want to make sure we are getting the best possible police service for the money we’re spending,” said Mayor Mike Eggers.

In the past four years, the costs of policing Dana Point have more than doubled. In 1988, a year before Dana Point incorporated, the annual cost of police services for the city through the Sheriff’s Department was $1.6 million, compared to $3.8 million this year, Eggers said.

“The costs are continuing to rise every year,” Eggers said. “With the budget crunch the county is going through, they are obviously going to keep going up. That’s why we’re doing this now.”

Eggers said the discussion of a South County regional police force is “nothing new.”

“There has always been a hypothetical discussion of this, now we’ll have it in black and white, no pun intended,” he said.

The cost of the evaluation, to be done by Pasadena-based Hughes, Heiss & Associates--the same company that recently audited the San Clemente Police Department--is $69,000. Each city’s share of the cost will be based on its population, and Dana Point will be paying $8,565.

Mission Viejo, Laguna Niguel and Laguna Hills have also allocated funds for the study. The San Juan Capistrano council will consider the item Tuesday, and the Lake Forest council has approved the item in concept but has yet to allocate any money.