King City looks for help with public safety as police force dwindles

Public safety for residents in King City is up for debate. New Monterey County Sheriff Steve Bernal and his top team met with King City leaders Thursday to figure out a plan. King City is exploring its law enforcement options, and that could possibly involve a complete take over by the sheriff’s office.

The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office said a possible takeover of all public safety in King City is something the agency has never dealt with before. Deputies are currently patrolling there part-time, but now the city wants to know how much full-time coverage would cost.

“If the sheriff’s office did take over it would be a complete takeover for the law enforcement in King City,” said Chief Deputy Tracy Brown.

Brown said he still doesn’t know how much that would cost, but that King City would foot the bill for sheriff’s deputies to patrol its streets full time. Nearly a year after an illegal towing scheme rocked the police department, the city is facing a police force quickly dwindling. On Thursday, Commander Bruce Miller resigned as the case against him is still pending. Officer Jaime Andrade, one of six officers arrested, was fired last fall following an internal affairs investigation. City leaders said they plan to release more information on police department staffing Friday. Mayor Robert Cullen said the future of the police department is unknown.

“There’s a lot of options on the table and really we’re looking at all options. We owe it to the citizens to make sure that law enforcement is good in King City,” Cullen said.

The sheriff’s office has been providing part-time overnight patrols for the city. Brown said the proposal could involve adding anywhere from 10 to 12 deputies, specifically dedicated to king city.

“We hope to have a proposal together within a month and that proposal would be what we recommend for their services for them and then there would be a negotiation process from there,” Brown said.

With King City’s current police budget sitting at $2.6 million, Brown said the city will have some difficult decisions to make as it looks for help.

The sheriff’s office said it’s planning to pull together a committee of people to work on the proposal that should be ready in about a month. Another option on the table is bringing in Greenfield Police Chief Adele Frese to manage the department and that’s something she said she’s willing to do.