EDITORIAL:Crucial tests await new police chief

A day after Tuesday’s contentious Costa Mesa City Council election was decided, a man who will end up being a major player in city policy became the city’s chief of police.

Christopher Shawkey, a Phoenix Police commander, will be taking over a department that has gone four months without a chief and is at the center of the most burning issue in Costa Mesa: the plan to have police officers enforce immigration laws.

Shawkey was quick to address the first problem: instability at the top, and within, the department. “I think the first thing that needs to be done is to help people to realize that there’s going to be some stability in the position now,” Shawkey told the Daily Pilot.

The second issue may prove more difficult. Following Mayor Allan Mansoor and Wendy Leece’s victory in the City Council election, it is clear that the council will pursue its immigration enforcement plan, despite opposition from, among others, Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona. Former Police Chief John Hensley never said his departure had anything to do with having to present the plan to confused and angry people earlier this year, but it is hard to believe his leaving was unrelated to the proposal.

This is the crucible into which Shawkey is stepping. We assume he is well familiar with the plan and is coming into the job prepared to enact the council’s will.

There are other issues, as well. The department is understaffed and is having difficulty retaining and attracting officers. Shawkey will need to fix that troubling problem quickly. Crime seems to be going up — certainly the five killings this year are alarming — and there is a growing sense of fear in the community. The city has a plan to drive gangs from the city. It, by all accounts, is promising. We hope Shawkey finds it to be so, as well. There also have been times lately when the department has been slow to release information, even if that information touts an arrest or otherwise piece of good news. It will be up to the new chief to improve communication with the community.

It is not all dire and ill, however. Shawkey also told the Pilot that he “was looking for a city that offered an excellent quality of life and was well run and had a good reputation, and Costa Mesa certainly offers all of that.”

We agree. Costa Mesa does offer all that, as the new chief and his family will discover.