Community Commentary:

As I reach the end of my 30-year career serving this world-class community, I want to take a moment to examine some of our past accomplishments and look to the future.

Now that we have successfully survived another Fourth of July, and this year, as in years past, we spent a great deal of effort in preparing for this celebration.

As the holiday fell on a Saturday, we anticipated it would draw large crowds, which required us to deploy a significant number of personnel to ensure a safe and enjoyable celebration for residents and visitors alike.

We deployed close to 300 officers, which included many from other jurisdictions who were brought in to supplement our personnel. Even without any significant incidents occurring, we arrested about 120 people, mostly for alcohol-related offenses.

The success can be attributed to the level of cooperation among the Police Department, the community and many other city departments.

One of my goals as chief has been to increase the Police Department’s participation within the community. The success of these efforts has been evidenced by the strong partnership we have developed with the residents and business owners in addressing many long-term areas of concern, such as alcohol-related activities, disruptive behavior on the Westside, safety and environmental concerns in Corona del Mar, boardwalk safety, teen safety and commercial traffic safety. We have also worked to target crime patterns as soon as they have been identified, which has included early community notifications via crime alerts, and additional focused patrols.

As we approached these issues and developed solutions, we utilized all of the available city resources and worked closely with the residents in the impacted areas.

As we look ahead, the Police Department will continue to provide the high level of service this community expects and deserves.

Rest assured that our services from Animal Control, Parking Control, Public Relations, Dispatch, Traffic, Patrol and Investigations will continue without disruption.

The Police Department is fortunate to employ very high-quality personnel throughout the organization, and it is for this reason that we have and will continue to provide the highest level of service.

I believe Newport Beach is served by the best police department in the county, and I am confident that will not change.

For the past 30 years, I have enjoyed the support of this great community, and that support has never been more evident than during my past two years as chief.

As I wrap up my time in Newport Beach, I want to thank each of you for the opportunity I have had to serve and be a part of this amazing community.

I strongly encourage each of you to continue to support the men and women of the Police Department, as your support makes a great difference.

JOHN KLEIN is the chief of police for Newport Beach.