Editor’s Note: Irvine Police Chief Mike Hamel oversees a police department of 456 employees, including over 200 police officers. Annually, they handle about 190,000 calls and process 21,000 business licenses. Hamel manages a fiscal 2022 budget of $92.9 million, which is almost half of the city’s estimated $201.7 million in expenditures. Hamel, who wrote this article for the Business Journal, is retiring this week after 27 years in the Irvine Police Department, including the past six as its chief. The Business Journal this week has a special feature celebrating the City of Irvine’s 50th anniversary.
Members of the community will often ask me what makes Irvine so safe.
Over the years, I have shared that community safety is tied to three core factors:
• The hardworking men and women of the Irvine Police Department;
• Our City Council and City Manager who have consistently made public safety a priority; and
• Our engaged community has consistently works in partnership with us to prevent crime and promote safety.
Based on FBI Uniform Crime Reporting statistics, for 16 consecutive years, Irvine has maintained the lowest per capita violent crime for cities over 250,000 residents. In fact, Virginia Beach, Va., the city right below Irvine in these rankings, experienced a violent crime rate nearly double that of Irvine.
While keeping Irvine safe remains our top priority, our community outreach programs and informal interactions with the public are as important as anything we do. The Irvine PD was founded in 1971 on the principles of community policing, before that term was a household name, and our motto, “In partnership with the community” still appears on the side of every police car in the City.
Community Policing
Policing has changed a lot through the years, and Orange County law enforcement, including the Irvine PD, has adapted to the changing needs of our community as well.
When I began my career at Irvine PD in 1995, Irvine’s population was a majority Caucasian. Today, our thriving and diverse community of over 300,000 residents is nearly 50% Asian, and represented by hundreds of languages, cultures, ethnicities and religions. Â
Today, with vision from our City Council, the Irvine PD is striving to build upon our diversity. We recently launched a new recruiting campaign in seven different languages to attract, recruit and retain top-notch applicants who not only reflect our community, but who also have good hearts and understand the true nature of public service. Our new recruitment efforts build upon our philosophy of hiring for heart and training to skill.
We are keenly aware of the culture we are promoting within the agency, and how we are training our personnel.
Our Office of Professional Development spends a great deal of time and energy designing realistic training scenarios intended to mimic real-life use of force situations officers routinely encounter. These training evolutions, which we host quarterly, have been key in producing optimal outcomes during use of force encounters that prevent or minimize injury.
We are also investing in technology to enhance public safety and operational efficiency, while recognizing that crime fighting today has changed a lot in the last four decades.
For instance, we have a technology detective, as well as other detectives who are well-versed in cybercrime. Over the past several years, we have witnessed an increase many times over in cyber or high-tech crime, prompting our detectives to seek out advanced and specialized training. Special hardware and software assist us in inspecting digital media of all kinds to identify, recover and preserve digital evidence. To illustrate the importance of digital forensic examinations, consider the fact that the Department facilitated approximately 500 examinations in 2020 – about double the 250-300 in 2015.
We have also been a member of the FBI’s Regional Computer Forensic Laboratory for the last fifteen years, enabling us to stay abreast of best practices and current trends in cybercrime investigations, while retaining access to highly trained computer forensic specialists.
We have established an Unmanned Aircraft System team to locate suspects, survey crime scenes, find missing persons and assist firefighting efforts. The team’s been deployed 264 times since 2019 when it was established.
Intruder Training
As a public service, for the past fifteen years, the Irvine PD has offered active intruder training to schools, businesses and houses of worship. Taught by in-house subject matter experts, members of our Threat Mitigation Unit teach how to prepare for the unlikely—yet possible—violent active intruder event.
The training teaches participants to consider their personal protection plan, which involves asking and answering questions such as, “What are my escape routes?” “Where are my lockable spaces?”
And, “How will I call for help?”
In addition to this service, we also have trained staff who can meet with businesses or homeowners’ associations to discuss crime prevention strategies and how our public can work in partnership with us to reduce crime and the fear of crime.
We also host quarterly police-private security partnership meetings where security leaders from business, government and schools meet with us to discuss safety and security issues of mutual concern.
And finally, we are currently exploring a new model for mobile mental health services designed to better serve our mental health and homeless population. Under the proposed model, we will dispatch mental health professionals in lieu of police officers to members of our community suffering from mental illness, when we know weapons or violence are not involved.
A lot has changed in Irvine PD’s short history of policing.
We’ve adapted to a changing landscape, changing demographics and 21st century crime, often requiring technical expertise on the part of our experienced and specialized detectives.
What has not changed is our commitment to community policing, and our gratitude through the years for our elected officials and our City Managers who have consistently committed ample resources to keep Irvine safe in partnership with our businesses, homeowners and schools.
I will be retiring on Oct. 7 and will be replaced by our Assistant Chief, Michael Kent.
AC Kent is a wonderful human being—a true and caring professional—who I know will continue to evolve Irvine PD’s legacy of working in partnership with the community.
If you have questions about how the Irvine PD can support your business, please do not hesitate to reach out to the office of the Chief at (949) 724-7101.
