OXNARD : Latinos Welcome New Police Chief

Pleased so far with the police chief’s approach to fighting Oxnard’s crime, members of Ventura County’s Latino community Wednesday officially welcomed Harold Hurtt to his new job.

El Concilio del Condado de Ventura hosted a reception at its Oxnard headquarters for the 24-year police veteran who started work earlier this month.

“I’m excited Chief Hurtt is here,” said Bernardo Perez, a Moorpark councilman and president of El Concilio’s board of directors. “I’m pleased with his approach to law enforcement. We’ve got to do all we can as local government to bring police services down to work with people at the street level.”

Hurtt has spent his first couple of weeks getting to know Oxnard, meeting with community leaders and residents, even in some of the city’s toughest neighborhoods.

“I don’t intend to be here three or four years and move on,” Hurtt told the more than 50 people at the reception. “I have fallen in love with Oxnard, and so has my wife.”

Hurtt served 24 years with the Phoenix Police Department, rising to second-in-command before accepting the Oxnard job. He is the city’s first black police chief, a point that is not lost on Perez and other members of El Concilio.

“I think it is very significant that he is a man of color,” Perez said of Hurtt. “I think, all things being equal, the Oxnard City Council’s selection of Chief Hurtt sends an important message to this community.”