Newport and Costa Mesa Looking at Cost-Saving Partnership

Two Orange County Jails to Join

The Newport Beach Jail and Costa Mesa Jail are considering several different options to help cut their costs.

At this weeks council meeting in Newport, Councilwoman Leslie Daigle proposed that the city look into contracting jail services and hiring guards from a private firm to supplement existing staff at the jail.

Police Chief Jay R. Johnson of Newport and Costa Mesa’s Interim Police Chief Steve Staveley have both confirmed that both cities are considering sharing or altering their jail facilities.

Both cities are also looking into other ways to reduce costs, like combining their 911 dispatch and maintenance of the police departments’ fleets. There has been no discussion of combining the two departments. Newport Beach is considering the proposal from Costa Mesa that would let officers book anyone they arrest into the Newport Jail, said City Manager Dave Kiff.

Guards from a private security firm would have to be hired to help bolster the staff of the jail since current staff cannot handle an influx of Costa Mesa inmates.

“The advantage to this is a measured approach to switching from public to private and gives us time to ensure we are happy with the private contractors’ service, as well as train them with our own custody officers,” said Johnson in a recent email. “If we become comfortable with the service, one option would be to replace the remainder of our own custody officers with the private contractor through attrition.”

The cities are also considering sharing jailhouse services so that they can increase the number of beds for inmates. If there are at least 100 beds available, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department may consider taking over jail operations, which will reduce the costs to both cities. Currently, Costa Mesa has 32 beds and Newport has 23.

Another option is to separate arrestees by gender, taking females to one jail and males to the other.

Newport Beach is also considering the possibility of moving its current police headquarters from Santa Barbara Drive to a location closer to Costa Mesa in order to make the partnership more convenient.

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