Port tenants won’t accept Harbor Police-SDPD merger

Re “Mayor floats idea of combining Harbor Police with the San Diego Police Department” (Oct. 8): This topic comes to the surface about every 15 years. The usual slant has Harbor Police blended into the Sheriff’s Office. The mayor’s proposal is a quick fix on solving San Diego Police Department’s staffing shortage. The Port of San Diego collects revenues from the port tenants for services provided. One of those services is the expectation that Harbor Police will respond to calls in a timely and professional manner. Should a “merger” occur, the 140 officers from Harbor would likely be dispersed to other divisions in the city, removing the concentration from the area occupied by the tenants of the port. As with previous attempts, the port and the port tenants will not view this as an acceptable way forward.

— R.C. Jennings, Kensington