UPDATE: A gun safety ordinance will be coming forward at a future Arcata City Council meeting after members directed staff to research various options and bring back some examples from other cities and counties for their consideration. Several councilmembers at the May 16 meeting noted that law enforcement would not be coming into private homes […]
Andrew Mills
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Eureka Names Watson Police Chief
The city of Eureka announced this afternoon that it’s looking to drop the “interim” from interim Police Chief Steve Watson’s title. In a press release, the city announced that City Manager Greg Sparks has offered Watson the position and the former captain has accepted. The hire will now go before the Eureka City Council on […]
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TL;DR: How Andrew Mills Barely Escaped Humboldt
In case you missed it, Humboldt County bid former Eureka Police Chief Andrew Mills adieu last week. We offered a handful of stories looking at his tenure in town and what’s next for EPD. We encourage you to take a few minutes to look at the coverage and weigh in. But there are also a few […]
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Goodbye, Chief
Downstairs at Eureka’s Wharfinger Building, a man is sleeping on a bench next to his bike. Upstairs, the family of Thomas McClain, a 22-year-old Eureka resident shot dead by Eureka Police Department officers in 2014, wait for their chance to step up to the podium and confront the departing chief. But between these two signposts […]
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‘The People’s Chief’
Andrew Mills had just finished lunch and was strolling through Old Town on a Thursday afternoon, just about 24 hours before his almost four-year tenure as Eureka’s chief of police was to come to an end. Every few yards someone stopped him. There was the old department volunteer, the rabble-rousing community organizer, the former Marine, […]
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Who’s Next?
Before former Eureka Police Chief Andrew Mills had left the building, City Manager Greg Sparks was already setting the wheels in motion to find his replacement. As the Journal went to press, Sparks was meeting with one of the owners of the recruitment firm Peckham and McKenney, Inc., guiding him through a series of meetings […]
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UPDATED: Chief Mills’ Last Day Set for July 21
UPDATE: The Eureka City Council is not currently slated to discuss the process for replacing police Chief Andrew Mills at the July 18 meeting, which comes just three days before his last day on the job. City Clerk Pam Powell said more information on the process may be announced next week and the appointment of […]
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Eureka Police Seek New Leverage Against Homeless on Third Street
A recent pair of break-ins to Betty Chinn’s warehouse on West Second Street has drawn attention to the Eureka Police Department’s efforts to address crime and loitering in the area. On Wednesday, under the direction of the Public Works department, employees of Mercer Fraser erected a fence that effectively cordons off the west side of […]
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Masterpiece
It was an atypical meeting, with the police chief sitting across from the defendant in the chief’s office. The captain in charge of patrol sat nearby as the two, in kind, measured tones, discussed the matter at hand. Six days earlier, the chief’s officers had arrested the 57-year-old defendant — Christopher “Blaze” Boyle — shortly […]
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EPD Chief Mills Accepts Post in Santa Cruz
Eureka Police Chief Andrew Mills has accepted a job offer from the city of Santa Cruz and, pending a background investigation, will be leaving after three and a half years on the job here. Reached this evening, Mills said the change is bittersweet and comes for a mixture of personal and professional reasons. Personally, he […]
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Up and Down Old Town with Officer Crnich
Eureka Police officer Cory Crnich’s beat stretches from Eureka’s Fourth Street north to the bay, from East Commercial Street to the library. Being the Old Town officer is a specialty position, one Crnich applied and reapplied for. He took the job in May of 2016, one week after the PalCo Marsh eviction. There’s no pay […]
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TL;DR: Our Favorite Quotes From This Week’s Cover Story
Hey readers, we know that reading 4,500 words can be a slog for some in the fast, digital world. Even if that 4,500 words is about something as fascinating as the city of Eureka’s many, varied attempts to address the entrenched homeless camp in the PalCo Marsh and the accompanying emails we obtained from public […]