By Pepper Fisher

PORT ANGELES – The ongoing effort by the Port Angeles Police Department to make headway on a backlog of code enforcement issues took a big leap forward Monday with the hiring of Officer Derek Miller as a Code Enforcement Officer.

Miller recently retired as a Police Officer from the San Diego Police Department and moved to Clallam County with his family. Police Chief Brian Smith says they’ve been actively recruiting for a full time code enforcement officer since the spring of last year, and he’s confident Miller fits the bill.

“It took, really, finding the right person that was interested in moving up here and that had the right skills and background that we could hire. So we’re very, very pleased. We’ve hired Derek, and he’s leaving a 28-year career with the San Diego Police Department. So, essentially retiring, and the time it’ll take to get him up to speed won’t be as significant as it might be for other people because he comes fully trained as a law enforcement officer.”

Miller will have to spend a couple of weeks completing equivalency training at the police academy in Burien, and then a 14-week field training program before getting started in his new role.

After that, Miller can focus on working with the community dealing with abandoned vehicles, junk on private and public property, city parks, and unlawful use of RVs. That, says Chief Smith, will in turn take pressure off his regular officers and allow them to focus more on other police business.

“The workload of code enforcement, when the code enforcement officers are either not here or doing other things, that falls on the patrol officers, and we’ve got a backlog. And we’ve also got some property owners that are…they’ve got years head start on us. But we also have some ordinances and some new processes, some new tools in our toolbox. So, I’m hopeful that in a year from now, when you cover this story with us, we’ll have a great story of contrast compared to where we are right now.”

Funding to pay for a new full time code enforcement officer has been made available by new taxes collected since the reopening of the McKinley Mill in 2019.

(PAPD photo: Chief Brian Smith and Code Enforcement Officer Miller.)