Phoenix Police commander is the new Mesa police chief

The Arizona Republic .

Frank Milstead, the son of a legendary Arizona lawman, now has a spotlight of his own.

Milstead, 46, was nominated as the next police chief of Mesa, the state's third-largest city and 38th-biggest in the country, city officials announced Friday.

The Phoenix police commander takes over a department that has helped bat down Mesa's crime rates in recent years but remains challenged by budget problems that have seen it lose 80 officers in just over a year.

He is the son of the late Ralph (Tom) Milstead, who was a Phoenix police administrator before he led the Arizona Department of Public Safety through several crises during a nine-year stint that ended in 1989.

"Tom Milstead was the best director the DPS ever had," said Mike Denney, an assistant Mesa police chief who had been one of the five finalists for the chief's position. "He was a lot like Frank - one of those guys that people want to follow."

Speaking of the new chief, Denney said, "His dad certainly had a successful career. There's no reason for him not to be."

The next step for Milstead is Monday night's expected confirmation by the Mesa City Council.

"I fully expect the council to support this," Mayor Scott Smith said. Milstead is to begin work in Mesa on March 22.

Mesa Councilman Scott Somers described Milstead as "a quality guy."

"We had a really high quality field of candidates, particularly the last five that we had an opportunity to interview," Somers said. "What I liked about Frank is he really seemed to be a cop's cop. . . . I think what we're going to get is a chief who really looks at customer service issue and the troops in the field."

Mesa's two police unions also praised the selection.

"We're very, very pleased," said Bryan Soller, president of Mesa's Fraternal Order of Police lodge. "I think he's a perfect fit for what we need right now."

He said Mesa police officers did a lot of "homework" on Milstead. "They love him," Soller said, adding that Milstead has the right credentials to deal with Mesa's ongoing fiscal problems. The city announced this week it would have to trim its next operating budget by about $19.6 million from previous projections.

Kurt Scanio, secretary of the Mesa Police Association, said, "We're very excited to work with him. He comes to us from Phoenix with a very good reputation as well as resume. We had a very good working relationship with his predecessor, Chief Gascón, and we want to continue that open line of communication and working relationship so he gets input from front-line officers."

While MPA had openly supported another finalist, assistant Mesa chief John Meza, Scanio said his group thinks Milstead will do well.

"There's going to be a slight learning curve for him just to get up to speed on exactly how we operate," Scanio said. "Other than that we're not concerned in any way."

Milstead emerged from a six-month nationwide search that attracted nearly 100 candidates.

He replaces George Gascón, a former Los Angeles assistant chief who took over the Mesa department in mid-2006.

While Gascón famously crossed swords with Sheriff Joe Arpaio over immigration enforcement policy, he also reorganized the Mesa department, introduced modern crime-fighting techniques, launched new partnerships with other police agencies and presided over a sharp drop in major crime during his three years.

Gascón became San Francisco's police chief last summer; Vicki Myers has served as Mesa's interim chief.

Milstead, whose family sat in the front row at Friday's news conference, became emotional as he talked about his new job.

"I'm incredibly taken aback by the outpouring of support from the men and women of this organization," he said. "This is a big day for me and my family."

Milstead said his first task will be to meet everyone in the Mesa department and to understand its needs and culture. He also said he has worked well with Arpaio in the past. "I don't anticipate any issues" between Mesa police and the sheriff's department, he said.

Milstead brings to Mesa a 25-year resume with the Phoenix Police Department.

He spent the past two years embedded with the fire department as part of the police department's Homeland Defense Bureau. As commander, he worked with fire officials to coordinate security plans for major downtown events such as the NBA All-Star Game.

Phoenix Fire Chief Bob Khan said he expects Milstead to work well with Mesa Fire Chief Harry Beck, who served previously as a deputy chief in Phoenix.

Khan said Milstead helped pioneer how the police department works with firefighters on all-hazards incident management teams, a key component in the city's emergency preparedness.

"He's very approachable, very accessible for a command officer," Khan said. "He had in a very short time mastered the concept of that management system and how it played out on the street level."

Milstead is the second Homeland Bureau commander to jump from that position into a chief's position. Former Phoenix Cmdr. Jeff Halstead left the position in 2008 to become chief of police in Fort Worth, Texas.

Besides Meza and Denny, the other finalists were Mesa assistant chief Mike Dvorak and Phoenix assistant chief Blake McClelland.