Newport Beach police group launches interactive headquarters site

The Newport Beach Police Association has launched SaferNewport.com, a public site that lets residents test how different police headquarters locations could affect response times and patrol coverage citywide. The launch comes as the city weighs headquarters options and the association pushes for a central location near City Hall.

Why it matters: - The Newport Beach Police Association is trying to shape the city’s headquarters decision with a public-facing tool that ties location to emergency response speed. - The group says headquarters placement affects how quickly officers can reach calls and how much patrol time is lost in transit. - The website is aimed at residents evaluating whether a new police facility should be centrally located.

What happened: - The Newport Beach Police Association launched SaferNewport.com on Aug. 12, 2026. - The site lets users place a hypothetical police headquarters anywhere in Newport Beach and see the effect on response times and neighborhood coverage. - The website uses public records, the Police Headquarters Advisory Committee record and the city’s calls-for-service data. - The site is available at SaferNewport.com.

The details: - The site includes two interactive simulators. - The Headquarters Response Time Simulator lets users compare the current Santa Barbara Drive station, a central Civic Center site or any point inside city limits. - The simulator routes emergency responses along real Newport Beach roads using current time-of-day traffic. - The map redraws citywide response times for every neighborhood. - The Patrol Shift Simulator follows one officer through a 12-hour watch. - The shift model includes bookings, evidence handling, required reports, meals and shift change. - The simulator shows how much of the shift is spent driving to and from headquarters instead of patrolling. - The site also includes side-by-side response-time maps. - The site includes a history of where Newport Beach has housed its police department. - The site includes a myths-and-facts section addressing common claims about the project. - NBPA President Joe DeJulio said the association believes public safety should come before politics. - DeJulio said the association wants to protect Bunnyhenge, preserve open spaces and place the headquarters next to City Hall. - DeJulio said the NBPA remains committed to public safety regardless of where the future headquarters is located. - DeJulio said location, investment and timing affect officers’ ability to respond quickly. - DeJulio said the wrong location, wrong building and wrong choice could have serious consequences for city leadership.

Between the lines: - The launch gives the association a way to argue the headquarters debate on operational grounds instead of purely political or budgetary ones. - The central-location message echoes comments Police Chief Dave Miner made to the Police Headquarters Advisory Committee. - Miner said it is “logistically advantageous to be as centrally located as possible” if the department needs to surge resources. - The association is also framing the issue as one of long-term infrastructure, not just a building project. - The current headquarters at 870 Santa Barbara Drive was built more than five decades ago for a population about half Newport Beach’s current size. - The association says Newport Beach police now serve an estimated 7 million residents and visitors a year from that site. - The association has pointed to raw sewage backups, a near-miss electrical fire and unreliable information technology systems at the current headquarters. - The city has considered centralization before. - When City Hall was dedicated in 1948, the police department and city jail occupied a wing of the building. - In 1971, the City Council adopted the Civic Center Revised Master Plan by Resolution No. 7351. - That plan reserved the easterly nine acres of the Newport Center site for council chambers, the city administration building, the central library and a police facilities building.

What's next: - The Newport Beach Police Association says it supports the City Council and the Police Headquarters Advisory Committee as they review reasonable, safe and viable headquarters options. - The association wants the final decision to meet modern operational demands, keep the base of operations centrally located and respect taxpayer dollars. - The debate now shifts to whether city leaders favor a new central site or another option for the headquarters.

The bottom line: - SaferNewport.com turns the headquarters fight into a public comparison test, with response time as the headline metric.