Palm Springs residents have only until midnight Friday to complete an online survey that will help shape the search for the city's next police chief, as current Chief Andy Mills prepares to step down after 13 years leading the department. City officials have not set a date to fill the position once Mills retires from the role on September 5, 2026.
The community survey, available in English and Spanish, asks residents to weigh in on the leadership qualities, values, and priorities they consider most important in the next police chief, according to MyNewsLA.com. It takes about 10 minutes to complete and is posted on the Engage Palm Springs website. Community members can submit their anonymous responses anytime before the Friday deadline.
City Manager Scott Stiles officially launched the survey on July 23 as part of a broader recruitment strategy meant to establish candidate criteria before the selection process moves forward, per Patch. Under Palm Springs' 1994 municipal charter, the city operates under a council-manager form of government, meaning Stiles holds sole executive authority to appoint department heads, including the police chief. The survey feedback will inform that decision, but it functions as an advisory tool rather than a binding referendum, since final hiring authority rests with the city manager rather than a direct city council vote.
A 13-Year Run and a Career Spanning Five Decades
Mills took over as Palm Springs police chief on November 8, 2021, arriving after stints as chief in Santa Cruz from 2017 to 2021 and in Eureka from 2013 to 2017, according to background compiled by the Police Executive Research Forum. His law enforcement career actually began decades earlier, in 1978, with the Branch County Sheriff's Office and Battle Creek Police Department in Michigan, before he joined the San Diego Police Department in 1983 and spent 30 years there specializing in problem-oriented policing, retiring as a captain in 2013.
He succeeded former Palm Springs Police Chief Bryan Reyes, who led the department for six and a half years and retired in August 2021 after a 27-year career with the city's force, having risen internally from patrol officer to captain before becoming chief in 2016, the city of Palm Springs notes in its archived announcements.
A Legacy Tied to Community Trust
Mills earned national attention while serving as Santa Cruz's chief in May 2020, when he took a knee alongside the city's mayor during peaceful protests following the murder of George Floyd. Former Santa Cruz Mayor Justin Cummings described Mills as a national leader in building trust with diverse communities, according to Lookout Santa Cruz.
That reputation followed him to the desert. On July 29, Mills and his wife Cathy were honored by The LGBTQ Community Center of the Desert with its inaugural Allies Award, recognizing their community engagement and advocacy throughout his tenure as chief, the Palm Springs Tribune reported. The center cited the couple's active role as co-chairs for community events and outreach programs in a city known for its vibrant LGBTQ+ population.
Handing Off a Fully Staffed Department
In March, Mills said in social media statements that the Palm Springs Police Department was fully staffed and that he had spent much of his tenure mentoring internal command staff to ensure a seamless leadership transition, emphasizing that he was preparing the department for its next phase rather than leaving it in disarray. That claim is bolstered by public safety data released in February, when the department reported an overall 11% reduction in total crime for 2025 compared to 2024, including an 8.87% decline in violent crime against persons and an 11.83% drop in property crime. Officials attributed the improvement to proactive enforcement, early trend identification, and technology integration such as Flock safety cameras.
Whoever takes over will inherit a department with a unique operational challenge: providing municipal law enforcement for roughly 50,000 permanent residents while also managing public safety for an estimated 5 million annual tourists and seasonal visitors, according to the Palm Springs Police Officers' Association. Resort communities like Palm Springs see per-capita crime statistics fluctuate significantly due to those massive temporary population spikes.
Once Mills retires next month, he and Cathy plan to move to the Sacramento area to be closer to his mother. The move closes out a 48-year law enforcement career that began in Michigan and wound through Eureka, Santa Cruz, and finally Palm Springs, where he was brought in as a change agent focused on community-oriented policing and organizational transparency.
