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Hayden and Mammoth Police Chief Tamatha Villar was sworn in last week and took over the top spot on June 1.
Tamatha “Tami” Villar has come home.
Oh, sure. She has never lived in the Copper Corridor. But this is home for her.
On June 1, she officially took her place at the helm of the Hayden and Mammoth Police Departments as chief. One of the things Villar is most excited about is the connection with the people of the Copper Corridor and the “warmth and richness of relationships.”
Villar officially retired from the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office on May 31. She began her career in law enforcement in 1997 at the Eloy Police Department after graduating from CARLOTA, the police training academy once run by the Central Arizona College. She then transferred to the county in 2000. She was the region’s Sergeant in 2004 and was promoted to Lieutenant and served out of the San Manuel office from 2007 to 2010. She came back in September 2012 but was reassigned in March 2014.
She never intended to go right back to law enforcement after she retired.
Instead, she planned to use her education degree and teach second grade.
“Rainbows and unicorns,” she said. That’s what she was looking forward to most about retirement.
But an opening as the regional police chief for the Hayden, Mammoth and Kearny Police Departments was announced and Villar quickly jumped at the chance to apply, excited about the possibility of returning to the Copper Corridor.
What began more than two years ago as a “what if” exercise at the monthly “Five Mayors’ Meeting” evolved into this position that Villar now holds. The Mayors of Kearny, Hayden, Winkelman and Mammoth, with input and assistance from the Mayor of Superior, began working on a process to hire a chief of police that could lead all three individual police departments. Winkelman pays a contract to the Town of Hayden to provide police services in their community. Hayden took the lead to manage the advertising, posting and interviewing of the police chief, in November they made an employment offer to Sgt. David Blue who has served as an interim chief for all three of the communities over the past year.
Blue turned the job down, so the hiring process began again.
In March, the Town of Kearny pulled out of the selection process, voting to hire its own Police Chief instead of sharing one with the other towns in the Copper Corridor. Kearny has offered the top cop job to Joseph Turitto. He has yet to begin working. The town is still checking his background.
Tamatha Villar signs the oath of office after being sworn in at a special meeting of the Hayden Town Council.
In late March, Hayden offered the job to Villar. She assumed the position of Interim Police Chief on April 2 and was officially sworn in on June 6.
Villar is more than qualified for the position.
Tami has served on numerous boards and commissions, including the AZ POST Board, AZ Department of Juvenile Corrections Discipline Oversight Board, CAVIT LE Advisory board and others. She has vast training and expertise in Criminal Investigations, specifically in Sex Crimes, Homicide, Domestic Violence, Human Trafficking and Child Abuse. Most recently she was responsible for the Criminal Investigations Bureau at PCSO where she had direct oversight of all operations for the following units; Robbery/Homicide, Persons Crimes, Property Crimes, Anti-Human Smuggling, Pinal County Regional Narcotics Task Force, Pinal County Regional SWAT Team, Crime Scene Investigations, Computer Forensics, Sex Offender Registration and Tracking, Victims Services, and FBI Uniform Crime Reporting.
Throughout her 20 years in law enforcement, she served in various capacities as a Patrol Deputy, School Resource/DARE Officer, Detective, Sergeant (both in Patrol and various specialty units), Public Information Officer, Critical Incident Stress Management Coordinator, Lieutenant (Patrol, Media, Community Services, and Criminal Investigations), and Captain.
She holds a Bachelors Degree in Criminal Justice/Political Science, a Masters Degree in Human Relations/Counseling, a Graduate Certificate in Criminal Justice Education, a Graduate Certificate in Management and Organizations, and is a proud graduate of the 249th Session of the FBI National Academy.
Villar has a lot of work to do with the two departments. Both departments have been without structured leadership for quite a while and both departments are undermanned.
“There are great people and staff (at both departments),” Villar said.
Hayden has six full time officers and one civilian employee. Villar would like to hire one more full-time officer to round out the roster. Mammoth has three full time officers, with two more in the hiring process. Mammoth has been utilizing reserve officers to fill out the shifts.
When the departments are fully staffed, the officers will be able to cover the shifts 24/7 and pull back on the use of reserve officers for vacation coverage only.
She also plans to address the reserve program with the Mammoth Town Council. Most police departments do not pay reserves. Kearny and Mammoth, unlike 99 percent of other towns in Arizona, pay police reserves. Reserve officers, Villar explained, are usually retirees and are not usually local residents. She would like to recruit locally.
“Hiring and recruiting locally improves your longevity,” she explained. “The officers are more invested if they are neighbors.”
She wants to bring community service back to the departments “because the communities deserve it.” She wants the officers to be out in the community, interacting with the people.
“I have a passion for this,” Villar said. “I do this work FOR the community service.”
June isn’t the easiest time to take over two police departments. Villar has landed right in the middle of budgeting season. In spite of the lack of stable leadership over the years, the two towns have done a remarkable job keeping the departments well funded.
“Hayden,” she said, “has taken proactive measures to bring stability to the town and the department.” Mammoth Councilmembers, she added, are truly invested in the community.
“It’s not about a personal agenda for either council,” she said, adding that they have “realistic expectations” of the two police departments.
Villar has already begun working on the policies and procedures for the two departments, aiming for regional consistency. She hopes to extend that consistency through the Kearny area when Turitto takes his place in the Kearny Police Department. She and Turitto, Villar explained, have similar backgrounds and personalities. She is looking forward to working with him.
Hayden has some hurdles for her. The department has been investigating a series of arson calls in the San Pedro and Hayden areas. Villar said that Gila County has been helping the Town address issue of condemning abandoned properties. Town ordinances must be passed to give the police authority to clear out squatters in buildings that have no utilities (water, electric). The town is also in the process of finding owners of the properties and getting them to secure the properties, a very slow process.
The department is working with arson investigators from Globe and Phoenix to help them investigate the suspicious fires.
It’s a lot of work to be sure, but Villar is up for the challenge.
She’s always willing to stop and talk to the residents of the towns she now serves. She’s not hard to miss. She is in full uniform just like the officers under her command.
Welcome home, Tami. We can’t promise you unicorns, but you can definitely find some rainbows in the Copper Corridor!
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