The San Diego Police Department’s Larry Turner has filed papers to run for Mayor of San Diego in 2024. The Central District’s Community Relations Officer is scheduled to make a public announcement today in East Village after the conclusion of the San Diego Padres’ day game.
The 53-year-old Turner has been with the SDPD for eight years. He was formerly a member of the SWAT team and also worked as a field training officer.
Prior to joining the police department, the East Village resident had a 23-year career in the United States Marines. The former platoon commander and company commander served tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He says SDPD brass have been notified of his intention to run for mayor.
Turner plans to remain in his capacity as the Central Division’s CRO, where he has become a prominent public figure while working with downtown business and neighborhood associations and interacting with the homeless community.
A registered Independent, Turner has never held political office. He believes his leadership abilities in the armed services and his street-level experience as a cop combine to make him uniquely qualified to tackle San Diego’s number-one issue: homelessness.
“I don’t know if my experience translates to what we consider politics now,” Turner told The San Diego Sun in an exclusive interview. “I don’t consider myself a politician. I’m a leader and I know how to make decisions in tough situations–sometimes where lives depended on it. I don’t see many local leaders who have the fortitude to make the tough decisions that need to be made.”
Unlike San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, Turner says he’s not a career politician who will make decisions based on political stepping stones to the next office.
Before being elected mayor in 2020, Gloria served two terms as San Diego’s District 3 City Councilmember (2008-16) and was in the California State Assembly from 2016-20.
“If somebody has a political career, oftentimes their decisions are based on what that next step is in the career,” Turner says. “I have no aspiration of moving on to anything else. I want to fix my city and be done.”
In a city with a Democratic mayor and all nine city council seats held by Democrats, it would seem an uphill climb for any other party to gain a political foothold in the mix. Turner doesn’t see it that way.
“As a solid and strong Independent, I can bring people together from the right and the left,” he says. “I can unify our city in a way I don’t think our mayor does. We have a lot of angry people who have been promised things but haven’t gotten those things.”
Quickly summarized, Turner’s mayoral campaign will focus primarily on homelessness, restoring law and order and stabilizing rising costs of living.
Homelessness. He supported enactment of the Unsafe Camping Ordinance but says the city was ill-prepared for its rollout. Under Turner’s leadership, the city would create a plan to triage every unhoused person, utilize more social workers and create more shelter beds. He believes in Housing First for some but not all people living on the streets. Turner says the state’s CARE Court conservatorship program for the mentally ill is a good idea. And he backs the floated Sunbreak Ranch proposal for creating one mega-sized, all-inclusive triage facility for people experiencing homelessness.
Turner says the public is largely unaware how often homeless people are the victims of crime, including sexual assault and elder abuse.
“These are San Diegans who deserve the same respect and security as people who have an apartment,” he says. “Because they are unhoused does not make them any less of a San Diegan.”
Law & Order. The last few years has seen a decrease in the general public’s respect for law and order, he says. “Whether it’s speeding or loud music and mufflers, rolling through stop signs or brazen shoplifting mobs at stores,” Turner says. “And the city attorney and the district attorney pass on a lot of prosecutions. There’s violent crimes and guns on the street and we need to focus on that.”
He says the SDPD is woefully understaffed. Turner believes the force needs to hire at least 1,000 more officers but he has a less costly workaround plan.
“If we can reduce homelessness by 50%, then we’d only need a few hundred more officers,” he says. “Right now it’s an environment where nobody wants to join the police and we’re not willing to pay the requisite salaries. But if we can reduce the radio calls related to homelessness that can allow officers to give more attention to other crimes.”
Cost of Living. Turner points to the endless red tape associated with doing business in San Diego, including for developers of apartments and low- and medium-range housing.
“So much of housing costs come from the city not being able to speed up the process,” he says. “I’ll work our way through that maze.”
Turner believes if voters hear his message Democrats will vote for him despite any lack of institutional support from the local Democratic party.
“I’m going to win a majority of the Democrat votes,” he says. “I don’t need the Democratic machine to back me. I need Democrats to back me. Parties haven’t fixed this city. It’s been deteriorating far too long with party people running it. I have no obligations to a party. I owe nobody favors. I’m not trying to work my way up the political machine to be governor. I want to fix my city so my kids can grow up here safely.”
San Diego’s primary election is March 5, 2024. Along with the mayor’s race, local registered voters will also choose candidates for city attorney and city council races in districts 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9. SDSun
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