Captain Dougie Michie, USAF (Ret.), MSc., MBA, JD, PhD, a Vietnam war era veteran, served on active duty then in the National Guard from 1972 to 1999. (Dougie Michie retired from the Air Force National Guard. His military title use is not endorsement by the Departments of Air Force or Defense.)
A Certified Financial Planner and Registered Investment Advisor, Dougie manages his investment clients’ finances, and has taught business finance in Cal Lutheran’s MBA graduate program. Dougie is equipped to guide the City through them.
Dougie earned his Juris Doctorate, cum laude, from Pepperdine. Dougie’s 39 years of legal experience, assisting over two thousand households navigate legal concerns, will benefit the City as it confronts legal issues.
Dougie mastered city planning while earning his Doctorate in urban planning. Well-thought-out planning requires the in-depth knowledge of city planning that Dougie has, particularly as the City addresses affordable housing and future growth. Dougie works and lives in District 2.
On Public Safety
Having worked with police officers and sheriff’s deputies as a former L.A. County prosecutor, I am against enacting policies that would put our officers in danger if implemented. I will not blindly adopt Campaign Zero, nor the 8 Can’t Wait prescriptions, many of which would endanger our officers in the field. Unfortunately, not all criminals are harmless, nor do they “play by the rules.”
I am absolutely against defunding the police department. I oppose the recent proposal to cut additional positions from the Police Department and from the Fire Department. If we want to maintain our public safety, we can’t do it by reducing positions.
On Homelessness
Like everyone else, I am tired of the impact on quality of life by those homeless that have drug problems and mental illness. By doing nothing, we are not helping these homeless. Meanwhile, the strange behavior, and sometimes aggressive behavior, is allowed to go unchecked, and we have to endure that behavior. The killing in Aloha by a homeless man should have been an alarm bell, but mostly, it is still more of the same.
The Ventura Police Department wants to address this problem by Enhance Patrol Task Force (PTF) coordination with County Behavioral Health and social service stakeholders and by utilizing enhanced patrol officers in public areas. They would also reinstitute gang prevention and intervention programs and focus on habitual offenders.
I am all for these strategic goals of our police department. But it’s not going to happen if we are cutting positions and not filling the positions that are authorized. I support filling all positions as a means of providing the police department with the means to implement their plans.
For those families that are homeless because of finances, the ARCH by Mercy House is a great resource. By helping get these families off the street and back on their feet we all benefit. I support ARCH and mental health and drug addiction intervention to reduce our homeless population and to win back our streets.
