An emotional retirement celebration honors Chief Andy Mills and Cathy Mills as Palm Springs says goodbye to a police chief who became far more than the man behind the badge
Photos: THT
PALM SPRINGS, CA (The Hollywood Times) 9/3/26 – There are retirement celebrations, and then there are gatherings that reveal just how profoundly someone has become woven into the life of a community.
The farewell honoring Palm Springs Police Chief Andy Mills was unquestionably the latter.
A packed room gathered Thursday to celebrate Mills as he closes an extraordinary law-enforcement career spanning nearly five decades, including his final five years leading the Palm Springs Police Department. But as elected officials, colleagues, law-enforcement leaders, friends and community members took turns speaking, something became increasingly clear:
Palm Springs was not merely saying goodbye to its police chief.
It was saying goodbye, at least geographically, to two members of its family: Andy and Cathy Mills.
From the opening remarks, the celebration was described as a journey through “five decades of excellence, leadership and service.” Mayor Naomi Soto, Mayor Pro Tem David Ready, Councilmembers Dawn Hart, Jeffrey Bernstein and Grace Garner were recognized, along with City Manager Scott Stiles and law-enforcement leaders from throughout the region.
But titles quickly became secondary to stories.
Again and again, speakers described Mills as a leader who understood something fundamental about public safety: policing works best when police officers know the people they serve, and the people know them.
Here is a clip from KESQ local news:
Palm Springs Police celebrates Chief Andrew Mills’ Legacy of Leadership
One tribute perhaps summarized his approach best: “Policing isn’t something we simply do to a community; it’s something we do with our community.”
That philosophy was not something Mills simply talked about.
He lived it.
Mayor Naomi Soto described a leader who arrived in Palm Springs with decades of law-enforcement experience but also with something particularly important: a willingness to listen.
Effective policing, she said, was about more than responding to calls. Under Mills, it was about relationships, trust, communication and becoming part of the community being served.
“Throughout his tenure, Andy worked to strengthen the relationship between the police department and all of us and the people of Palm Springs,” Soto said.
And she highlighted perhaps the simplest but most meaningful description of Mills’ tenure:
“You showed up.”
He showed up at City Hall. He showed up at neighborhood meetings. He showed up at community celebrations. He spoke with residents, business owners and visitors. He was present during difficult conversations as well as happy ones.
And Cathy was there beside him.
“You have become community staples here in Palm Springs,” Soto told the couple.
That sentiment surfaced repeatedly throughout the afternoon.
Anyone who has walked downtown Palm Springs with Andy Mills apparently understands just how seriously he took community interaction.
One speaker joked that a simple 100-yard walk to lunch with the chief could easily become a 45-minute journey.
“There’s a handshake here, a hug there, a quick conversation across the street, and eventually, if you’re lucky, you actually make it to lunch.”
It was funny because everyone in the room seemed to recognize the man being described.
Mills knew people.
And people knew Mills.
More importantly, they felt they knew him.
Beyond the badge and title, the speaker described Mills as “a humanitarian at heart,” someone who gave his time because caring about people was simply part of who he was.
City Manager Scott Stiles made an important distinction when he addressed the room.
“Some people leave a position in their careers, and other people leave a mark.”
Mills, he said, leaves Palm Springs with “an indelible mark in the city and all of our hearts.”
Stiles spoke candidly about the unusually important relationship between a city manager and police chief. During challenging moments, the two men were required to navigate uncertainty together while maintaining trust and calm.
He also praised Mills as a mentor, not just inside the police department, but across Palm Springs city government.
Mills brought his own perspective, Stiles said. He tackled complicated issues directly and had an influence on department directors and others throughout the city organization.
But once again, Cathy was part of the story.
Stiles acknowledged something often overlooked when discussing a long public-service career: the partner who moves, organizes, relocates a household, finds new doctors, makes new friends and rebuilds a life while the other spouse begins another demanding job.
For Andy and Cathy Mills, there were a remarkable 22 moves during his career.
“Cathy, thank you for all of your commitment,” Stiles said.
Cathy Mills received her own moment in the spotlight, and deservedly so.
She was described lovingly as the “mama bear of the police department.”
She supported department events, community events, celebrations and retirements. She became famous for arriving with brownies, but speakers emphasized that the food was beside the point.
“It was the love behind them.”
She gave her time, energy and heart and made members of the department feel as though they were part of her family.
“You didn’t just support Chief Mills’ career,” she was told. “You became part of it.”
The department presented Cathy with a Tiffany bracelet engraved “Mama Mills.”
It was one of many emotional moments in a celebration that made clear just how much the couple will be missed.
Their particularly strong relationship with Palm Springs’ LGBTQ+ community was also recognized.
One tribute described Andy and Cathy as something akin to parents within the gay community, saying residents felt “seen,” “accepted,” “safe” and “looked after” during Mills’ tenure.
“We have never experienced this with the chief of police and wife of the chief of police,” the speaker said.
That connection was formally recognized earlier this summer when The LGBTQ Community Center of the Desert presented Andy and Cathy with its inaugural Allies Award for their support of the LGBTQ+ community. The couple came to Palm Springs in 2021 and quickly became visible participants in local causes and organizations.
Perhaps the most moving testimony came from inside Mills’ own department.
One officer explained that true leadership has little to do with rank, stars on a collar or a name on an office door.
A leader, he said, is someone you would willingly follow into the darkest places because you know that person would walk into the darkness beside you.
“For the last five years, that is who Chief Andy Mills has been to so many of us.”
Mills was described as mentor, teacher, source of strength, and, occasionally, the person willing to deliver a deserved scolding.
But those corrections came from belief rather than ego.
“He saw something in me that at times I didn’t see in myself.”
That may ultimately be one of Mills’ most enduring contributions to Palm Springs.
He did not merely lead people.
He developed leaders.
The officer described himself as more confident, capable and prepared than he had been five years earlier because Mills pushed him to grow.
That is the type of legacy no retirement plaque can adequately measure.
When Mills finally took the microphone, much of his attention was directed away from himself.
First, to Cathy.
“I’m a good chief, but nothing without you,” he told his wife.
He spoke of their 22 moves, the family she held together through long absences and grueling work schedules, their three daughters, sons-in-law and grandchildren.
Then he turned to his police department.
Having worked with hundreds of law-enforcement agencies and trained officers internationally in community policing and problem solving, Mills offered extraordinary praise for PSPD.
He told the story of an officer responding when a woman and three children became stranded on Gene Autry Trail during severe blowing sand. Unable to drive to them, the officer left the patrol vehicle, put on goggles, traveled roughly half a mile through punishing conditions and carried children back to safety.
“That’s what these blue uniforms do every single day,” Mills said.
Then Mills asked a bigger question.
“So, what kind of community is Palm Springs?”
His answer was beautiful.
“It’s a community where people give of themselves to help others.”
Mills reflected on residents caring for older people and people nearing the end of life. He spoke about chosen family and suggested that Palm Springs’ extraordinary culture of caring may be connected in part to the community’s history, including the AIDS crisis and the experience of LGBTQ+ people who had been rejected by biological families and found family here instead.
“This community has found a family,” Mills said.
And when a community operates like a family, he argued, people become safer and stronger together.
“That is Palm Springs.”
It was an especially meaningful observation coming from someone who arrived here to police the city and leaves understanding something much deeper about its soul.
Mills also reflected on Do the Right Thing, a youth-focused program that became important during his tenure.
Initially, he recalled, some children were reluctant to participate because they feared interaction with police might result in their parents being taken away.
Over time, relationships changed that perception.
“They learned to trust us,” Mills said.
That trust produced something larger: young people became more willing to communicate with police when serious problems arose in their neighborhoods.
Mills urged Palm Springs residents with the means to continue supporting the program after his departure.
It was another reminder that community policing, as he practiced it, was never primarily about public relations.
It was about relationships producing tangible public-safety results.
Every retirement eventually turns toward the question: What happens next?
Palm Springs already has its answer.
Deputy Chief Kyle Stjerne, a 24-year veteran of the Palm Springs Police Department, has been selected as the city’s next chief of police. Stjerne officially assumes the role September 6, following Mills’ retirement on September 5.
Mills made it clear he has enormous confidence in the department he leaves behind.
For years, he said, PSPD deliberately worked on succession planning, giving people additional responsibilities and then stepping back to see whether they would rise to the challenge.
Stjerne repeatedly did.
Mills described giving him “responsibility after responsibility,” watching as his successor continued to step up.
“This team is ready to rock and roll,” Mills told the audience.
He also offered an insightful endorsement of what comes next.
Kyle and his wife, Brooke, should not try to become Andy and Cathy Mills, he said.
Different leadership is healthy.
“They’re going to bring a different twist to leadership, and that is important,” Mills said.
He told Stjerne simply: “I can’t wait to see what you do.”
Stjerne, meanwhile, made clear that community engagement will remain central to PSPD.
“Andy and Cathy didn’t just simply live in Palm Springs,” he said. “They became a part of Palm Springs.”
They showed up. They listened. They cared.
Stjerne called genuine community engagement not a program, slogan or one-time event but “a core value of progressive policing.”
And that, he promised, will remain a bedrock of the Palm Springs Police Department.
Turning directly to Mills, Stjerne offered perhaps the words every retiring leader hopes to hear:
“Congratulations, Chief Mills. You’ve earned this. Enjoy it. We’ve got it from here.”
The celebration included proclamations, honors and gifts.
California State Senator Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh made a special appearance after returning from Sacramento to present a resolution recognizing Mills’ service. She recalled an early Zoom conversation with Mills in which his compassion for the people of Palm Springs immediately made an impression on her.
The Palm Springs Police Officers Association and Palm Springs Police Management Association also honored Mills, along with community sponsors, and he received a commemorative shadow box.
The afternoon eventually culminated with photographs representing Mills’ nearly five-decade career set to an original song written especially for him by Captain Gus Araiza.
No collection of photographs could possibly capture 50 years of leadership, sacrifice, mentorship, friendship, challenges and lives touched.
But perhaps that was the point.
A career is measured in dates.
A legacy is measured in people.
And judging by the room assembled in Palm Springs to celebrate Andy and Cathy Mills, their legacy is considerable.
Andy Mills has called Palm Springs the “crown jewel” of his career. As he and Cathy prepare to move to the Sacramento area to be closer to his mother, the feeling appears very much mutual.
Palm Springs gained a police chief five years ago.
Somewhere along the way, it gained Andy.
It gained Cathy.
It gained two people who walked into restaurants, fundraisers, neighborhood gatherings, LGBTQ+ events, city meetings and community celebrations not as outsiders performing official duties, but as neighbors.
As friends.
As family.
That explains why this farewell felt different.
Chief Mills leaves behind a police department he helped strengthen, officers he helped develop, a successor he believes in and a philosophy of community policing that has become deeply embedded within PSPD.
Andy and Cathy leave behind something equally important: relationships.
The final message of the celebration said it best.
Wherever their next chapter takes them, Andy and Cathy Mills will “forever be part of Team Palm Springs.”
And judging from the love in that room, Palm Springs has no intention of letting them forget it.
By Valerie Milano, The Hollywood Times
