Mayor Anthony Silva expands the police force ... sorta

Just when you think Stockton's mayor, Anthony Silva, can't do anything else to embarrass himself and the California city he purports to lead, he proves you wrong.
He's changed the locks on his City Hall office. He's made wild and unsubstantiated accusations against city administrators and workers. He's donned a gladiator helmet and waved a mace at the end of his State of the City address. He's gotten himself a mail-order ordination so he can perform weddings. In a bar one evening, according to people sitting at the next table,  he even offered to put a couple of young ladies on the animal control board, after making sure they knew he was the mayor (possibly the worst pick-up line ever). The list goes on and on.
Now comes the latest: Silva has purchased -- he says at his own expense -- police-like badges he hands out to members of his private security detail. He needs a security detail? What he needs is Xanax.
He goes into dangerous parts of the town, he said by way of explanation. Just how having his "detail" flash fake badges, even ones emblazoned with the words "Office of the Mayor," keeps him safe is a question for another day. The real question, one properly raised by the Stockton Police Department, is about the possibility of confusing the public about who really has police powers. Members of the mayor's posse, hangers-on who to trail Silva about (is this his security detail?) could misuse the badges, the SPD worries. We've already had at least one incident in which a member of Silva's group made demands while claiming to be speaking for the mayor.
The strange thing about information leaking out about the badges was not badges -- although that's certainly strange -- but Silva's reaction. Nefarious City Hall forces were out to get him again, he alleged. According to Silva, the badges were purchased with his own money and therefore releasing information about that under the state's Public Records Act was wrong.
Well, Mr. Mayor, not really. By putting "Office of the Mayor," this elected city official is involving the city. What if a member of his "security detail" flashing one of these badges did something that got the city sued? Is Silva prepared to indemnify the city against that? Doubtful. And just who are the members of his security detail?  Are they being paid?  By whom? Is the mayor next going to dress members of his entourage in police-like uniforms?
Then there is the matter of opinions from the state Attorney General's Office saying that handing out police-like badges to the public violates the law. That inconvenience seems to trouble the mayor not a whit.
If the mayor feels the need for protection, say while visiting a dangerous part of town, it would not be unreasonable to ask the city police department to provide it. Previous mayors have.
What's not reasonable is for the mayor to form his own police force. It is both an affront to city police and a potential danger to the public.