12/7/2023 0 Comments Blotter police san diegoThe number excluded more than 230 other officers - or roughly 12.5 percent of employed officers - unavailable for full duty in summer 2022 for reasons including leaves, light-duty assignments and the need to complete a training academy. The chief wrote at the time that the department had 1,629 “available” officers - down from just under 1,700 five years earlier. Nisleit wrote in an August 2022 memo obtained by Voice that the department had “the lowest available sworn staffing in over 15 years.” “It’s not safe for citizens to not have coverage that the city and the police department have decided is the minimum that we should have,” Wilson said. Jared Wilson, who leads the San Diego Police Officers Association, said the department regularly remains unable to meet recommended staffing targets, an outcome he says imperils residents and officers. Only the Northwestern Division – which includes Carmel Valley, Black Mountain Ranch and Sorrento Valley – hit minimum staffing 100 percent of the time for any shifts during the three-and-a-half month period. Northern Division includes Pacific Beach, Clairemont and La Jolla while Mid-City covers North Park, City Heights and Rolando. to midnight shift hit minimum staffing less than 5 percent during that same period. In the first three-and-a-half months of 2022, the Northern Division’s graveyard shift reached recommended staffing less than 13 percent of the time while Mid-City’s 2 p.m. San Diego police staffing document obtained by Voice of San Diego. Most of that overage is a result of the department paying patrol officers overtime to work in a different division to address staffing gaps.Ī chart produced by the police department and obtained by Voice of San Diego showing the percentage of days and shifts that agency-recommended staffing minimums were reached in the city’s police districts early last year – at a time when Covid-19 was more rampant – sheds light on the depth of the problem. ![]() Overtime expenditures are projected to come in $9.2 million above budget for the fiscal year ending in June. “Given the significant amount of attrition that has occurred over the last two years, it will take years before staffing levels recover,” budget analyst Baku Patel said at a recent City Council meeting. Nisleit and Jordon say the civilian hiring push is a bid to free up officers to focus on 911 calls and more serious investigations.Īfter years of focus on hiring sworn officers, it’s also a recognition that a different approach is needed to address staffing shortages and overtime budget overages that the city’s independent budget analysts expect to endure for four to five years – if the department meets retention and recruitment goals it’s not on track to meet. ![]() Mayor Todd Gloria is set to release his proposed budget, which incorporates recommendations from department heads like Nisleit, next month. Jeff Jordon said the chief’s budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal year included about 20 police investigative service officers to assist with low-level probes and other tasks, and about a dozen other civilians to assist with records requests and reporting mandates now handled by officers. The staffing shortage has led Police Chief David Nisleit to propose the city hire more civilians to take on some work now handled by officers. ![]() The department expects to end the year with more departures than new hires. Another 138 officers have already departed this year and academy graduations aren’t keeping pace with the losses. Last fiscal year, the San Diego Police Department lost 241 officers, a 51 percent spike from the previous year. San Diego police are staring down a staffing crisis that’s fueling surging response times and overtime spending – and the problem appears unlikely to improve anytime soon.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |