As Gilroy’s population expands, the number of officers remains
the same; Officials say the city just can’t afford more
staffing
Gilroy – As the population of Gilroy grows at a rate of about 1,500 a year, the city’s police force remains the same size – and officials warn that service and crime fighting will eventually suffer if staffing levels remain the same.
Police argue that new officers are needed to keep response times down and respond to service calls so they can put patrol officers back where they belong – on the streets. But city officials say it’s not a matter of want, but whether the city can afford it.
“As we sit now, we’re seven officers short,” said Assistant Police Chief Lanny Brown. “Within five years, if we don’t add any officers or community service officers, we’ll be down 20 officers.”
Most police departments statewide strive to keep staffing figures close to 1.5 officers for every 1,000 residents.
During the 1990s when gang activity was at its peak, the Anti-Crime Team was established and staffing ratios hovered above the 1.5 marker until 2001.
The ratio has fallen to 1.36 per 1,000 due to state and local budget concerns. The last time any new position was created at GPD was 2003, however, the population has grown about 2,700 people since.
With the city expanding and the police department retaining the same staffing levels, police believe crimes of opportunity such as auto burglaries, graffiti tagging and theft will rise.
“Patrol is the backbone of every police department,” said Sgt. Kurt Svardal.
They make pedestrian and traffic stops, parole and probation checks, and show their presence on the streets. These are activities officers do on their own, without a dispatcher assigning them to a call – if they have time.
In 2004, officers made 22,627 self-initiated stops. Last year, the figure dropped to 18,423.
Police received 750 more calls for service last year than in 2004, and response times have also slowed – from 7.4 minutes to 7.5 minutes in the same time frame.
The numbers may not mean much now, but police believe residents will start noticing some changes if staffing levels do not improve.
Wednesday afternoon there were three patrol officers on the streets and two community service officers taking reports from headquarters.
“In my opinion, I think we’re far beyond that with a city of our size,” said Sgt. John Sheedy. “We’ve been doing more with less for many years.”
But city officials say they aren’t the only department feeling the pinch.
“It’s all about the finances,” said City Administrator Jay Baksa. “The police department, as well as our other departments in the city since fiscal year 2002-03 have been in a hold mode.”
Until state and local finances stabilize, hiring new officers does not appear to be on the agenda. According to Baksa, almost every department is requesting money to fund everything from the police department, to road and sidewalk repairs.
According to Assistant Chief Brown, police and city officials are discussing the growing problem and trying to determine how to stretch resources and meet all of the city’s needs.
Currently more than 80 percent of the city’s general fund goes to public safety services including fire and police.
To hire one mid-step officer costs $128,076, which includes salary, benefits and uniform allowance.
“Right now, the policy is treat everybody the same,” Baksa said. “It is always about options and priorities … everybody is not going to get everything they want.”
And what police want is to remain a proactive department, working to suppress crime and not simply responding to it.
“Right now I think we’re adequately keeping ourselves afloat,” Svardal said. “That doesn’t mean we’re OK. It means that we are able to handle what we do. Over time (being less proactive) is going to start catching up … It starts to become a snowball that runs down the hill.”
Current policy states that if a resident makes a call requesting an officer, someone from GPD will respond. According to Sheedy, sometimes those non-emergency requests will not be answered for an hour or more because officers are tied up with other calls.
One major car accident may keep two or three officers at a scene for an hour, directing traffic and investigating the crash. On a day like Wednesday, that’s nearly all the patrol officers on duty isolated in one area of the city.
“There’s a ripple effect,” Sheedy said. “We are about as stretched as we can get right now without totally changing the way we do business.”
