Hollister
– Proposed Hollister Police Department staff cuts could change
responses to certain property crimes and eliminate the city’s
juvenile IMPACT program and SWAT team development programs.
Hollister – Proposed Hollister Police Department staff cuts could change responses to certain property crimes and eliminate the city’s juvenile IMPACT program and SWAT team development programs.
Police officials estimated the proposed cuts could cause delayed response times for city law enforcement personnel. And with $519,000 in proposed cuts looming, the police department may not have the resources to respond at all to some property crimes, such as burglaries and vandalism with no suspects.
Hollister Police Chief Jeff Miller said that although every community has varying law enforcement needs, the national standard is 1.4 officers per 1,000 residents. With 32 sworn officers, Hollister has 0.86 officers per 1,000, Miller said. And with the proposed cuts of three patrol officers, that number would drop to 0.78 officers per 1,000.
Low officer levels have been a problem since before Miller arrived, he said. The police department had been providing the same services with lower staffing levels with the hopes that Measure R would pass, Miller said.
The budget cuts could force the department’s service level to change.
“We have to adjust to a service level that reflects the resources we have,” Miller said.
Under the proposed cuts, the police department would categorize responses to certain crimes with certain circumstances. In Quilter’s presentation Wednesday he proposed three categories: Deferred response, or “not dispatched but given as beat information to be handled as time permits during shift”; limited response, or “response based on ability to identify subject, willingness to prosecute or hazardous condition”; and no response, or “not crimes or low solvability.”
Examples of a deferred response crime would be abandoned vehicles, traffic complaints, loitering and noise complaints, Quilter said. Crimes such as thefts or vandalism with no suspects, uncontrollable juveniles, reports for insurance claims and traffic collisions with no injuries may fall under the no response category, Quilter said.
Burglaries take time and resources to investigate, Police Det. Rudy Rodriguez said.
“With residential burglaries you have to look for evidence, process the scene,” Rodriguez said. “You need detectives to do that.”
Police will still respond to person-on-person crimes and crimes in progress, Miller said.
Crimes also are not easily categorized.
“It’s hard to pick every call out,” Miller said. “Each call has its own characteristics.”
Under the proposed cuts, citizens who experience property crimes such as a burglary with no suspect could be required to self-report the crime. Reports will be available online, at fire departments, City Hall and the police department, Miller said.
The self-reporting would force the police record bureau to be open to the public 35 hours per week, 10 fewer hours than it is now, Miller said.
The proposed cuts could also eliminate the juvenile IMPACT program, a key element in the department’s gang intervention effort, Miller said. The department would also cease its SWAT development, leaving the county without a deployable force, Miller said.
Hollister Police Capt. Bob Brooks said the city will continue to get the best service the department can provide if the cuts are to be adopted.
“If we had more we could give them more,” Brooks said. “And that will always be true.”
The position cuts could further stretch an already thin police force, said Brooks, increasing officers’ stress levels and chances of injury.
The cuts could also affect residents with delayed response times.
“There could be a higher frustration level among the public,” Brooks said.
Brooks described the cuts as “huge.” He added that Hollister residents, and the county residents who shop and work in the city, will not get the service they deserve under the city’s proposed budget reduction plan.
State and federal funding is available for departments to “seed” a position, Brooks said. A grant will fully fund a position for its first year with the expectation that the department will take over funding after three years.
“I’m disappointed that we have to reduce services,” Miller said. “That’s not what I got into law enforcement for; that’s not what the officers got into law enforcement for.”
Michael Van Cassell covers public safety for the Free Lance. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 335 or [email protected].
