Sept. 23--As San Jose seeks a new police chief, the city is also searching for something far more elusive: a new strategy to effectively police a diverse population of nearly 1 million residents at a time of increasing crime with a shrinking department plagued by a deepening morale crisis.
Chief Chris Moore's unexpected retirement announcement last week only intensified the spotlight on a troubled department already grappling with wrenching cutbacks and a contentious relationship with City Hall.
These are tough times for a force that has long prided itself on keeping San Jose among America's safest big cities. And now the public is left wondering if there's a way to reinvent a leaner department that can better protect the community.
"The resources just aren't there that they had five years ago, and that has affected the way the Police Department does its job," said Mark E. Correia, chairman of justice studies at San Jose State. "But that's not unique to San Jose. This is the way that policing in America is today. We don't have the luxury of having lots of officers anymore. That's why organizations have to adapt and become much more strategic in how they fight crime."
Experts and police say a top priority should be to restore the Violent Crime Enforcement Team, which focused on suppressing gang violence and was disbanded two years ago in a round of budget cuts. Each year nearly half of the city's homicides and a good percentage of violent
crime are gang-related.
"If they've had to cut back on a gang suppression unit, well, that's one of the last things that you should cut because that's an area involving the most serious violent crimes. You cut back in that area, and the crime rate really will go up," said Alex Gerould, assistant professor of criminal justice at San Francisco State.
That kind of targeted policing is credited with an overall drop in national crime rates and makes the most efficient use of a belt-tightening police force, Gerould said.
But police insiders say the idea of reallocating patrol officers to revive VCET wouldn't work because the city's patrol division is already stretched tight as a drum, tenuously held together with overtime pay. They agree that it's a priority that needs to be revisited as soon as resources allow.
Meanwhile, the city's murder rate, the primary barometer of crime statistics, is on pace to eclipse last year's total of 39. That includes a grim 11-day span in August when eight homicides were investigated.
In August, Moore also told a city commission that the crime surge through the year's first six months included double-digit spikes in burglaries, robberies, rapes and auto thefts.
This trend has come at a time when the department's rank-and-file feels besieged. They have been forced to accept 10 percent pay cuts, have witnessed the layoffs of 65 colleagues in summer 2011 and have seen the bitter passage of Measure B in June. Overwhelmingly approved by city voters, the measure is intended to curtail the escalation of retirement benefit costs to the city.
In total, the country's 10th-largest city is now protected by 1,050 officers -- a 25 percent reduction since 2008. That includes 80 resignations alone since the beginning of 2011.
The department has 66 people going through it's police academy and plans to begin another class in March. But by the time the first new recruits hit the streets in June, more veterans may have retired or resigned for other jobs.
Despite all the upheaval, San Jose State's Correia said it's important to remember that San Jose remains a relatively safe city, which is something that can get lost in the headlines about strife between City Hall and the department.
Still, crime has arguably become the biggest issue in San Jose and could influence city politics in the foreseeable future.
Jim Unland, president of the San Jose Police Officers Association, doesn't have much faith in the current city government's willingness to improve the department's fortunes, and he's hoping for what he calls a more police-friendly City Council majority.
"I don't think anything's going to change in the next two years," Unland said, referring to the election when Mayor Chuck Reed will be termed out of office. "We're going see our department continue to deteriorate, and people will continue to leave. ... We're treading water here."
Councilman Pete Constant, a former San Jose cop, said the painful cuts and reforms the city has undergone will lead to better fortunes down the road.
"Once we get through this arbitration, that changes things considerably," said Constant, referring to proposals that would sever new police and city employee hires from older, more costly benefit packages. "The cost per full-time officers will go down quite a bit."
Constant laments his council's unwillingness to trim recreation and library programs that were established in good economic times. Preserving them, he said, has come at the expense of the police.
The councilman said the Police Department is only now becoming a 21st-century force in the form of technology upgrades to reporting and dispatch systems. He added that going forward the department must be more open to handing off lower-level tasks to civilians and community service officers, a tactic opposed by the union.
"There's a lot of tension between elected officials and the union. It's a matter of regaining some communication between the two," Constant said. "It doesn't help with the implementation of Measure B. It's going to be nasty. But we have to do it."
Mario Maciel, superintendent of the Mayor's Gang Prevention Task Force, said that even in hard times the department needs to find ways to redouble its community policing efforts in the city's diverse communities.
"Those relationships are the first thing to go" with depleted patrols, Maciel said. "They don't get out of the car or attend neighborhood meetings. But (residents) multiply our eyes and ears. We need a leader and department that sees the value in that."
Making these inroads, Maciel said, could help residents be more patient during an era when police response times -- particularly for nonviolent crimes -- are expected to continue lagging.
"The community is tired of just hearing about everyone being understaffed," he added.
But there will be a sense of limbo for the next few months as Moore effectively becomes a lame duck. Maciel is among those who believe the next chief will be a pivotal hire -- someone who will need to find a way to heal deep political and community fractures, as well as shape a smaller, more nimble force.
Diane Urban, a former San Jose assistant police chief who now heads the Hayward police, was involved in pushing technology upgrades and other efficiencies in the department to stave off cuts.
Urban, who said she does not plan to be a candidate to replace Moore, empathizes with the tough circumstances facing her colleagues. But she also sees hope.
"They're broken, but that department is incredibly talented," Urban said. "With great leadership, that mighty giant will stand back up."
Contact Robert Salonga at 408-920-5002 or [email protected]. Contact Mark Emmons at 408-920-5745 or [email protected].
Copyright 2012 - San Jose Mercury News
