The San Diego Police Department lost 236 officers last year—the highest number in a decade—citing the city’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate, anti-police sentiment, and a high cost of living among reasons for leaving, according to a department spokesman.
“The persistent and negative law enforcement narrative in recent years has left many feeling demoralized and under greater scrutiny while continuing to face the increased challenges of providing public safety in a major city,” San Diego Police Department spokesman Lt. Adam Sharki told The Epoch Times.
Officers are leaving the state in some cases, and some are leaving the profession, he said.
The department lost 77 more officers than the previous year—a 48 percent increase. Of those, 63 officers left to join other law enforcement agencies—a 37 percent jump from the year before.
The department saw similar numbers of officers leaving in 2009, because of significant changes and cuts to police pay and benefits, Sharki said.
The vacated positions run the gamut from seasoned officers serving as homicide investigators, collision reconstruction experts, SWAT officers, canine handlers, training officers, and police helicopter pilots, he said.
The department reported in June that 1,886 sworn officers remained, which is 150 fewer than budgeted.
“We’re below where we should be, as far as staffing goes,” Sharki said.
The number of sworn officers available for service is actually lower than that, San Diego Police Sgt. Jared Wilson, president of the San Diego Police Officers Association, told The Epoch Times.
About 200 sworn officers are new recruits or trainees who can’t respond to calls, and about 100 officers are out on family medical leave, leaving about 1,500 sworn officers available for a city with 1.4 million residents, he said.
San Diego, the nation’s eighth-largest city, has about 13 police officers for every 10,000 residents, compared to Los Angeles, which has 24 officers per 10,000 residents, and New York, with more than 42 officers per 10,000 residents, according to a 2015 FBI Uniform Crime Reporting data.
As a result of low staffing, the department’s response times have suffered, Wilson said. It now takes about 34 minutes on average for the officers to respond to high-priority emergencies, such as burglaries in progress, shootings, or other felony crimes.
“That means we’re not getting to these calls to prevent things like homicides or shootings,” he said.
Officers respond to other, lower priority calls—such as rape reports or domestic arguments—in about two hours on average now, he said.
Staffing shortages have also reduced the number of detectives available for narcotics-related incidents to six from 20, Wilson said.
As an 18-year law enforcement veteran, he says he’s never seen crime rates this bad.
Officers are seeing more homeless on the streets, hard drug use rising in all areas of the city, and homicides increasing, he said.
“In San Diego, we’ve seen a 13 percent rise in crime, year-over-year,” he said. “It’s tragic and it’s affecting neighborhoods that usually don’t have crime.”
The city recorded 12 murders in city parks in the past year, according to Wilson.
“That’s horrifying when it’s a place where children should be playing,” he said.
On July 3, Wilson arrested a gang member who allegedly was carrying a ghost gun—an untraceable firearm that is illegal in the state—in the city’s affluent Pacific Beach neighborhood.
The suspect was out on bail on similar charges and was released again the day after Wilson arrested him.
“It’s a repetitive cycle of crime we can’t impact anymore,” he said.
Officers also see hard drugs, including methamphetamine and fentanyl, used out in the open and they are powerless to do anything about it, he said.
Three California laws—Propositions 57 and 47, and Assembly Bill 109—lessened penalties for parole violations and made it difficult to lock up serial offenders for drug and property crimes.
The city is also considering new restrictions on how police can stop or search drivers and their vehicles. The Protect Act will require San Diego police to have probable cause to stop, ask for identification, question, and search people.
Proposed by the city’s Coalition for Police Accountability and Transparency, proponents of the ordinance say they hope it will reduce racial profiling, according to the group’s website.
The San Diego City Council hasn’t yet set a date to consider the proposed ordinance. If it’s approved, the measure would ban officers from stopping drivers for some equipment violations, including expired registrations, non-functional taillights, headlights, turn signals, brake lights, and noise or other violations.
Officers who violate the ordinance could face misdemeanor charges.
“It’s an attempt to abolish proactive stops in law enforcement,” Wilson said. “Our officers see that and are demoralized and aren’t interested in being part of something that radical.”
Anti-police legislation needs to end, he said.
“We need to put an end to anti-police legislation on the local, state, and federal level, and support our police officers,” he said.
Officers also are leaving because of high gasoline prices, he said. Many live in Riverside County or Temecula, and some of them have decided to join police forces closer to home to avoid paying a high price for fuel, Wilson said.
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria said he’s confident the city is responding to officer shortages using a variety of initiatives, including a 10 percent pay raise in the next year.
“Recognizing the importance of a fully staffed Police Department, Mayor Gloria has led various initiatives to invest in the recruitment and retention of top-notch officers,” Rachel Laing, the mayor’s spokeswoman, said in a statement provided to The Epoch Times. “These efforts include a 10 percent pay raise in the recently approved contract with officers; proposed bonuses for lateral moves from other jurisdictions; increasing the budget for recruitment; and holding a number of successful recruitment drives that have led to the most diverse academies in department history.”
With these efforts, Gloria is confident the department can reach full staffing, Laing said.
However, an additional 20 sworn officers face termination after failing to complete COVID-19 testing requirements, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.
As part of the city’s vaccine mandate, enacted last year, employees could get religious and medical exemptions but were required to be tested regularly. Nearly 420 officers were granted exemptions.
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