As the country slowly climbs its way out of the biggest recession since the ‘30s, many aspects of the government—both federal and local—have been slow to recover. Both the San Diego Police Department and the San Diego State Police Department have felt significant constraints because of budget cuts, and the city is now faced with the largest crime spike in a decade.
“We have seen an increase,” SDPD Chief William Lansdowne said at a presentation last month. “There are those—the academics—who believe it may be just a spike. I think it’s more than that. I think it’s a trend, because for the first time in a decade, we’ve seen crime increase in every category. With that said, we’re still at 40-year lows for the city of San Diego, so we look at the history of this great city.”
There was a 6.9 percent increase in crime in 2012 in San Diego. KPBS published an article last month detailing Landsowne’s presentation of the 2012 crime statistics to the City Council’s Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee, where he expanded on the causes and implications of this spike.
Lansdowne said problems associated with the transient population, such as substance abuse and mental illness, have worsened. He also said SDPD’s budget has been cut in each of the last eight years.
In an effort to maximize resources, SDPD has implemented several programs to increase efficiency. One grant-funded program allows for online citizen reporting, which helps to manage the enormous amount of man hours spent traveling to take reports from citizens. Assistant Chief Shelley Zimmerman said SDPD receives 1.2 million calls each year from its 1.3 million residents. She said this system took in more than 46,000 reports as of March 10.
Other programs include an automated property management system—implemented in June 2011—which contributes to the reduction of paperwork. SDPD also employs beat realignment tactics in order to increase efficacy and decrease response time.
The SDSUPD saw similar cuts, but managed to keep the crime rate relatively stable. SDSUPD Capt. Lamine Secka attributes much of this to the relatively small size of the department compared to SDPD, but several measures have also been taken to stay on top of crime despite reduced resources. Some of these strategies include utilizing federal grants such as the Urban Area Security Initiative and Operation Stonegarden as well as using overtime hours to make up for any staffing reductions. Despite these efforts, Secka said the department still isn’t able to provide as many community services as it used to.
“One of the biggest differences is that we can’t provide the same level of some support services that have in years past,” Secka said. “Presentations, educational efforts, lockouts, citizen assists, safety classes, et cetera. are all some of the programs that we either can no longer provide to the community or have experienced a reduction in offerings or extended times.”
In terms of reduced staffing levels, however, SDSUPD has fared significantly better than SDPD. SDPD has lost approximately 157 sworn officers and approximately 193 civilian positions since its 2010 fiscal year. It began in 2013 with 1829 officers, an improvement from 2012, but still 126 fewer than 2009.
SDSUPD, on the other hand, has stayed relatively consistent throughout the past few years in terms of staffing, although its number of officers is much smaller for both sworn officers and civilians, usually hovering around 20 officers for each. Secka said while SDSUPD has essentially maintained patrolling levels, its policing strategies have become increasingly reactionary.
“Our officers are now much more reactive than proactive, like they were several years ago,” Secka said. “We had success eliminating motorcycle theft on campus a few years back, but that was entirely proactive. We just don’t have the ability to be as proactive as we’d like.”
While funding for SDPD comes from San Diego’s general fund, SDSUPD’s funding comes from the California State University budget. So, while both have clearly been affected by California’s financial troubles, parallels are difficult to draw between the two departments. The 2012 crime statistics for SDSUPD are still being compiled, so it remains to be seen whether SDSUPD saw a similar spike in the crime rate last year.
