Leaders worried by depleted police staff
Acting chief reports that 51 officers are on leave for texting scandal or medical issues, or are on `light duty'
“How low do we have to go?” That was Councilmember Mike Barbanica's question for acting Antioch Police Chief Joe Vigil about requesting outside agencies to assist police, knowing how depleted the force is.
Vigil told the council that of 95 police officers on the books, only 44 are working in “full service” now, and of those, only 31 are assigned to patrol.
Another 51 officers are either on light duty, on medical leave, on administrative leave or out for other reasons. It is unclear how many are on leave because of the racist texting scandal, the investigation of which is still underway with outside investigators.
The department is authorized to employ 115 officers, with the ability to overhire six in anticipation of pending retirements or resignations and to help limit lapses in police services. Six new officers have come aboard, but they still need to go through field training, Vigil said at the Sept. 26 council meeting.
“My concern is we're drastically understaffed,” Barbanica said, adding he was concerned for the community and the officers' safety.
Vigil, acting police chief for only two months, delivered the grim news in a report on staffing and crime, the first in many months. In the last report in early April, 62 officers “were able to report for full duty” and 99 full-time officers were on staff, according to then-acting City Manager Forrest Ebbs.
In response to Barbanica's questions on operations, Vigil said the department is running a modified work schedule of two 12.5-hour shifts a day, with three days on, three days off and a payback day every other Saturday. Officers average 100 calls per shift, or seven an hour when four are on duty on a given day, he said.
“The reality is they're running calls all day long,” he said.
Vigil clarified that the crews run at a minimum of four officers.
“For the most part, we're trying to get peo
ple to come in and we've modified and moved people around,” he said, noting officers can work overtime for part of a shift to help in the peak afternoon, early evening and latenight hours.
The seven investigators also are handling about 300 cases, and the department is expected to lose three of them in October, Vigil said.
Barbanica, a former Pittsburg police officer, again expressed his concern.
“We're going to have burnout not only with our officers, we're going to continue to lose officers going to other places where they don't have to work overtime every day and not 115,000 people with four people policing the city for a 12-hour period,” he said. “I just think that is absolutely ludicrous.”
Barbanica asked the acting chief if the city needed to bring in the CHP to assist.
“It is a possibility and in the conversations we have had with the CHP and the sheriff's department, it was made clear to us that there is no assistance made available to us right now outside of a mutual aid agreement,
which is clearly outlined in the county's mutual aid agreement,” Vigil said.
Barbanica, though, said he had spoken to Contra Costa County Sheriff David Livingston, who said he was ready to assist in an emergency situation. Assemblyman Tim Grayson also assured him Antioch could get help, but Vigil said he had been told a different story.
“We are literally half, minus 10 in investigations, we are zero in traffic, zero in any type of street team and four people working the street at any given time,” Barbanica said. “I don't know how much lower we can go on this. If this is not a time to get mutual aid, and if this is not a time to bring in CHP or the sheriff to help out, what is that number?”
Vigil said it depends on the call volume, but agreed more conversations were needed to sort out any possible agreements to fill in the gaps.
As for beats, Vigil said that in the past there were seven full beats, but now there are no traffic, street or gang units, noting the latter was an ancillary beat.
Mayor Pro-Tem Tamisha Torres-Walker asked why there was no traffic beat, but Vigil explained the remaining officers got absorbed into patrol six
months ago. The chief did not explain why but rather deferred questions to human resources.
“I think what TorresWalker was asking is why was the traffic unit impacted,” Mayor Lamar Thorpe said, pointing to the racist text messaging scandal that has impacted the traffic unit along with other units.
Torres-Walker admitted she was asking questions the acting chief could not answer but alluded to the elephant in the room, the racist texting scandal and the FBI investigation, which resulted in an untold number of officers either leaving or being placed on leave.
“I just think it's ridiculous,” she said. “We all know why the numbers are low. It's because the standards for over two decades for policing in this city has been low. That is why the numbers are low. That is no fault of your own.”
Torres-Walker also noted that it was “very telling” that the acting chief and councilman had gotten mixed messages from other agencies.
“I hope you know you all can come back to us with some clear answers (about the miscommunication) and how to move forward based on what we feel the needs might be,” she said.