S.J. should declare safety ‘emergency’
Editorial
The San Jose City Council should declare a public safety emergency Tuesday so that Police Chief Eddie Garcia can sidestep the police union contract and immediately assign his dwindling number of officers where they’re most needed, regardless of their personal preferences. It’s the expedient solution to a deepening crisis, and the police union supports it.
“I hate the word ‘emergency’,” Mayor Sam Liccardo said Friday. “But it’s the word in the state statute” that empowers the city to do what needs to be done promptly.
He’s right. Get it done — and then focus on persuading voters to approve Measure F in November to ratify a negotiated settlement over 2012’s voter-approved pension reform, the main reason for the police shortage. The settlement will retain significant pension savings while enabling San Jose to again offer pay and benefits competitive with other Bay Area departments.
The SJPD had more than 1,300 officers a decade ago. It has shrunk to around 800 and is about to fall below its legal mandate for 500 officers on regular patrol — unbelievably low for a city of a million people spread over 180 square miles.
Until now, Garcia has kept patrol covered through incentives and mandatory overtime, but that’s no longer enough. He needs to reassign 47 officers who have bid for duty in special units.
Is this a real emergency? Not in the sense of a Hurricane Katrina or a Loma Prieta earthquake. But the city is approaching a tipping point.
Garcia wants to keep enough officers on patrol to respond to residents who have their own very real emergencies — say, for example, a woman who wakes up at 3 a.m. to see a guy in a stocking mask trying to jimmy the patio doors.
Council members who question the use of “emergency” say it’s a ploy to help pass Measure F. Some argue the city should use the less sensational “meet and confer” procedure with the union to bypass the contract. But that’s also less efficient. “Meet and confer” implies some level of negotiation. It could take weeks.
Why risk complications and create delays?
Some doubters are hung up on the police union’s responsibility for the shortage of sworn officers. It’s certainly true that former union leaders accelerated the initial departures, urging veterans and recruits to leave and even helping them find jobs. But ultimately, smart people act in their own best financial interest. If compensation had been adequate, others would have filled the slots. In fact, nearly all city departments experienced a brain drain in the wake of Measure B.
If voters in November approve Measure F to resolve the issues, it will clear the way for serious recruiting — with current union leaders as partners — while locking in billions in pension savings. Until then, give Garcia the authority he needs to keep up patrols.