Mayor Matt Mahan and San Jose Police Chief Anthony Mata discussed and highlighted the need for increased community safety at a press conference at Shady Oaks Park in San Jose on Monday.
Mahan and Mata focused the attention on the San Jose Police Department officer shortage and the consequences it has on the San Jose community.
Mata said there are 1,173 police officers in San Jose, a number which is lower than the 1,400 officers the city had in 2008.
The number of police officers has decreased over the past mayoral administrations.
“I know there was some decisions with prior administrations, that their belief was to reduce the number of officers due to financial reasons,” Mata said. “And that's where we're at. We lost close to 300, almost 400, officers during that time.”
Mahan said the current police officer numbers in San Jose are significantly lower compared to other big cities in the United States.
“It's important context for everyone to be aware that our department in San Jose currently has about 11 officers, for every 10,000 residents,” he said. “That's the lowest staffing ratio of any big city in America. Most other large cities have anywhere from 20 to 40 officers per 10,000 residents.”
Mahan also said that's about two to four times more officers per population per capita.
“So you can take San Francisco, just to our north here, just, you know, 15% fewer people in the city of San Francisco, but twice as many, more than twice as many officers,” he said.
Mahan said the SJPD being understaffed has consequences on the San Jose community.
“It just makes it incredibly difficult to provide the level of responsiveness and follow up and community policing that our residents demand,” he said.
Mahan also said, although the major complaints he received from the community are about slow responses from the SJPD, community members asked for more of a presence in neighborhoods, more community policing and capacity for follow up investigations.
“We can't do it all with the staffing levels that we have,” Mata said. “But we'll get there and slowly, incrementally get to the staffing levels that we once had before, to provide that level of service to our community.”
On March 21, the San Jose city council unanimously passed Mahan’s budget, which included investments regarding police officer staff.
Some of the investments aim to double the rate at which the city hires new police officers and enhance SJPD recruitment efforts by increasing officer referral and signing bonuses.
“The [San Jose] population has grown, the city has grown. We need to grow our infrastructure, public safety, along with the growth of the city,” Mata said.
He said having more than 1,800 officers in San Jose would provide a high level of service to the community. A realistic number for the SJPD to reach is 1,400 police officers and then start increasing the level of service.
Mata said the recruitment process is an important part of the issue because he wants police officers to reflect the San Jose Community.
“We go to events in the community, to the schools, colleges, in different venues, not only within San Jose, but in California and outside California to recruit the best and the brightest here to the San Jose police department,” he said.
SJPD Capt. Carlos Acosta said his goal is to improve safety in San Jose, reaching some of the accomplishments that the department achieved in the past.
“We were one the safest largest cities with 1,400 officers, right? And that's my goal,” Acosta said.
He also said a larger staff is important to address the houseless encampment issue, which is another main point of Mahan’s campaign.
“Our job is to go out there and engage not just our community members in our businesses, or residential areas, but as well as some of these trails,” Acosta said. “And again, it gives us an opportunity to provide resources, provide outreach and more importantly, education. As far as what programs are out there, what resources may be available to help them not just short-term, but long-term.”
