SAN JOSE, Calif. (KRON) - City officials in San Jose say the police department is in desperate need of more officers. KRON4 spoke to officials on how this is impacting the city.
One council member says the average response time for a burglary or assault is roughly 22 minutes. She says that’s too long for public safety.
At a news conference Tuesday, city officials say the San Jose Police Department has been under-invested since 2000. Now, the department is paying thousands of dollars in overtime to officers, some officers simply have no choice.
Mayoral candidate Cindy Chavez said at the press conference Tuesday, “anybody can sign up for one of these shifts, but if nobody signs up for these shifts, people are forced into overtime.”
Council member David Cohen says forcing officers to work overtime is not a sustainable solution to the problem. He says it also takes a toll on officers’ health, “the last thing we want is an officer to show up stressed and tired.”
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KRON4 reached out to the San Jose Police Department for an interview but they declined. In a statement the department says, “the national average for police officers per capita is two per every 1,000 people.
In San Jose they only have one officer per every 1,000 people. KRON4 also reached out to the police department to see if they’re doing anything different to recruit, and they say they are not.
from KRON4 https://ift.tt/lND8nZi
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