Vallejo, CA officially declares state of emergency over police shortage

Last week, the city of Vallejo, California officially declared a state of emergency due to its lack of police officers, Daniel Egitto of the Vallejo Times-Herald reports. Over the last several months, the Vallejo Police Department (VPD)’s officer shortage has been worsening, with five officers leaving since March, and another three scheduled to leave within the next month.

The decision to declare a state of emergency granted Interim Police Chief Jason Ta and City Manager Mike Malone the power to make unilateral decisions regarding public safety without having to confer with the council or the Vallejo Police Officers’ Association. The potential future actions that Ta and Malone might take to address the staffing shortage include judgment calls on extending officers’ shifts, paying retired officers to perform certain tasks, or calling in officers from other law enforcement agencies. But specific plans for rebuilding the police force remain uncertain.

Prior to the state of emergency being declared, the VPD had already temporarily disbanded its traffic division and had started rotating one detective per week to work a patrol shift. Interm Chief Ta mentioned that he will consider hiring retired officers for traffic enforcement and potentially paying deputies from the Solano County Sheriff’s Office to assist with patrols as short-term measures. Another potential option is to move to mandatory 12-hour shifts for all officers. Still, this likely wouldn’t be enough personnel for the city’s approximately 126,000 residents. In addition, the extra burden placed on law enforcement officers has the risk of negatively impacting officer morale and increasing levels of burnout and dissatisfaction among officers. These downstream effects could quickly make the situation worse by negatively impacting officer performance while on the job, and also by increasing the number of resignations over time.

Dwindling Police Force

VPD’s police force has been shrinking since June 2020, when the death of Sean Monterrosa at the hands of a Vallejo police officer sparked an explosion of protests over the department’s high rate of officer-involved shootings. They lost a cumulative four patrol officers between the Monterrosa’s death and the end of 2020, reducing the VPD’s patrol division to 57 people (41 officers and 16 supervisors). Between 2020 and 2021, the total number of sworn officers employed by VPD had dropped from 110 to 89. By the end of 2021, the number of officers assigned to patrol units had also declined to 45 (30 line-level officers, 11 supervisors, and 4 police assistants). By the end of 2022, there were 88 sworn officers, while the number assigned to patrol increased to 51 (36 officers, 11 supervisors, and 4 police asssistants). By March 2023, staffing levels had dwindled further, at which time there were 82 sworn officers and just 43 assigned to patrol (29 officers, 10 supervisors, and 4 police asssistants). By June 2023, patrol staffing levels had decreased to just 40 officers (30 line-level officers and 10 supervisors).

Source: Vallejo Police Department 2023 Staffing and Response Update, presented by Interim Chief Jason Ta to the Vallejo City Council, March 21, 2023. Retrieved August 1, 2023 from https://vallejoca.portal.civicclerk.com/event/2521/files

The Vallejo City Council has noted several concerns among officers that affect agency morale and likely contribute to staffing challenges. These include a perceived lack of support from the community and the council, delays in building a new police station, the lack of a finalized contract with the city and a perception of unachievable expectations. Morale may not improve any time soon though, as staffing levels create additional pressure on officers, who are backlogged with calls and faced with more and more work each day.

In a March 2023 presentation, Interim Chief Ta expressed concerns about the multifaceted staffing and morale crisis. He announced that 21 officers had lateraled to other agencies between 2020 and 2022, 71% of whom had fewer than 11 years of experience. At the time of that presentation, VPD had 82 sworn officers, 44 of whom were assigned to patrol (36 officers and 8 supervisors), and there were 42 vacancies for full-time sworn officers. He also explained that, in order to deal with the staffing shortage, the agency would likely have to make drastic policy changes that could further worsen employee morale and potentially lead to more resignations and retirements. Should the staffing crisis continue, the  department would considering asking the Solano County Sheriff’s Office to take over law enforcement duties in Vallejo.

Delayed Response Times

The impact on police dispatch times has been immense. According to a Solano County Grand Jury report, in Vallejo, the average delay between the time that a call is received and the time that an officer is dispatched is almost 1.5 hours (84.26 minutes). Nowhere else in the county faces delays of this magnitude. The next-slowest municipality, Suisun City, takes about 92 seconds to process calls, which is about 55 times faster than VPD. Added pressure and challenges emerge in providing effective service because officers start their shifts with a high number of calls and quickly get backlogged.

With only 34 officers and 9 supervisors available for patrol, reallocating resources to address more pressing public safety concerns is a necessity. Officers currently prioritize responding to calls for in-progress property crimes and for crimes impacting peoples’ public safety, while most other calls are substantially delayed. To reduce the volume of calls, the department is researching ways to either change or eliminate the department’s response to alarm calls. According to Interim Chief Ta, the vast majority of these calls are false alarms. In 2022, the VPD responded to 3,627 alarm calls — 98% of which were false alarms. With officers spending an average of 23 minutes on each call, this burden equated to about 115 hours of staff time per month.

Priority 1 calls thankfully receive a faster response time. In 2022, the VPD’s average response time for Priority 1 calls was 11.18 minutes, which is still about 5 minutes longer than the agency’s target response time of 6 minutes. For Priority 2 calls though, the average response time was over two hours (121.89 minutes), despite the agency’s target response time of 11 minutes.

Staffing Challenges in Other Cities

Unfortunately, Vallejo is not the only city grappling with officer shortages, as many departments remain significantly understaffed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and anti-police sentiment. For example, the Philadelphia Police Department is down about 440 officers, 7% below the number budgeted, while the San Francisco Police Department is down by 600, almost 30% below budgeted levels.  Interest in law enforcement positions is at an all-time low, and those who do apply often do not pass the physical requirements needed for the job. According to the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), a 2020 survey found that 78% of participating agencies reported difficulty in recruiting qualified candidates.

Some police departments have offered financial incentives to recruit new candidates. For example, the Alamada Police Department has been offering hiring bonuses to applicants, while the Torrance, CA Police Deparment offers double time to its officers who will cover patrol shifts. Extra pay may increase recruitment in the short term, but it won’t address retention problems. In addition, officers cannot be replaced as quickly as they are leaving. It typically takes police departments six months to hire a quality candidate, another six months in the academy, and a final six months of field training before a new hire can work as a solo officer.

Furthermore, the number of extra hours worked can be taxing on officers, causing stress and burnout, hampering physical and mental wellness, and negatively impacting their peformance while on the job. Sleep deprivation is also a major concern. A police officer’s job requires carrying a gun and driving an emergency vehicle, neither of which should be done without adequate sleep. It is well known that sleep deprivation impairs critical skills performance in a manner comparable with alcohol intoxication. For this reason, other occupations (e.g., truck driving, rideshares) regulate how long employees can work at one time. Unfortunately though, police officers are not subject to requirements like these. To make matters worse, factors such as sleep deprivation, stress, and burnout all exacerbate each other.

Conclusion

Police retention and recruitment is a growing problem across many U.S. cities. The problem has created some tough challenges for the city of Vallejo, where the shrinking police force has reached a very crucial level. The dwindling police force and the resulting impact on response times have raised significant concerns among residents and officials alike and officially led to a state of emergency being declared last week. The challenges ahead are multifaceted, encompassing issues related to officer morale, community support, and resource allocation. Immediate short-term measures such as hiring retired officers and seeking assistance from neighboring law enforcement agencies may help alleviate the situation, but a comprehensive and sustainable solution is urgently needed.