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Comprehensive police reform involves reinvestment in law enforcement by doubling the number of police officers in San Diego. Presently, officers are constantly rushing from one high-priority call to another, often without a break.
Response times for top-priority calls often exceed 30 minutes, and some area departments resort to mandatory overtime to compensate for staff shortages. Lower-priority calls frequently go unanswered, and those attempting to report crimes or suspicious activities via non-emergency lines are often on hold so long they simply hang up.
For the first time in its 27 years of measuring attitudes toward the police, the Gallup poll found that a majority of American adults do not trust law enforcement. Therefore, to foster stronger community relations police must move beyond their patrol cars and engage with the community directly.
This entails walking the beat and actively meeting with community members, business owners, school teachers, parents, and students. Without backing from the community police officers cannot execute their duties effectively.
However, this goal is a currently unattainable, because there are simply not enough officers working in patrol. Additionally, it’s vital to establish safeguards to protect law enforcement officers who make honest mistakes in the line of duty. Officers should not live in fear of incarceration, legal action, or social media backlash destroying their lives.
In order to achieve meaningful police reform, it is imperative to allocate 20% of a police officer’s weekly schedule towards training. To facilitate this, an increase in the number of uniformed officers is necessary. This training regimen should encompass a wide range of essential topics, including but not limited to de-escalation techniques, legal principles, crisis intervention strategies, cultural competence, diversity awareness, effective communication skills, and physical fitness. Moreover, officers should be fairly compensated for their dedication and their role in maintaining public safety.
Changes in the law are also needed to implement true police reform. When the need for law-abiding citizens to install security bars on their windows becomes a stark reality in their quest for safety, while at the same time emboldened criminals freely roam the streets with impunity, it signals a troubling imbalance in our society. The very criminals who should behind bars seem to hold a misplaced sense of confidence, knowing that the consequences for their criminal activities remain shockingly minimal.
Ironically, it was the voters who created this situation by approving Proposition 47, a legislative measure that altered the classification of certain low-level offenses, downgrading them from potential felonies to mere misdemeanors. Crimes such as petty theft below a certain threshold, shoplifting, forgery, writing bad checks, and receiving stolen property, provided the value involved was under $950, all transitioned from felony status to misdemeanors. Simple drug possession was also reduced, and this shift in legal status has contributed to visible open drug use on our streets, with law enforcement often finding their hands tied in curbing it.
Prop. 47 is a virtual “Get Out of Jail Free” card, but those who steal need to be removed from the streets, even if just for a short period of time, so they can no longer prey on law-abiding citizens, and police need the staffing and resources to do so.
The public was told that savings from reduced incarceration costs will be invested in drug and mental health treatment; programs for at-risk students in public schools; and victim services. Yet over the last decade the number of drug addicted and mentally ill homeless people has skyrocketed in San Diego.
Programs for at-risk students have not achieved the results needed as student test scores are in the gutter. The 2022 standardized test scores recently released show that 66% of Black students do not meet standards in English language arts, and 81% do not meet standards in math. 62% of Latino students do not meet standards for English language arts and 76% do not meet standards for math. Meanwhile, victim services remain a mere promise, with little evidence of government reimbursement for stolen property suffered by victims of property crimes.
When the very foundations of our community’s safety and well-being are shaken, and the intended benefits of Prop. 47 are overshadowed by the unintended consequences, it is evident that a reassessment of our priorities and policies is long overdue. Now, more than ever, it is crucial to reshape public perceptions of law enforcement to enable them to carry out their duties more effectively.
Law enforcement morale has taken a significant hit, with a growing number of San Diego police officers resigning or retiring and recruitment figures have dwindled, forcing the department to ask former officers to return. It is abundantly clear the “defund the police” movement has failed, and the time has come to reinvest in law enforcement in order to implement true police reform.
Mark Powell is a former reserve officer with the San Diego Police Department and holds a degree in Criminal Justice Administration. He also served as a San Diego County Board of Education Board Member.