RUNNING HEAD: STAFFING PROPSAL 1

Staffing Proposal

Reducing Crime in Healdsburg

Matt Jenkins

University of San Diego

 CITY OF HEALDSBURG
Budget Request Justification
New Personnel

DEPARTMENT: Police Department

EMPLOYMENT INFORMATION

Job Title: Homeless Outreach Team

Employee Status (Full-time/Part-time/Temporary/On-Call): Full-Time
If temporary, expected duration of employment (be specific): ____________________________
Number of employees being requested: One Sergeant, Six Officers
Estimated Salary and benefits: $700,000
Requested Start Date:1/1/2019

BUDGET INFORMATION

Funding source: Police department budget modifications

JUSTIFICATION & IMPACT

Homelessness and crimes committed by homeless persons have reached a critical point in the City of

Healdsburg. Crime data and community concerns suggest that additional law enforcement efforts are

necessary to adequately address the growing community concern. A review of Healdsburg Police records

shows that approximately 20 percent of arrests are homeless persons, and the charges range from disorderly

conduct to aggravated assaults. The greater Sonoma County area has seen homeless-on-homeless crime

increase in recent years, including multiple homicides (KTVU, 2016). Before homeless crime in Healdsburg

reaches this level, the police department is recommending the formation of a Homeless Outreach Team that

would be comprised of one sergeant and six police officers. The team would be focused on curtailing the

effects of homeless-related crime and liaising with community-based organizations that serve the homeless

community.
 The proposed Homeless Outreach Team will cost approximately $700,000, and given the current

fiscal constraints, the department is recommending the restructuring of current budget allocations to fund the

team. The funding needed will come from the reassignment of current positions, freezing vacant positions,

forgoing pending equipment replacements, and the elimination of two programs – juvenile diversion and the

department fitness program. Combined, these adjustments will fund the Homeless Outreach Team for the

next fiscal year.

Two positions are proposed to be reassigned to the Homeless Outreach Team – the administrative

sergeant position and the traffic officer position. The administrative sergeant is responsible for supervising the

communications center, scheduling of staff, and serves as the training manager for the department. These

duties can be reassigned to the remaining four sergeants as collateral duties, which would allow the

administrative sergeant to be reassigned to the Homeless Outreach Team on a full-time basis. The

reassignment would move approximately $150,000 from the administration budget to the Homeless Outreach

Team budget.

The second position that is proposed to be reassigned is the traffic officer position. In the past several

years, the community’s complaint to police administration was poor driving and other traffic-related issues.

The traffic officer position was created to address these concerns on a consistent basis and to give the

community a signal point of contact for traffic related matters. With the growing level of concern about

homeless, the approximate $115,000 in funding for this position would be better served if it was allocated

towards the homeless outreach team. Without the traffic officer, patrol officers would assume primary

responsibility for traffic enforcement.

The police department currently has a vacancy in the administrative division after the administrative

analysis/emergency coordinator retired. The department is recommending freezing this position and move

$150,000 from the administration budget to the Homeless Outreach Team budget. The essential duties would

be absorbed by the lieutenant, who previously oversaw this position. The police administration has worked
with the City Manager’s office and other department heads to formulate a plan to distribute other duties to

positions throughout the City.

Additional funding for the Homeless Outreach Team can come through delaying pending equipment

purchases. As part of earlier budget meetings, City Council requested the police department pursue an

automated license plate reader (ALPR) system for parking enforcement and allocated $112,000 for the

purchase of the equipment and related support. The ALPR system is not essential to the operations of the

department and can be delayed until other funding sources are identified. During the same meeting, Council

authorized $100,000 to be allocated for the replacement of the police radio system. While the system is aging

and is reaching the end of its useful life, it is still covered by a maintenance agreement with a radio vendor,

and they are responsible for assuring that the system operates. In consultation with the radio vendor, staff has

determined that the project can be delayed for up to three years.

The remaining reallocation of budget comes through the elimination of two department programs –

the juvenile diversion program and the police fitness program. The police department received $25,000 in

grant funding through the Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC) to start a juvenile diversion

program in fiscal year 2017-2018. The program has subsequently been funded with general fund monies from

the police department budget. On average, the department has cited 20 juveniles per year into the program,

despite the program having a much higher capacity. Other juvenile diversion programs are available to

juvenile offenders. Sonoma County Juvenile Probation refers many first time and low-level offenders through

a juvenile diversion program. The Healdsburg Unified School District also contracts with the same provider

as the police department, providing duplicated resources directly at the high school. If Council wishes to keep

the program available through the police department, staff recommends a fee based referral process, wherein

the City does not incur costs to send a juvenile through the program. This would keep the program available

and provide the budget savings necessary to fund the Homeless Outreach Team.
 The police department has a fitness program that allows all staff to workout on overtime two times per

week, up to 2 hours total. The program encourages staff to remain physically fit for the profession and aims to

reduce on-duty injuries. The department does not have sufficient staffing to allow staff to workout on-duty, so

the program was structured to use overtime. Total overtime expenditures for this program have averaged

approximately $35,000 per year. When the program was started, staff was informed that the longevity of it

would be based upon available funding. Police administration spoke with staff and representatives of the

police officers’ association, and based on those talks, staff does not believe there will be any adverse effects

on morale if this program is eliminated. With the elimination of the program, $35,000 would be moved from

the overtime budget to the Homeless Outreach Team budget.

A summary of proposed budget modifications is as follows:

Action Item Funding Re-Allocation From Budget

Re-Assign Administrative Sergeant $150,000 Admin
Re-Assign Traffic Officer Position $115,000 Patrol
Freeze Administrative Analyst/Emergency $170,000 Admin
Coordinator Position
Forgo Automated License Plate Reader $112,000 Equipment (CIP)
Forgo Radio Replacement $100,000 Equipment (CIP)
Eliminate Juvenile Diversion Program $25,000 Contracted Services
Eliminate Fitness Program $35,000 Overtime

The modifications would free $707,000 to be used for the Homeless Outreach Team.

In analyzing the proposed changes, two challenges are present – significant workload adjustments and

potential infrastructure failures. Workloads of command and supervisory staff will be impacted with the

reassignment of the administrative sergeant and freezing the administrative analysist position. Staff has

carefully considered the redistribution of duties to ensure that there is no impact to level of service that the

City provides to the community. The department operated under similar constraints during the recession and
is confident that the changes today are necessary to best serve the community through forming the Homeless

Outreach Team. Additionally, staff has thoughtfully assessed the impact of postponing the radio upgrade

project. The ability to communicate via a radio system is vital to department operations. Postponing the

upgrade by up to three years, as indicated previously, should not have a detrimental impact to operations.

Restructuring the budget would allow patrol to be fully staffed. There would be no impact on officer

safety, patrol staffing, or response times. At the same time, the formation of the Homeless Outreach Team

should have significant impact on homeless-related crime in Healdsburg and improve the quality of lives for

residents and visitors.

 References

City of Healdsburg. (2018). Biennial Budget 2018-2019 and 2019-2020. Retrieved from

http://www.ci.healdsburg.ca.us/DocumentCenter/View/8824/Biennial-Budget-2018-2019-and-2019-

2020

KTVU. (2016). Santa Rosa homeless man slain, city’s third such killing this year. Retrieved from
http://www.ktvu.com/news/ktvu-local-news/santa-rosa-homeless-man-slain-citys-third-such-killing-
this-year