CUAD, from it’s inception, has had significant concern regarding police staffing of our city. As such, questions arose how Measure A, and funding that was provided through it, had not resulted in the 120 police officer positions that were to come out of the measure that was passed some ten years ago.
Measure A was a ballot measure designed to accomplish two tasks. One, to assist the city in creating a revenue stream to assist in getting the city out of bankruptcy and two, to significantly increase the number of police personnel by 120 officers.
CUAD took up this issue with several city council people, spoke at city council meetings, worked with citizens and committee appointed individuals all in an effort to understand why after ten years and over 300 thousand dollars in tax revenues the city was down nearly 140 positions. Discussions ensued with Stockton POA members and others and eventually CUAD addressed City Manager Black directly.
Manager Black offered at our meeting that a plan was to be put in place that would initially fund 60 officers while funding for an additional 60 would be utilized for retention purposes as well as increasing incentive pays. By so doing, experienced officers would be retained and salary levels for new hires would be more in line with what other departments are offering for new recruits.
CUAD endorsed this plan. While it is not what was originally promised the citizens of Stockton when Measure A passed, it was a substantial gain from the 140 police officers that the city was down. Since that time, 7 officers have returned from other departments, some 25 new recruits have been hired and the expectation is that the 60 positions will likely be filled in the next two years. CUAD will be monitoring these efforts and moving forward we have asked that either the city or the police department itself post their progress. They deserve credit for stepping up their efforts to retain and recruit as does the city manager for making offers to the SPD that they were willing to accept.