Of course, Santa Clarans want their community safe, the laws enforced, and the bad guys kept at bay. That just makes good sense.
What may not make sense is the cost to provide these services to the community. Everything the city provides comes with a price tag and our current city council has worked diligently to be prudent in their decisions when it comes to costs.
Thanks to Mayor Lisa Gillmor, who has been on city council almost as long as Methuselah, has made sure your police department is well funded. Not just adequately funded, but to the point they rank as the second highest paid police force in California.
Is it because of the dangerous neighborhoods? The villains lurking in our community? The gun shooting gangs robbing and killing residents? Car thieves running wild? Nope. None of these likely issues rank any higher or lower than our neighboring cities.
City Council Member Suds Jain has investigated this very issue and done a comparison with Santa Clara’s closest neighbor which is comparable in size and population.
Crimes rates in Sunnyvale are about the same as Santa Clara. The population count is comparable to Santa Clara. Arrests numbers are also similar.
The major difference is the COST of Santa Clara’s police force compared to Sunnyvale’s public safety department, whose officers are cross-trained as both police officers and firefighters.
Sunnyvale budgets and spends $95.8 million annually on public safety.
By comparison Santa Clara, with a very similar population to Sunnyvale spends $161 million on public safety.
Why?
Because over her many years on city council, Mayor Lisa Gillmor has bought Santa Clara police with city money. They now have so much money the Santa Clara PD , for the last 8 years, has been mailing out campaign literature supporting Gillmor’s chosen candidates. Unbelievable!
You won’t be surprised to know that their candidates are not the ones trying to bring city costs under control and who have applied sound management practices to running the city.
Consider what Santa Clara could do with $60 million in additional funding. For openers, a new city swimming pool comes to mind.
The story of Santa Clara PD is a financial nightmare come to life, and residents are paying dearly for this not-so-pretty dream.
Previous Milestones:
Milestones – A Foot in the Door! – Opinion
Milestones – Fair Play? Not at Nextdoor – Opinion
Milestones – To Tell The Truth … – Opinion
Thanks Lisa!
How long has Suds been in office? If he has a problem with public safety costs, why has he voted for every budget? Santa Clara has a stadium and major university that Sunnyvale does not. Crimes associated with the stadium and university need follow up investigation which adds millions of dollars in public safety costs. That is a big expense Sunnyvale does not have.
Crimes associated with the stadium and University add millions of dollars?? I’d love to see your facts.
I didn’t realize there were murders, rapes, money laundering and meth labs at the stadium and SCU that need followup inveestigations. No wonder our police costs are so high.
Obviously Suds did not think there was a problem when he voted multiple times in support of the budget.
If the ~$65m additional cost is indeed the case it needs investigation and justification by an independent party. What reimbursements are received from the 49ers and how much is spent on SCU policing? Didn’t SC have the highest paid City Manager recently?
Quick Facts About Santa Clara and Sunnyvale’s emergency services…
• Santa Clara square miles 19.3, Sunnyvale 22.7
• Santa Clara has 2 police stations, Sunnyvale 1
• Santa Clara has 10 fire stations, Sunnyvale 6
• Santa Clara has 153 police officers
• Santa Clara has approximately 150 firefighters
• Sunnyvale has 201 public safety (police+fire) officers
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Santa Clara’s property and total crime rate per 1,000 residents is higher than in San Jose and Sunnyvale – 39.29, 31.82, 26.21 respectively. Starting salary for a police officer in San Jose is $111k, Sunnyvale $136k, Santa Clara is $147k which strongly suggests paying more in compensation and benefits doesn’t increase deterrence, doesn’t hire better cops, and doesn’t provide greater safety to residents. By the way, on average a beat cop in Santa Clara was paid $245k base+OT+other pay in 2023; $380k average total compensation when health benefits and pension contributions are added in.
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Santa Clara University has its own Campus Safety Services and budget led by retired police officers. In fact, retired police sergeant Jacob Malae who sued Patrick Nikolai for systemic racism in the department is retired and now on SCU’s CSS staff. https://www.scu.edu/campus-safety/
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Law enforcement duties at Levi’s Stadium during NFL and major events is staffed largely by “double-badge” peace officer who regularly work at other law enforcement jurisdictions. https://icma.org/articles/pm-magazine/policing-2016-super-bowl-stadium
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Council Member Jain should be joined by all council members and city staff in exploring how to drive down costs and provide better public safety services to residents, businesses, and guests in the City of Santa Clara.
Simple test. How many officers leave Santa Clara to go another agency? How many seasoned officers and sergeants (taking demotions) come to Santa Clara? Neighbors like San Jose, Sunnyvale, Los Gatos, Palo Alto, Sheriff’s Office and Fremont are bleeding because they are losing officers to other agencies. Many of them coming to Santa Clara PD and not leaving. Santa Clara saves money through retention. Miles, I know you sleep safely at night in Santa Clara. It’s because the officers actually respond here unlike many other agencies.
Also to blame SCPOA about mailers…they are a union. They can support candidates with their money. It’s allowed in America. What’s not allowed is Shuk helping Becker with Grand Jury leaks and the SVVoice taking zero accountability. Is she still on your payroll?