All right, good morning, everybody.

Good morning.

Welcome to the special public safety committee meeting of October 29, 2025.

Our committee leads on.

Sarah Jordan will provide information and instruction for the public to participate in today's meeting.

Sarah, please proceed.

Thank you, Chair Von Wilbert.

While members of the public are able to attend the meeting in person, this meeting is being televised and live streamed on the city's website, and the council administration will continue to make arrangements for the public to comment using the Zoom webinar platform.

Members of the public who wish to provide testimony via a call-in or an internet-based service option must enter the virtual speaking queue within five minutes after conclusion of in-person public testimony or before the virtual speaking queue is exhausted, whichever occurs first.

This will allow for better meeting management between the two platforms and ensure the committee is able to manage and conduct city business.

We appreciate the public's cooperation.

Chair.

Thank you, Sarah.

I now call the special public safety committee meeting of October 29th, 2025 to order.

Sarah, please call the role.

Vice Chair Kempio.

Here.

Committee member Campbell.

Here.

Committee member Whitburn.

Here.

Chair Von Wilbert.

Present.

And also attending the meeting today is Laura De Poiser from the Office of the City Attorney.

Baku Patel from the Office of the IBA and Coda Zeiser from the Office of the Mayor.

And if you're in person, please complete a speaker slip located at the entrance of chambers and place it on the box indicated at the lectern at the front of the room.

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Thank you very much for reviewing the instructions for the benefit of the public.

A quorum is now present.

Um, and as a note to the public, non-agenda public comment will be taken at the end of the meeting today.

Uh, do we have any committee, mayor, city attorney, or IBA comments?

Um, I just have one.

Um, yesterday I attended uh the funeral for Officer Laura Craven for the La Mesa Police Department.

She was incredible officer even at 25 years old, and she lost her life, uh saving others' lives, as so many called to this service do.

Um her family is an incredibly supportive family, and she had just graduated from the police academy only earlier this year, and so I want to thank her for a very short but impactful service.

I want to think her family and um could take a moment of silence for Officer Craven, please.

Thank you very much, and thank you very much to all of our first responders who serve us every day.

Um do we have any requests for continuance?

Hearing none, we'll move on to our consent agenda.

Um do I have any requests to pull an item from the consent agenda?

No.

All right, uh, please proceed with public comment.

Thank you, Chair.

The public comment period for the consent agenda is now open, and the consent agenda includes item number one, approval of the committee minutes from September 18th, 2025.

Item number two, first amendment to the cooperative contract between the City of San Diego and Motorola Solutions for RMS Mobile Records Management Service.

Each speaker will have one minute, and when I call your name, if you can please indicate which item or items you'll be speaking to.

We've not received any speaker slips here in chambers, so I will begin the five-minute timer for all those in the virtual queue to indicate if they wish to provide comment on the consent agenda.

We will begin with phone number ending in 7234.

You can unmute by pressing star six.

If you can indicate which item or items you'll be speaking to.

Okay, thank you.

Good morning, public safety committee chair von Wilbert.

Thank you for letting me address my comments on September 18th as recorded in the minutes.

First, thanks to the clerk's office for their admirable job of synthesizing our comments.

While I did address the value of smoke-free policies to the city's health and safety, I wanted to add a couple of sentences regarding the value of vape-free policies as well.

Secondhand smoke and vapor both create environmental waste and personal harm.

And the products are not just tobacco.

They're also nicotine, which is different than the plant materials of tobacco.

However, still a real threat as they burn.

An additional threat is marijuana smoke and vapor from a marijuana butt, or more like from an electronic device containing highly concentrated THC.

Thank you for hearing my concerns this morning.

Thank you for sharing your testimony.

Our next speaker is the original.

If you can please unmute and indicate which item or items you'll be speaking to.

Both, please.

All right, two minutes, please begin.

Thanks.

So uh the uh minutes last time talking about the um San Diego gas and electric emergency preparedness, shut off stuff like that.

Um, you know, it's it's good to do that, but I I feel like we're not really getting where we need to as far as preparing for um an evacuation in an emergency.

We're you know, doing certain things on a certain level that is going to help in a fire, but when we're putting implementing things that are going to impede people's ability, we're not doing things like having town hall meetings or you know, meetings with the the um law enforcement and fire department to to make sure that everybody is prepared.

I mean, we have all these apps and stuff, but there's you know, when phone services are down, like that's a problem being able to access something like that.

And if people you know aren't prepared ahead of time, then there's gonna be a lot of chaos.

So it doesn't even matter if you shut something like that off, there's still gonna be issues.

And with this Motorola um technology, you guys are always exceeding your not to exceed amounts.

And this is by almost a million dollars, 960,000 for this technology to basically make tickets um paperless.

And I just I mean, and yes, to send this information to like the courthouse and all of this stuff, but again, I feel like you know, we spend all of this money and this time, even though we're in a huge deficit for things like this kind of technology.

But again, like they should be more being concerned about what do we do in an evacuation.

I just feel like we have already seen what happens in um LA and other places, and yet we're just like you know, dragging our feet, acting like, well, it's not really gonna happen.

I I'm hoping that nothing happens here, and you guys don't put people in danger from all of the ways that you are building your infrastructure and having a lack of evacuations.

Thank you for your comment.

Our next speaker is Blair Beekman.

If you can please unmute and let us know which item or items you'll be speaking to.

Um the uh previous agenda minutes.

All right, one minute, please begin.

All right, thank you, Blair Beekman.

Uh, to report out on the uh agenda minutes of last time.

Uh yeah.

Um I wanted to comment that um you offer our item item three about gas enforcement team needs help in the community.

Exclamation point.

Um, I think it was uh an item, and that how you were talking about this sort of item in September was more of a communal community feeling and sense now uh with the parking enforcement issues that you're going to be using that funds for uh more smart street like technology.

Uh I warned we have to be starting to be prepared how to talk about technology more.

Um I'm learning that you know the ALPR process, why you're not considering reducing ALPRs more, why that's not a more open conversation, is possibly because of uh the smart street light rollout based on a program that's questionable and it has no democracy involved.

You're simply ending the parking uh commission process, it sounds something going wrong.

Um we have to do that.

Thank you for your testimony.

This does conclude your time.

Thank you for your comment and chair with another hands in the queue.

This concludes a comment on the consent agenda.

Thank you very much.

I will now turn it over to my committee members for any questions, comments, and a motion.

We're starting with Council Ver Campbell.

Uh thank you, Chair.

I would like to make a motion to uh accept the consent agenda.

Fantastic.

Okay, we have a second, we have a motion and a second on the consent agenda.

Um I just have one question about the Motorola contract, uh, which is I'm glad that we're actually able to do signatures on mobile devices.

We previously approved a Motorola contract, so is this just adding to the devices we already have?

Or is there something new that's coming in the field?

Sure, I guess, thank you.

Hi, uh my name is Joseph Schneider.

I'm with San Diego PDIT.

So what this will allow the officers to do is use their mobile phones specifically to be able to take case reports, mobile citations, field interviews.

Okay, so we don't is it software we're bringing or is it new equipment or buying our both?

Software.

That's what I thought.

Okay.

All right, fantastic.

Well, this is exciting.

I'm always glad to get new better technology so that officers can spend less time doing paperwork and more time out in the field.

Um, and I'm happy to support the motion today.

Also, kudos to SDPD for finding savings in the budget to help with the increased costs.

And I'm we're watching the overtime costs go down a bit too.

So this is really great to see.

So thank you.

All right.

Um no other questions or comments.

Uh please take the vote.

And Chair, the consent agenda passes unanimously 4-0.

All right, thank you very much.

Um now we're going to go on to discussion agenda item number three.

Sarah, please introduce item three.

Thank you, Chair.

Item number three resolution authorizing regular rate overtime compensation for out of jurisdiction emergency deployments with reimbursable personnel costs.

If you're watching on City TV or the live stream online, and you'd like to dial in in the meeting to speak, please call 1669-2545252.

Inputting webinar ID 161-217-1797 pound.

Chair.

All right.

Thank you to our presenters.

Please uh uh introduce yourselves to the record and let us know how much time you'll need.

All right, good morning.

Um public safety committee.

Um I name is William Melendez.

I'm currently serving as the Deputy Chief of Employee Services for San Diego Fire Rescue.

Um with me today is battalion chief Chris Sovey.

Um, Chris Sovi manages, he's a program manager for our um San Diego Interagency Um Incident Management Team.

And so if there's any specific uh questions, uh the purpose of this presentation is to just is twofold.

It will it'll uh request a approval of a resolution as well as kind of give you an overview and uh say an update about our um incident management team process for the San Diego Fire Rescue Department, which has a couple of tie tie-ins with the um the recent audit done with the storm and um the state of state of California in our deployments.

Uh so quick overview.

Um, this proposal is for authorization for overtime payment for a classified and unclassified unrepresented fire rescue employees.

Um the purpose um for out of out of jurisdiction emergency responses, and it it it facilitates a full reimbursement through California Fire Assistance Agreement, CFAA, which we are currently part of for the um the classified um employees.

Um our proposed actions today is approval approval resolution authorizing payment of regular rate overtime for certain salary and unrepresented SDFD employees, approximately 12 employees while on deployment for added jurisdiction emergency responses to facilitate to facilitate SDFD seeking full reimbursement of personnel cost under CFAA.

Um over the over I would say in the past 20 years, especially in the last five years, um our involved our fire rescue department's involvement with um large-scale incidents uh within the county, within the city, and within the state of California has increased.

Um as we are we are part of the California Fire and Rescue Mutual Aid System.

Um so we provide that automatic that aid to other jurisdictions throughout the state.

Uh the reimbursement process, reimbursements are through um CFAA and our fire rescue fiscal division.

Um again, they're fully reimbursable, and it includes an administrative uh fee on top that we collect as a as a city, which is just a little bit above 20 percent.

So we're cost neutral and with an administrative fee on top of that.

Um, this this resolution will put us in make us consistent with a majority of fire departments within the San Diego County and the state of California.

Uh examples include um that would put us in line with um in this in our area in our metro zone, Poway National City Fire Department at Chula Vista Fire Department also has uh similar programs.

So our um our our responses um within the state and and the west coast and really really the country it it varies.

Um I consider it's an all-hazard department.

We respond to whether it's floodings or fires or any kind of hazardous materials pickup.

Um we're kind of we're doing an all-hazard.

Um we serve in local, state, and federal um emergencies, and our management positions on these large complex incidents um range anywhere from the incident commander in charge of the incident to a planned section chief, um, liaison officers, safety officers, logistics um chiefs um and operations chiefs.

And what this resolution does, and it just allows our personnel that are we currently support our our entire fire department from an early um early age, but early part in their career as a firefighter to engage in these incident management teams at more of the task level, and as they progress through their career, they go into more management management level positions.

So the purpose of this resolution is to really continue that that experience level and bring that knowledge base uh to the city of San Diego.

Uh I also see this as a as a critical um recruitment tool for the executive command staff and the fire of San Diego Fire Rescue, as it is another opportunity for our personnel to continue kind of what they signed up to do on in this department as far as responding to emergencies.

Uh next, I want to kind of touch on uh the San Diego interagency incident management team, uh which is managed by uh Town Chief Chris Sobey to my right.

Um the purpose of this um started after the 2003 cedar fire.

Um, and it's it's gone through some some iterations.

Um, and then in the past two or three years, I've seen uh a significant use of this of this program um and specifically within the last um in this current season uh with the current recent deployment up to the Sequoia National Forest Um from our our own incident management team.

Um the availability, this is managed through uh Chris Sove um and it works hand in hand with our city's OES department, and it is um primarily for the San Diego operational area.

It's it consists of uh multi um jurisdictional members, so it's not just uh solely San Diego, but it is a collaboration with other fire departments and law enforcement agencies.

Um just one highlight and and just off of the recent uh storm response from our city.

Um I just wanted to tie this resolution in and kind of highlight the um in three of the rec two of the recommendations 3.1 and 3.2 um with regard to developing and maintaining an incident management team uh within the city.

Again, this this is more on the OES side, uh, but the fire department is a critical component of managing that and providing that insight and experience to these teams.

Um that was recently experienced within the uh um the the the f the the storm event that we had um as far as the fire department involvement and um helping kind of manage that and and bring uh other departments together in uh in order to manage the incident and more importantly, kind of manage um after the after the response, but kind of the the the uh the the um recovery efforts as well.

Uh so as far as our strategic um plan objective, this falls under the uh to protect and enrich every neighborhood.

Uh the physical can considerations again.

This is um reimbursement from portal to portal time.

Um it is the city's general fund is fully reimbursed.

And then I mentioned there's administrative fee recovery from Cal OES as well.

And this is an ad as needed basis, so it just really depends on the fire season or the um emergency incidents within within our state of California.

At this time, I'd like to open it if you had any questions.

Thank you very much for the presentation.

And uh Sarah, please take any public comment on this item.

Thank you, Chair.

We've not received any slips here in chambers, so I'll begin the five-minute timer for all those in the virtual queue to indicate if they wish to provide comment on item number three.

We'll begin testimony with the original.

Please unmute and begin.

Each speaker will have two minutes.

Yeah, it's interesting when you guys want your money back.

You you work really fast, and as we can see, you know, with the floods, that it wasn't handled well.

Granted, the fire department did a good job, but then you know, we're not working to, I mean, it doesn't seem like you're gonna be doing anything until July of 2026 to really you know mitigate things, and that's just a little bit sad to see that you know people should see that obviously money is more important to get back than you know, preparing and making sure that we're going to be able to handle another an emergency.

I mean, if you're going out of town and doing it, and we can't even handle them here as we've seen, and we're not preparing for other types that are gonna come, you know, but you're concerned about getting your money when you know all we do is throw money to people's salaries and to these things, but we don't have a lot to show for, and it's really sad.

I mean, you guys should be acting more um like it's an emergency to be able to handle an emergency.

It shouldn't be that one comes and then you know, you find out through audits and different things that you didn't handle it well, but then we just continue on and we don't really have any plans.

We go about our day about you know implementing all of these things for the environment and you know to protect that.

But when it comes to protecting people, it's just I mean, I feel like you guys just don't, you know, you're not acting like it's it's that big of a deal.

And so people have to actually lose their lives because of the negligence and the unpreparedness.

And then we go in these other places and you want to get paid overtime and all of this.

I mean, when are we gonna take care of San Diego?

We already seen that you can't do it.

We're not prepared for fires.

So I mean, until that happens, I don't know that we should be giving anybody any more money.

Um, because people are going to be losing their lives, and it's because you guys mismanage all of the money that you get and you care more about the environment than the people.

Thank you for your testimony.

Our next speaker is Blair Beekman.

Please unmute and begin.

Hi, uh Blair Beekman.

Uh thanks for this item.

Um I I disagree a bit with uh DRA on how to uh approach this sort of subject uh at this time.

Um she's usually right in how she thinks and works, and I'm usually a bit overly positive.

But it's my feeling over this past summer at least that uh y uh uh uh uh emergency services, you guys have really kind of you gelled more and coalesced more into a into a uh a better working unit uh to help community to help facilitate evacuation processes.

Uh I'm guessing you guys are doing that better uh from this summer.

And and uh we're in a moment to time to consider how to improve from here.

We're doing good.

How do we improve upon that?

Maybe this is the kind of steps needed, I'm not sure, but um it can be a step.

I wanted to mention uh and no disrespect to DRA, by the way.

Uh I wanted to mention that um uh with overtime issues, uh the city of San Jose ran into some trouble in how they practice their overtime issues with uh police.

And I they may have uh in used instituted some sort of overtime practices that uh it it jibed the wrong way with uh current uh police union people.

Um maybe it was the set of practices that could be more applicable in another situation.

Maybe in this sort of situation, I'm not sure.

But I thought I would just report on it at this time, just to give you a sense of uh how other cities are working on their overtime.

And hopefully this overtime is a part of a process that uh is you've had a good summer, and let's build on really good practices of this summer.

And and if this is a way to do that, uh good for you.

Uh good luck and best practices.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comment and chair with no other hands in the queue.

This concludes testimony for item three.

All right, thank you very much.

Um to the members of the public who commented, and thank you to our presenters.

Um, thank you for the work you've done since the Cedar fire to really make sure that we have the incident management teams together.

Um, you know, I've been on tabletop trainings before between um the police department and the fire department about what to do if there's an incident in the city of San Diego.

And so I'm happy to make the motion to approve uh staff's recommendation here.

But one question I have is is it are other first responders usually involved in these you know, strike teams.

Do we ever send our lifeguards up or a police department up?

So so yes, um lifeguards have gone up um with they're they're when it's like swift water related.

Um we've sent we've sent out Cal OES um teams uh like with on the on with boats and and whatnot and um to these deployments.

Okay.

So and then there is a current effort um with with Chief Silva here to make sure that we are that they're encouraging lifeguard participation and I just like to speak uh regarding the lifeguards.

Um we typically hold a preseason meeting, which is a requirement if you wanted to be deployable or assigned to an incident management team.

Uh this year was the first year that the lifeguards were included.

We had about a hundred and I believe it's 168 people attend eight different meetings, and of that 53 of them were lifeguards.

And it's now on my rosters.

I've I've rostered a few lifeguards and they're interested in incident management team specific positions, which we can support.

Okay.

Uh fantastic.

Uh same thing with our police department.

I cannot speak for the police department.

I know on the I've been on multiple of these teams.

Um, and there is there are positions that are um law enforcement specific, um, as far as like a law enforcement liaison officers, um, and then just for just for public safety, yeah, on the on the team.

Um, but as far as like their their involvement with deployment, I'm I can't speak to that.

Okay.

Um wondering maybe we can follow up with the city attorney on this about whether or not we need to do a similar resolution for folks in salary positions in SCPD to make sure if they're being deployed, we're also getting the same amount of cost recovery.

Um, thank you.

I appreciate it.

Uh I don't know if it could even be amended before this goes to full council just to include them in.

I I have no idea.

I'll defer to the city attorney on that.

Um and also, will this include our lifeguards if there's you know folks in the upper is that included in this resolution?

Yes.

So the lifeguards are already included um just on the previous CFA agreement.

Uh this this is just includes our lifeguard chief and our lifeguard marine safety captain who were not included before.

Okay.

All right.

So yeah, if we need to do a separate one to make sure if any of our PD need because I'd like to get full reimbursement for the city from any of the strike teams that are deployed, so just want to make sure that happens.

Yeah, council member, we'll check with PD on what their operational needs are and see if we can match it uh before the Sitem Returns Council.

Okay, sounds good.

Thank you.

I appreciate it.

Um thank you for the great work you're doing.

It's just uh we we are so much safer in San Diego County because of all the work you're doing, especially with Cal OES too.

I noticed during the last well, fire season this year round now.

You know, January was one of some of the hot spots we had this year.

Um, but up in Script Franch, for example, I noticed that um there was uh Cal OES uh the the green fire trucks were stationed around, and we had personnel sleeping in hotels in different parts of the city and the county, so they could be there very quickly if there were to be a fire, and our um aerial operations have been fantastic too.

So just uh that photo you showed of uh the Cedar fire, that was my neighborhood.

A lot of my high school friends lived in those houses and they were burned, and it was horrendous.

So I just I appreciate how much safer we are now.

So I'm happy to make the motion for this.

Uh what a thank you also for thinking about the city's finances and making sure that we are drawing back the most money when we send folks out for deployment.

Um now I'll turn it over to uh Dr.

Council Mart Campbell.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair von Wolpert.

I I am uh just want to thank you for the presentation and thank you for all the good work that you all do.

Uh really appreciate it.

Um the state is very lucky that it can call on us to help them in these uh big fire situations.

I was kind of surprised uh when I read about this item because I figured that that was already done.

So I'm really glad that we're doing it.

I wanted to ask you, is there any end date to this, or is this gonna it won't have to come back a million times?

Uh there is no end date, and this will just good, good.

Okay, well, and the state is okay with this, they do it with other fire departments.

Absolutely.

This actually puts us more in line with with the the standard of all the other fire departments.

Yeah, it it makes perfect sense.

And I uh so I am very much in favor of this, and I'm I want to thank you.

I know the rest of the state also is grateful for your help when these things happen, other places.

And thank you so much for just this past this current fire season that we're in, which is actually 12 months a year now.

Um, is it's just amazing the job that fire rescue has done, and I'm so appreciative of it.

The minute those fires start, you guys are there tapping it out, and it really is helpful.

I so appreciate it.

So I will second the motion and thank you very much.

All right, thank you very much.

Seeing no other comments or questions, uh Sarah, please take the vote.

Item three passes unanimously four zero.

Thank you very much.

We appreciate you.

Yep, thank you for your time.

Um we will now move on to our information agenda, which is item four.

Uh Sarah, please introduce item four.

Thank you, Chair von Welbert.

Item number four analysis of civilian positions to maximize the San Diego Police Department's civilian and sworn resources.

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Inputting webinar ID 161-217-1797 pound.

Chair.

Thank you very much.

Uh, please uh introduce yourself to the record and let us know how much time you'll need for your presentation.

Good morning, I'm Captain Charles Lutta.

I'm uh the captain of RAP.

Um with me is uh Jordan Fankhauser.

He's my my data guru.

And um we need a probably 10 minutes or less to the presentation.

Okay, please proceed.

All right, well, we kind of jumped right into slide three.

This is our response to the city auditor that was uh was asked.

Uh so they asked us to present here.

So following a city auditor report on overtime expenditures, it was suggested that uh patrol officer overtime may be mitigated to some degree by utilizing police investigative service officers.

We call them PIZOS to reduce sworn officer workload.

The city auditor was provided a list of call types that a PISA would be eligible to be dispatched on, seen here in this slide.

These calls were used as an indicator in their study for how much of the overall call volume could potentially be handled by a PISO unit instead of a patrol officer.

However, many of the call types that a PISA may be eligible to respond to uh do not necessarily mean that a PISA would be the only unit to respond.

Because of this fact, the analysis conducted by the city auditor may have unfortunately overestimated the amount of call volume a PISO could actually reduce from our sworn patrol force.

On the next slide, you'll see upon closer analysis, the 40 potential call types identified on the PISO dispatch policy may have been too optimistic.

Out of the 40 call types that a PISO could assist with, 25 were identified as eligible for a PISO to act as a sole, what we'll call a primary unit.

And most importantly, as long as no safety or other investigative concerns were present.

These 25 call types were designated as potentially what we would call PISO primary, meaning that a PISO could theoretically handle the call safely without a sworn officer present.

So next slide.

The PISO primary call types generally consist of the lower priority calls that do not typically require a sworn officer to handle in addition to a PISO unit.

As indicated in this slide here, many factors, such as safety or other investigative concerns may require officers to respond to in addition to a PISO.

An example of this would be like a collision on 1183, a no detail accident, or an 1171, a fire.

However, it's important to again emphasize this is that just because a call type has been identified as a PISO primary, it does not guarantee that a PISO would solely be able to respond every time.

Now, data provided to the city auditor consisted of three months of calls for service with unit data for the period of April through June of 2023.

The city auditor determined that based on the original 40 call types that a PISO is eligible to respond to, that 13% of the overall call volume could be handled by a PISO solely.

Essentially, this is suggesting that 13% of the call volume could be handled by a PISO instead of a police officer, a sworn officer.

However, after the same data set was reduced to only calls identified as PISO primary, 25 call types, it was determined that only 7% of the overall call volume could potentially be handled by a PISO alone.

However, after conducting this simple comparison using the same data provided to the city auditor, it was determined that a larger data set was needed in order to more accurately estimate potential PISO workload.

So we did.

To simplify the estimates for staffing purposes, the next step was to determine PISO staffing numbers for handling 16% of the calls, with the understanding that they would be acting as a supplement to patrol officers in any capacity.

So using the same workload-based staffing model that is used for our sworn allocations, the table on the left calculates how many PISOs would be needed to supplement the patrol officers in approximately 16% of the annual call volume.

This would be acting either as a primary unit or in a supporting capacity.

As you can see, the daily minimum suggests 33 PISOs would be needed to support 16% of the call volume.

When multiplied out by our standard relief factor, accounting for shifts, vacations, sick leave, and the like, we are estimating that an additional 78 PISOs required to accommodate that workload.

While the addition of the 33 PISOs would undoubtedly be helpful in reducing some of the workload from sworn officers, the variability of real-world calls must be considered paramount when estimating staffing needs.

In short, pisos are a supplement to patrol officers in the field.

They're a great support, but should not represent a direct replacement for potential work done by a sworn officer.

Because of the situation, we have to consider where the approximately 123,000 per piso position annually based on a five-year average could be better allocated among other immediate department needs, which moves us into the second part of our presentation, the additional civilian hiring needs.

Now, in addition to the PISO study conducted by the department, a survey was distributed amongst our various commands to determine what civilian positions could best be added in order to reduce workload on sworn officers performing administrative or investigative duties as well.

The city auditor estimated that adding approximately 100 patrol pisos could cost between seven to eight million annually.

However, since it has been determined that additional patrol pisos would only represent a supplement to current sworn staffing, the department considered where that money could potentially be allocated otherwise that may have more immediate effect and impact to both overtime expenditures and service levels.

Based on the results of the survey, the chart shows the total number of additional positions requested along with their estimated costs, in addition to the 78 patrol supplement piece of positions considered in the previous study.

SCP D command staff have expressed a need for approximately 100 other civilian positions to maximize the organization's effectiveness.

This request is in line with civilian staffing that existed within the SCPD over a decade ago when budget cuts reduced hundreds of FTE positions within the department.

Additionally, when civilian staff are prevented from filling positions during hiring freezes, higher paid sworn classifications often have to absorb that work, resulting in increased costs in both regular and overtime pay.

So if it comes to one of our recommendations, that if it came to freezing, given the dire budgetary times we see, I know that sworn often we avoid the hiring freezes, but if we could not freeze the PD uh non-sworn as well, that would be optimal for us because that keeps sworn officers from having to, you know, go back and fill in those jobs.

Civilian administrative and investigative support positions such as these could potentially reduce some of the overtime costs of sworn officers having to absorb additional duties that would have otherwise been handled by another role.

As an example, additional associate management analysts and crime analysis could reduce some of the high-intensity cell phone uh analytical work currently being carried out by detectives during criminal investigations.

The technology, cell phone returns, um social media and analysis is very time consuming.

And now that sort of investigation permeates almost every kind of investigation that we do.

The department feels um it is important to implement a holistic approach uh to addressing shortcomings of civilian staffing and its impacts on sworn resources and ultimately costs to the city.

So looking at our our our the other non-sworn positions that the the captains and the command staff were looking at to fill in the the positions that were cored out years ago, and looking at pisos as as a definite help, but as a supplement to our patrol is the way we want to look at it.

In summary, and the final uh slide here the while, in addition to any complement of patrol pisos, is likely to have positive impacts on the workload currently experienced by sworn officers, their presence is a supplement.

Uh, it is important to implement this holistic approach to addressing those shortcomings of staffing.

Given the current fiscal situation, our department finds that the greatest potential impact may come from these other civilian uh administrative positions.

But truth be told, we are we are looking to pisos, any any person not taking that traffic post, not doing that impound, not doing the onerous uh uh uh work on uh uh on uh investigative enhancement that say a crime analyst would do.

All of those things take stones out of the pack of the sworn officers out there in the field.

Um and uh news hot off the presses.

The recruitment announcement for PISO one and PISO two are scheduled to be publicly uh published, forgive me, on November 7th, and uh that process closing December 8th.

And uh currently we only have 15 pisos uh in the field, so having that enhancement, again, I I know that we it's not necessarily a one-for-one, but anything that takes uh a work away from the sworn officers, as you were uh so kind to point out, you know, they're doing the work in the field.

Um, and so again, that's that concludes our presentation.

Happy to uh answer questions, but if I could just take a moment and say thank you, uh uh council member to uh I I too had the privilege of uh of attending the uh the ceremony for Officer Craven, and it is a uh reminder I feel like we don't take this this uh this black band off of our badge much anymore.

Uh the real palpable danger that uh that officers face every day.

And again, I I just appreciate your you your pointing that out.

And uh, we're happy to take any questions.

I thank you very much for the presentation.

And uh, Sarah, please proceed with public comment.

Thank you, Chair.

We've received two speaker slips here in chambers.

Each speaker will have two minutes and we'll begin testimony with Jared Wilson.

Good morning.

Um thank you for allowing me to speak this morning.

Thank you for all to your commitment to public safety.

I know I'm a preacher of the choir to many of you on this, so thank you all.

Um my name is Jared Wilson.

I'm a lieutenant with the State of Police Department.

I'm speaking today as the president on behalf of the slightly over 1,800 members of my organization.

And I appreciate the efforts of the RAP unit and Captain Laura and his team.

That's a is a fantastic analysis.

Uh they're doing a great job in that unit.

We appreciate their efforts to analyze the civilian positions, but we're deeply, deeply concerned about the future of public safety in San Diego.

We're concerned about the overall direction of the department staffing.

This the facts they speak for themselves here.

We have 1,853 sworn officers today, including people who are hurt off duty, who are on light duty, who are recruits in the academy who are not responding to calls.

In 1991, we had 1,86.

And we've lost cops.

That means we have response times at over 30 minutes for priority calls where domestic violence victim goes without a police officer responding to help.

Our city's grown dramatically, but our sworn ranks, the officers investigating crimes and going to 911 calls has dramatically been reduced.

This isn't a question of efficiency or civilianization or optimization.

Civilians cannot respond to emergencies.

They cannot take violent suspects into custody.

They cannot handle most 911 calls.

Yet during the last budget cycle, the city added three PISO positions and cut sworn officers for the first time in years.

This is irresponsible governance.

They take opportunities away from the people who work full time for the police department, and they do nothing to solve the real staffing crisis of going to 911 calls on a data basis.

The cuts to overtime this year have exacerbated the problem.

Priority one and priority two calls are up 10%.

And this is unacceptable.

Please do not cut sworn staffing this year in favor of civilians like last year.

Thank you.

Thank you for that concluding remark.

Corinne Wilson.

Good morning.

Corrine Wilson with the San Diego Municipal Employees Association.

I want to thank the city auditor and the police department for looking into options to address budgetary issues while um helping with response times.

As the union that proudly represents the civilian positions in the police department, MEA appreciates this analysis.

Civilian positions are important, are an important part of providing quality and timely response to Sandy Eagans.

What's presented today is at a high level, and as we know, details matter.

So with all due respect, um this is unclear to us, and we look forward to working with you to understand what's going into this.

Um as I said, we look forward to engaging with the police department on this item before it is fully implemented before it comes back to you as a decision item.

And we appreciate the support of this committee and the council in understanding the importance of civilian positions.

Thank you.

Thank you.

This concludes testimony here in chambers.

So I'll begin the five-minute timer for all those in the virtual queue to indicate if they wish to provide testimony for item number four.

Each speaker will have two minutes and we'll begin with the original.

Please unmute and begin.

See, the problem is is that when COVID was going on, you guys um made requirements for employment of getting a vaccine, and you lost a good significant nearly a third of the police department.

So, you know, now we're we're reaping the consequences of the actions of the city.

And you know, this is a very dangerous uh the way that could lead, especially if you're you know what you're doing with getting rid of officers.

I mean, what is going to hold these people accountable to if they're not sworn, do they take an oath?

Do they carry a firearm?

Um, you're wanting them to deal with runaway juveniles, that's dangerous.

I don't think that I mean, there's potentially many things that could be going on with that, and it's a business to put them in um juvenile detention and make money off of them.

Um, but even what happens in an elevated situation.

I mean, they're able to check criminal records.

I mean, what kind of access do they have to um you know the system and and what are the requirements for a sworn officer to see it?

And if they're able to, it's just like you know, what access do they have?

Um, and if they're supposed to be developing leads, I mean, are they equipped to do that?

What kind of information are they going to be accessing to do that?

Um, you know, you want them to protect a crime scene.

It's just this is um, you know, and and it's gonna be a lot of money that goes towards that.

So I think that you guys need to be answering some more questions as far as I mean, I already saw an application on online for it.

And obviously, you've already been hiring them, but you know, if I I just think that this is very dangerous when there's already concerns with how police um intervene with people, especially with behavioral health issues and wind up.

I mean, we've paid a lot of settlements out for people being murdered because the officer opens up their weapon on someone who uh they shouldn't.

So, you know, are these people going to be carrying a firearm?

I I think you guys have more questions to answer before deciding.

Thank you for that concluding remark.

Our next speaker is Blair Beekman.

Please unmute and begin.

All right, thank you.

Uh Blair Beekman.

Um, yeah, I'm for the idea of civilian uh policing.

And um interesting, you had a nice public comment from uh a union representative uh uh talking about uh civilian policing, how their role they can have.

And um interesting, you had a nice public comment from uh a union representative uh uh talking about uh civilian policing, how their role they can have.

Uh the SCIU, SEIU is another uh union that that works well uh with such matters.

Um union help can be significant uh to define uh civilian policing.

And you know, it's it's uh it has a good uh reference point.

And um good luck what you can do.

Uh I I think I think things can actually uh work out uh very cooperatively, and I think that's the goal we're trying to move towards uh with our future policing in a in a city.

Um I like community the the uh the PISO officer ideas.

Um coming from San Jose originally, their community officers, they were a bit cold.

They wanted to do their job so well that you know, if they were on a scene and uh and you know they were you know creating parameters around a scene, and I would want to ask them a few questions about what is that exactly going on.

It seems like a PISO officer would be uh really good at that kind of job just to give some basic information to explain the situation and I mean and just work as a good liaison, and um they were very cold in San Jose.

They they said nope, no, we can't offer any information at this time.

You know, they they work on those terms, and uh I think that's the wrong approach.

I think PISO officers uh have to have a good uh communication with with everyday community and and make uh a job easier.

That makes the job easier for police and everybody, I think.

Um so good luck in uh community relations, the important job in that, and um thank you for this item.

Thank you for your comment.

And Chair, this concludes comment for item four.

All right, thank you very much.

Um, this is an informational item only, and so I'll turn to my colleagues for any questions or comments.

Go ahead.

Uh Dr.

Campbell?

Thank you.

Uh thanks for the the report.

I I just think it's really difficult for outside people who aren't part of the system within the police department to understand all the all the um complexities involved with with calls.

And I I wonder if sometimes they're a little bit overzealous about using civilians to fulfill a role that really needs a sworn officer.

So I would disagree with some of the numbers in the audit, but I I really feel that that it would help the police department uh to have some civilian more civilians to do jobs that civilians can do that aren't related to safety, et cetera.

Um and certainly we need more sworn police officers.

So we need some more of each.

And and as uh hopefully is when economic times get better and we have more finances with which to help out with hiring more people, I would hope that we could hire some more of sworn officers and some more of the others.

I once um just within the last few years read an urban study by an expert in cities and law enforcement in cities, and he felt that a city the size of ours should have 4,000 sworn officers.

Now, if we had 4,000 sworn officers, we wouldn't have to pay overtime.

We would be able to fill our 24-7 obligations most of the time.

And I I think I think that's a wonderful, admirable goal, and that would be more than double the sworn officers we have now.

But I I think it is a goal that we should think about.

And uh whatever assistance that civilian people working back in the office, etc.

can give to help, that would be fine.

But I think I think we need to concentrate on on our sworn officers getting our overtime down and making sure we have enough staff so there isn't too much put on the shoulders of those who are already on staff as sworn officers.

So I think uh I think you guys do a marvelous job.

We are one of the safest cities.

I if not, I mean I know some years we're the biggest safe uh city.

I mean, the the most safe city of all big cities in America.

We're the eighth largest city, and uh oftentimes we take first place.

I'm not sure where we are in this year, last year I think we were second, but we're always right up there at the top, and I think it a lot of it is because of the good uh the good work that our department does.

I really believe that you need to have twice as many officers as you have, and more civilian help.

So anything I can do to help with that, I'd be glad to.

I think basically it depends mostly on the economy and how much revenue our city can can muster to take care of the needs of public safety, which is number one.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

And now on to Council R Campillo.

Thank you very much, Chair.

Thank you very much to our our police department and our staff that are here today with the presentation, members of the public for their participation.

Uh looking at the findings here, estimated 17.6 million dollars annual cost to hire enough additional civilian staff to fully maximize efficiency and uh identified needs such as office support specialists, analysts, administrative aids, word processing officers, interns, and more.

Um what are some of the inefficiencies so that we can explain to our constituents this is where there's sort of a break in the workforce that makes it less efficient.

Just give me the nut top thing you've seen so I can communicate this.

I can just give some simple stories.

I think the crime analysis, you know, I'll have uh Jordan speak specifically to that, because I think it is a great place for some growth there.

But just it just in the simple tasks that are you know, like let's say you have a protracted crime scene and a major set major collision and intersection.

We've seen some some some real tragedies lately.

And if you have uh a non-sworn officer, a piso, and by the way, which is related to his to a historical position called community resource officer, it's about the same thing, renamed.

They can take that that protracted scene where an officer doesn't have to be there standing and directing traffic and be able to effectively get that officer, an unoff a sworn officer back in service, like as some of the callers are saying, you know, to the the greater priority or the greater danger call.

If there's a you know significant impounds that have to be done, then they can go and attend to that.

The it's it's some of the the the cold reports, uh these people they're they're all backgrounded.

Um and there are also places where if you're talking about savings, like let's say someone has a stumble in in in training as as a police officer, that person is already backgrounded and the city has probably spent a significant uh amount of money in training.

We can harvest those people, give them a place to kind of get their legs under them, the navigation, the crime reporting, talking on the radio, and it's a place for us per to preserve that until they you know maybe get another shot at the academy.

There's there's real there's real benefit there.

Uh and before we jump into the um how they can help on the uh on the uh analysis side, I just want to say for clarity, uh it in my first two commands, it has been my blessing to to lead a lot of non-sworn folks.

Uh they they do a lot of the they're the unsung heroes of the department.

They really do a lot of the the the great behind the scenes work that enable the sworn officers to do their thing.

Um and I I don't think this has to be an either-or.

I think incrementally both as you know we as as times get better, that we're looking at both the sworn positions and the non-sworn positions to to really maximize what we can do as a police department.

We've always run lean, but I think having those uh efficiencies there are super important on both sides.

It doesn't have to be either or.

I want to talk about more specifically about crime analysis.

Thanks, sir.

Uh my name is Jordan.

I'm just a humble crime analyst, so not as uh esteemed as the captain here, but uh you are the guru, sir.

He called you the guru.

Far from that.

Um but uh uh just to kind of give the the you know the civilian perspective and and you know, one one humble units within the department, right?

We we have about seven working analysts in our in our unit, and we've had that pretty much since the inception of the unit.

And um our analysts work all the way from every single area station, our our nine commands, all the way to our centralized investigations units, every single detective unit we have, as well as our administration, so the chief's office and yourself.

So um these analysts are kind of torn between uh providing statistical reports and the maps that we would all kind of think of as a crime anal analyst doing in the past.

And then ever increasing over the years has been um social media and cell phone investigations.

Because as we all know, right, uh anything that pretty much involves a felony these days, um that's gonna be cases investigated by the area stations all the way up to a homicide is generally gonna involve some sort of phone, right?

So um whether that's your Instagram accounts, things like that, content on the phone, or just location of the device itself.

Um almost all of our investigations are starting to have that that element there.

And what's what's what we're seeing is the ex the technical uh load on the investigators and now on our crime analysts has has just been exponentially increasing year over year over year.

And what's not changed is staffing, right?

So we're just one kind of cog in this wheel here, but I imagine that it's it's a representation of kind of what's going on all over the board is the the workload is increasing exponentially and the staffing is not.

And so um everyone's asking to to wear a lot of hats, and that's fine, we're used to that.

Um, but it's it's these types of of repercussions of not um increasing staffing is is kind of hitting a point of critical mass to some degree.

And so unfortunately, when you look at uh the outputs of again, I can only speak to crime analysis is the the product inevitably will suffer, right?

Whether that's an investigative product or maybe something a little bit more of an uh analytical product like you might see here today.

And so just just our perspective, but I imagine we're not the only ones.

Understood.

Well I brought this up at whether it's budget hearings or other committee meetings, how the the clearance rate is something that we want to see go up.

Um it seems to me that we are in trying to find a solution as to which type of which type of public safety employee we should be hiring.

I think what you just said um Captain Lara.

Captain, yes, they finally not acting captain.

Thank you.

They finally got me promoted, sir.

Look, we're we're low on both.

Um and so I I want to make sure that in reading this, um this analysis that you put in front of us.

It's it's certainly not the case that I'm saying we should pick one over the other uh because uh I think that the PISOs can help alleviate the workload, but uh our constituent expects a person who's able to legally uh use force to secure an area to show up when there's something that's dangerous.

Uh it we need both of these, and when we're in an up in an environment of scarcity of funds, uh we end up pointing fingers at this is the person who should take the cut, this person should take the cut instead.

Um, and and that's not uh at all what I think we should be doing.

Um getting the clearance rate, which means essentially the arrest of the perpetrator, uh, that rate uh higher is always my goal.

And I always call out Chief Wall whenever that we see those numbers once a year that shows that that does incrementally go up.

Means that people feel the sense of justice being delivered, and that is ultimately um uh really really important.

Whether the person gets prosecuted successfully is a whole different matter.

Um I I really think that what I'm taking away from this is uh to meet the expectations of uh of the public, we need to hire more of both.

And uh because uh an officer who is uh equipped to to handle something that involves violence uh can't be handled by a piezo.

Um and and uh PISO can contribute incredibly to the efficiency of the department as well.

I think um I appreciate both the MEA and the POA for being here.

I will say that Mr.

Wilson pointed out something that's really important, the growth of our population over time and the decrease in our sworn officer population over the same period of time.

Um what isn't captured in that is the entire county has grown.

Tijuana has grown, and our tourism to San Diego has dramatically grown over that same period of time, and so we can't just think of it as uh you know, we think of it as number of sworn officers per thousand uh people.

Uh, we have we have to really look at it and say per population uh segment that is actually here because everyone from surrounding cities comes to San Diego uh to enjoy their night out uh to drive and to um uh enjoy the entertainment life that we have in San Diego, uh, which causes uh which which has an attached effect on on crime and and and behavior depending on what choices people make.

Um so I think if I'm communicating to the department as a whole, to the mayor's staff, um to our department of finance, um, we we can't suffer cuts uh at all in public safety uh and and really getting uh every incremental bit of funding more to boost uh both PISOs and sworn officers together is what will make the effective department that our our constituents expect.

Uh and that's what I expect as well.

So I appreciate the details of this report.

Um I I think that the real recommendation is here, we need a lot more of this.

And even though we are the safest big city in America when it comes to violent crime, uh that's because we use technology really well.

That's because uh we have really well-trained people, we have uh prosecuting agencies that do a good job.

There's a whole million hosts of reasons why that that works together.

Um but we need to we need to fund uh this a lot more.

So uh thank you for that, and thank you for that, Chair.

Um thank you very much um for the detailed presentation.

Thank you to both the POA and MEA for being here.

Uh in both Councillor Barcampia and I served as deputy city attorneys before we got in this role, and it was critical to have both the lawyers but also the paralegals, also legal secretaries.

Believe me, none of our none of my race anyway would ever been filed in court had we not had the brilliant legal secretaries to do the different uh and I see our deputy city attorney uh agreeing um you know, and our paralegals to do the incredible leg work.

I mean, everything that goes into a trial is an enormous amount of work, and and we see that too when we roll out with our our police officers or our fire trucks um rolling to code, it takes an enormous effort on many people you don't see to get that fire truck out the door, that police uh car out the door from anyone from our um ASPE 127 employees to make sure that the the engines are working and that uh there's right tired in the brakes are working um to our dispatchers who are taking the calls and dispatching people, and so our public safety system in San Diego is a huge effort.

And I want to thank both all of our sworn employees and as well as folks who are are helping as civilians to support it.

Um I find it always I it's helpful for the auditor as well to start to point out things that we could do better in the city, but I do appreciate the police department coming in and saying that's a good start, but actually this is our experience, and so I really appreciate that you took the effort to say, you know, PJs are important at the same time.

There are other civilian employees that could be even more helpful based on what we're seeing and the crimes that we're seeing.

Um and I I agree with uh Mr.

Wilson that we know there is no replacement for having a sworn officer on the scene at all.

Um and but also that there are great roles for civilian staff.

So one question I have not just about responding to calls, but also about proactive uh policing.

And so, for example, when I was a city attorney working with our neighborhood policing unit and homeless outreach, one of the things that PISOs were doing was helping with our overnight vehicle uh citations, you know.

Oh, in the middle of the night, if we have you know, hundreds and hundreds of RVs parking could be tourists, could be van lifers, could be unsheltered individuals, they would be out there doing this proactive policing so that when people you know wake up, there's not hundreds of people sleeping in in cars and van lifers and all of that.

And so w are there other ways that we could you utilize civilians to do proactive policing so that our officers are able to respond to the 911 calls as opposed to doing that.

It it's it's always that balance between safety and you're correct.

The the origin of the piece of position was the it was a graveyard position overnight for the oversized vehicle ordinance, uh, which obviously we have some challenges on in that regard as well.

Uh and that's the you know, always striking that balance between safety, and that's something we we have to dive into.

And I think we have our call types, but again, um having like this talking with the chief, having that holistic, hey, where are the like these positions over the last 10 years getting pulled away?

Where can we reorient those positions?

And I just wanted to put a not that I'm to keep continue beating the drum, but technology is just penetrating virtually every investigation that we are dealing with.

And there's usually some kind of uh cell phone return or social media uh nexus uh that gets that complicates things and creates those person hours that we have to invest to do the the kind of investigation, top-notch investigations that's increasing those clearance rates that's producing this the the justice that you guys will do pay us to to produce.

So we we want to look at those things, and obviously the oversized vehicles are always gonna be a challenge.

It's a place we've seen some success.

And you know, my hats off to the the community resource officers of old that I used to work with and the PISOs of of late uh in doing uh great supporting work for us.

But you know, we'll we'll keep looking at where where can we find other places to involve them.

Okay, uh wonderful.

Uh thank you, and thank you for um pointing out all the fact almost every investigation now is gonna require some kind of investigation into technology.

I wish that our social media companies were a little more helpful with that in some ways.

Um I had no idea until I went on a ride along with our traffic division that these uh young folks who soup up their cars and like to speed race are recording themselves the entire time and putting it on social media, and half the reason that they're doing racing and illegal things is to show people on social media that they are doing it.

And it'd be very nice if these social media companies would uh prohibit them.

I know YouTube has actually been helpful in that regard, but the others uh meta has not.

So uh I anyway, we'll leave that at that because also to the young men who are doing this, it's on social media, it's evidence it's being used in courtrooms.

Think before you make choices.

But uh anyway, thank you for this uh great report today.

And we, you know, our job is always to make sure that all of our employees are supported.

So we will continue to try and and push for both civilian and sworn positions in our police department to keep people safe.

But I I just appreciate the thoughtfulness and I appreciate you bringing our civilian team along uh and and hearing from you today.

So I think that's all we have as an informational item only, so no motion is required.

And uh now we will turn to non-agenda public comment.

Uh the council members respect and appreciate the public's input and are fully committed to protecting every participant's free speech rights at council and committee meetings.

Sarah, please proceed with non-agenda public comment.

Thank you, Chair Von Wilbert.

Purule 2.7, non-agenda public comment as an opportunity for members of the public to comment on items that are not on the agenda but are within the subject matter jurisdiction of this committee.

Each speaker will have two minutes.

And if you're watching on City TV at the live stream online and you'd like to dial in to speak, please call 1669-2545252.

Inputting webinar ID 161-217-1797 pound.

We've not received any speaker slips here in chambers, so I will begin the five-minute timer for all those in the virtual queue to raise their hand and indicate if they wish to give non-agenda public comment at this time.

Each speaker will have two minutes and we will begin testimony with Becky Rapp.

Becky, please unmute and begin.

Good morning, uh Chair Von Wilpert and Council members.

Um I'd like to I'd like to thank you first off for allowing the um Office of Child and Youth Success for their presentation yesterday, as this is a really great step forward in protecting children and families.

Um this their update provides clarity on goals and strength and partnerships, which is important.

Um today to this committee, I wanted to bring to your attention that um in the effort of focusing on equity, we must also recognize one of the most basic and overlooked rights, and that's the right of every child to breathe clean air at home.

Too many affordable housing communities in San Diego still allow smoking.

That means children are regularly exposed to secondhand smoke where they live in the very places that they should be safest.

We know that this exposure worsens asthma, increases respiratory illness, and limits a child's ability to succeed in school and in life.

Integrating smoke-free multi-unit housing housing policies um into the framework would strengthen its impact and directly align with city goals, improving health outcomes, reducing preventable illnesses, and creating safer, more supportive environments for families.

Clean um indoor air is not a privilege, it's a fundamental right.

And if we're serious about equity, let's make sure that every child in San Diego, no matter where they live, can grow up breathing clean, safe air.

I ask this committee to please place this item on a future agenda.

Thank you.

Thank you for your testimony.

Our next speaker is Catherine Douglas.

Please unmute and begin.

Thank you.

Good morning.

I'd like to thank everybody on the dais who is um nonstop supportive of public safety in San Diego.

And I'd like to remind everybody that Smart Streetlights and APL AP, ALPRs have proven to be highly effective tools in achieving a significantly safer environment for every San Diegan.

This cutting edge technology has aided in the capture of felons at large, recovered stolen vehicles being used in other crimes, located kidnappers and victims, and missing persons with lightning speed.

They save untold investigative hours, a key factor for our stressed budget.

As a member of this community, I want to speak to the values of technology like license plate readers and smart street lights.

These tools are more than just cameras, they're force multipliers for our police department, helping solve serious crimes that have shaken our neighborhoods.

It was a license plate reader, it was licensed plate reader data that helped investigators track down suspects in the hate crime spree in Hillcrest, a case that deeply impacted the many residents there.

It also played a key role in stopping an attempted kidnapping, potentially saving a life.

Beyond that, these technologies have helped recover millions of dollars of property.

That's money and valuables returned to families and businesses.

This is about safety, about using the tools we have to protect one another.

These technologies make a real difference.

Please support the continuation of this incredible technology to help the department and to help those of us who live in our city.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comment.

Our next speaker is Blair Beekman.

Please unmute and begin.

Hi, uh Blair Beekman.

Thanks for the meeting today.

Um, I used the word uh I used the word uh reneg yesterday to describe an issue.

And I I it was it's an uncomfortable word for me to use.

I shouldn't have used that word.

I'm sorry I said that.

Um I needed to say like go back on your word or something like that.

Um so to continue my comments from yesterday, in fact.

Um yeah, I wanted to talk about AOPRs too.

Uh thank you much for the previous public comment.

Uh I think public safety is important as well.

And I I am on in the camp that I do not deny how ALPRs can be a help when when used for the specific purpose of license plate reader technology.

They can do a phenomenal good thing.

Um, but we are over relying on AOPRs and all the surveillance technology that could be involved with it.

And I'm really questioning that.

I'm questioning the idea that we simply experiment just for the sake of experimenting and then pick up the pieces later to decide and define our civil rights and civil protection responsibility values.

Um I think you're kind of possibly going a little crazy on smart streetlight things right now with ending a parking and uh commission process.

Um it's questionable what you're doing with that.

And um, you're gonna start building a whole bunch of new smart tech, uh smart streetlight tech and involve a whole bunch of new ALPR use when we're just considering reducing AOPR use.

And this allows you to continue.

And I think we need to question that.

And I don't want to be experimenting just so we come back in two years to say the exact same things we're saying now that you know, less user tech can still do the same amount of good public safety care.

And we have to uh acknowledge that.

Please thank you.

Thank you.

The five-minute timer has concluded.

We have three hands remaining in the queue, and we'll take no other callers beyond these remaining three individuals.

Madison, please unmute and begin.

Hi, thank you.

Today I want to talk about the public safety crisis linked to cannabis and intoxicating hemp products.

This last month, Governor Newsom signed AB8, a bill that will merge intoxicating hemp products into California's marijuana market.

The governor said this was necessary because for too long, quote, nefarious hemp hemp manufacturers have been exploiting loopholes to make intoxicating products available to our most vulnerable communities.

That means that children and teens in California have been exposed to unregulated psychoactive THC products, products often sold in packaging that looks like candy, snacks, or energy drinks.

The fact that our state needs a new law to quote close loopholes tells us what law enforcement and parents already know.

The cannabis market is outpacing regulation and endangering public safety.

Even worse, the main parts of this new law don't take effect until 2028.

That means we'll face years of widespread access to these synthetic Frankenstein THC products without clear safeguards.

During that time, our police, emergency medical staff, and schools will continue dealing with the fallout, impaired driving, accidental poisonings, and a mental health crisis among youth.

And this is not just a California issue.

According to reporting from Marijuana Moment on October 27th, state attorneys general across the country are calling on Congress to ban intoxicating hemp-derived THC products outright, warning that bad actors are using the 2018 farm bill to sell synthetic THC products that harm and even kill children.

When 21 attorneys general are sounding the alarm, it's a public safety emergency.

Please treat cannabis-related safety as a top priority.

Support local enforcement to crack down on illegal sales.

Fund public education campaigns so parents and youth know the risks.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comment.

Our next speaker is the original.

Please unmute and begin.

There's a huge public safety issue going on the way that the homeless are being treated, our homeless brothers and sisters as well as children in San Diego.

And it's really sad to hear you talking about using PISOs for homeless um in cars when you're not really providing any kind of shelter.

Um you know that.

You know, people are on a waiting list.

You uh just there's distribution of needles and pipes.

Fentanyl is being done at astronomical rates in the city of San Diego.

In fact, over by the Jack in the Box by City College, foil from uh fentanyl is just being left.

It's actually a really bad hazard for animals or anybody that touches that could potentially overdose.

So instead of, you know, helping these people, it's being encouraged for them to continue to do drugs, especially when there's no way out for them to get off the streets because you guys have a racketeering business going on with NGOs, and people will die getting out of their shelters as opposed to getting into housing, especially when the process never gets completed because people go through caseworkers like no one's business.

And then we have children who get mixed up in that too.

Some children get taken and put into foster care because they're on the streets.

And many children in schools are homeless, and yet we're not really doing what we need to to make sure that they get off the streets.

Um got a lot of money coming in for homeless, but we don't have anything to show for it except for deaths and uh sexual assaults and just you know um, you know, uh harming people.

And when you're sitting here and engaging with um promises to kids who engage in the money to that people get for fostering children, there's no money to keep a fan family together.

The incentive is to rip them apart and adopt them out.

It's very lucrative business, and you guys are engaging with people who do that.

So instead of actually protecting our children who are a future, you're harming them.

Thank you for that concluding remark.

And the final speaker in the queue today is Kathleen Lippett.

Please unmute and provide your comment.

Thank you.

Um, good morning.

My name is Kathleen Lippet.

I'd like to share some information about a scholarship at UCSD that was for black academic excellence.

It had gone unchallenged for 42 years, and the black alumni scholarship fund was successfully sued by the Pacific Legal Foundation because it was blatantly unconstitutional.

Race-based preferences have no place in an American university system funded by California taxpayers.

The scholarship will be replaced by one based on merit.

The principle of equal protection must be defended time and time again.

And DEI policies have already caused division and eroded the constitutional right to equal treatment under the law.

When you discriminate for one category, whether it's race, gender, sex, you simultaneously discriminate against another.

Traditional justice applies the same rules and standards to everybody, ensuring equal opportunities.

It can be mass-produced.

Social justice attempts to equalize the prospects of everybody, and it requires more government power and intervention.

Far from leveling the playing field, it tilts it further because traditional justice and social justice are incompatible with each other.

Which leads me also to the prospect of adding equity licenses.

So the city should acknowledge that there are unintended consequences of drug policy reform and social equity.

They prioritize those with drug convictions over those that did not violate drug laws.

Policies aimed at undoing the harms of the war on drug, are creating new risks, especially for low-income and minority communities.

Environments where drug activity is prevalent tend to be associated with other crimes.

Thank you.

And chair with no other hands and the queue exhausted.

This concludes non-agenda public comment.

Thank you very much.

Uh, thank you to the members of the public who commented.

This brings us to the end of our agenda, and thank you to uh all of our council members and city staff for your participation.

I now adjourn this special meeting of the public safety committee to our next regular scheduled meeting on Wednesday, November 12th, 2025 at 2 p.m.

We are adjourned.

Thank you.