In his weekly call-in show Monday with KLIV 1590 executive director George Sampson, San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed pulled back the curtain a bit on the city’s efforts to find a permanent police chief. The question is whether or not City Manager Debra Figone—the person charged with suggesting who to hire—was ready for that curtain call. Reed told Sampson he expects the city to officially name a permanent police chief by the end of this year. But, according to the city manager’s office, the search to name a long-term police chief has not been active in roughly eight months.
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Mayor, Councilman Liccardo’s Police Department Plan Flawed from the Start
Last week, Mayor Chuck Reed and Councilmember Sam Liccardo submitted a proposal to bolster our public safety capacity by focusing on San Jose’s inability to retain police officers. The gist of the Reed-Liccardo proposal was to hire 200 police officers by restoring wages by 10 percent within the next four years. On the surface, this sounds like a reasonable idea. However, because this proposal was more about timely politics than about meaningful policy, I could not support the plan.
Study Session to Focus on Tax Measures, Police Department
City officials will hold a study session Tuesday on how to restore public services lost in the past decade of budget cuts, namely by considering a couple tax increases for the 2014 ballot. Police pay and staffing is a top priority, according to several memos.
Acting Police Chief Larry Esquivel Caught in Labor Crossfire
Breaking up is hard to do. Breaking up a fight between the San Jose police union and City Hall could be damn near impossible. In what appeared to be an effort to mend fences and remind people who’s the boss, Acting Police Chief Larry Esquivel recently sent an email this week to his command staff—roughly 50 deputy police chiefs, lieutenants and captains—scolding them for signing on to a letter critical of the city recent actions involving labor negotiations.
San Jose Police Officers’ Tutorial on Letters of Apology Concerns Public Defender
The San Jose Police Department’s duty manual serves as a bible of sorts when it comes to the rules and regulations for officers. In the 756-page tome that lays out procedures and protocol, five pages are dedicated to interviews and interrogations of witnesses and suspects. Nowhere in the duty manual, however, is there any mention of an interrogation technique that is now receiving criticism from the Santa Clara County Public Defender’s office and local defense attorneys: letters of apology.
Judge Denies San Jose Police Pay Raises in Arbitration Ruling
UPDATED: Retired Judge John A. Flaherty denied pay increases for police officers in his arbitration ruling between the city of San Jose and the Police Officers Association, refusing to restore wages that were cut by 10 percent in 2011.
Rules to Discuss Confidential Police Arbitration Records Request
A Menlo Park cop’s fling with a prostitute prompted one local reporter to investigate confidential police arbitration cases across the Bay Area, including those in San Jose. The city’s Rules and Open Government Committee seems ready to deny the reporter’s second request for records, according to the agenda for Wednesday’s meeting.
Former Police Chief Chris Moore Lands New Public Safety Gig
Former San Jose Police Chief Chris Moore has a new job as senior vice president for Rivada Networks, a company that designs broadband public safety communications for state and local government agencies. Moore retired from SJPD in January after serving the city of San Jose for more than 27 years. It was assumed Moore wouldn’t stay unemployed for long, but his new digs have an interesting backstory.
Independent Police Auditor Report Goes before City Council
Despite an uptick in crime and a top brass changing of the guard, fewer people logged complaints against the San Jose Police Department in 2012 compared to previous years. There was a 7-percent drop in citizen complaints last year, according to an annual report by the Independent Police Auditor’s office, which is on the agenda for Tuesday’s City Council meeting. Other items on the agenda include additional expenses for the Environmental Innovation Center project.
Police, City to Debate Pensions at Public Arbitration Hearing
UPDATE: The city of San Jose came to an agreement on tier-2 retirement benefits with the POlice Officers Association on Thursday afternoon, avoiding Friday’s arbitration hearing.
San Jose faces a $2.9 billion unfunded liability in pension and retiree healthcare costs. The figure is mind-boggling. The city still has to figure out how to afford those unfunded obligations. But that’s another story for another time. On Friday morning, the public—for the first time—will have a chance to sit in on arbitration hearings that have been held previously behind closed doors, when the city negotiators sits across the table from San Jose’s police union.
A Compilation of San Jose Police Chief Larry Esquivel’s Best, Worst Tweets
Larry Esquivel inherited San Jose’s chief of police position without ever putting his name up for consideration. In fact, none of the San Jose Police Department’s deputy chiefs showed a genuine interest in the job, leaving the applicant pool to some uninterested and/or unqualified candidates outside of the area. But Esquivel is learning the ropes, and a perusal of his Twitter account shows a man who loves emoticons, classic cars and ... the Mercury News? Yes, the Mercury News.
Slain Santa Cruz Police Officers Honored by Thousands at Memorial Service
Shaky, candid home videos and snapshots documenting the lives of two slain Santa Cruz police officers played on a loop inside HP Pavilion’s massive overhead projectors Thursday. The memorial service for Sgt. Loran “Butch” Baker, 51, and Officer Elizabeth Butler, 38, welcomed nearly 18,000 into the downtown San Jose arena, following a motorcade of fire engines, motorcycles, cop cruisers, trucks and limousines that snaked its way down Highway 17. Thousands of onlookers, from first responders to Hells Angels, stood on the roadside to express their condolences, raising signs or laying down flowers on the curb.
A Model for Police Compensation in 2013
Much has been said recently about law enforcement budgeting. One of the shared community goals is to increase the actual number of police officers. In addition, another shared community goal is for pension reform. In my opinion, these two objectives are inextricably linked.
Fire Chief to Report on Response Times; Survey Questions Racial Biases of Police
San Jose’s fire chief, William McDonald, will present a verbal report along with a 46-page written report about the department’s response times—and failure to accurately report them—at Thursday’s Public Safety, Finance and Strategic Support Committee meeting. Also on the agenda is a survey that finds San Jose police officers are about as racist as the rest of local citizens—which isn’t a good thing—and a report on crime around the city’s two casinos.
Police Chief: The Job Nobody Wants
The recent appointment of Larry Esquivel to “interim” San Jose Police Chief, and the “indefinite” time extension given to name a new police chief, is a stark admission of governmental failure for the city of San Jose.
Esquivel Takes Over as Acting Police Chief
Larry Esquivel will take over the role of San Jose’s chief of police starting later this week. City Manager Debra Figone sent out a memo late Monday afternoon announcing the decision.
