Chula Vista Police Chief Roxana Kennedy wants to grow her department in time for an expected surge in tourism, conventions and overall population growth in the county’s second-largest city.
The City Council agreed. On Tuesday, officials unanimously approved a spending plan to hire one police captain and six officers, cover overtime funding, buy four patrol vehicles, equipment storage lockers, and continue having community services officers.
“I think we’ll be over 300,000 people in the next 10 to 20 years,” said Mayor John McCann. “So, we will have a huge, huge demand and we want to make sure that we have police to be able to … stay one of the safest incorporated cities in the county.”
Measure A funds will cover the projected cost of $1.12 million. The department said it would need $462,700 for the four vehicles, their maintenance and replacement costs; $457,400 for personnel; and $201,200 for more equipment storage lockers – there are 216 lockers and 290 officers, according to the city.
In 2018, voters approved the half-cent sales tax on retail sales within the city to pay for police and fire staffing and services. The police department has sworn in 41 officers and 26 staff members since Measure A began generating revenue. It currently has five sworn vacancies and 9 civilian vacancies, Kennedy said.
According to the city, the police department’s Measure A fund balance was nearly $24 million as of July 1. The department anticipates ending the fiscal year in June with a fund balance of $20 million. Additionally, the city allocates about 75% of its $113 million general fund discretionary revenues to the police and fire departments.
Though proud of the department’s growth over time, Kennedy said Chula Vista’s police staffing totals fall behind other departments regionwide. The city has about 290 officers for its population of 280,000. The regionwide staffing average is 370 for a population of the same size, according to San Diego Association of Governments data.
“I’m not saying we’re gonna get this many officers but I think it’s important to illustrate what that really looks like,” Kennedy told council members. “I realize that … that’s a budgetary concern.”
However, she added, her department needs more officers and professional staff “to effectively serve our growing community.”
She specifically brought up the coming May opening of the Gaylord Pacific Resort and Convention Center, which will bring 1,600 hotel rooms, a dozen restaurants and bars and a 275,000-square-foot convention center to the bayfront. The surrounding area, as well as the city’s east region, is also expanding with housing, commercial and other developments.
All of that growth will likely result in increased calls for service, emergency responses, crowd control and heightened security concerns, the police chief said.
“In response to the city’s continued growth, both along the bayfront and in the eastern areas of Chula Vista, the police department must continue expanding its workforce to meet the evolving needs of the community,” she told council members.
Council members said they will push to explore opening a police substation in the city’s east region, which is home to a police satellite station at the Otay Ranch mall.
