NorCal Police Department To Outsource Service
HALF MOON BAY, Calif. (AP) -- A cash-strapped Northern California coastal city has decided to outsource its police services due to its longstanding budget woes.
Half Moon Bay is disbanding its 12-member police force and the city will contract its services to either the San Mateo Sheriff's Office or the Pacifica Police department, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
The City Council was scheduled to meet Saturday to consider proposals from both agencies, with the sheriff's office emerging as the most likely candidate. Contract negotiations will start once a decision is made.
City officials say the $3.5 million police budget is 40 percent of its general-fund spending.
The newspaper said the police force has been cut by 20 percent since 2009, a year after the city agreed to pay $18 million -- about twice its entire annual budget -- to settle a lawsuit over development rights on a 24-acre property known as Beachwood.
Tourism is down sharply and voters last year rejected a sales-tax measure that would have helped fund the department.
Both agencies have offered jobs to Half Moon Bay's officers, though they all may not work in the city of about 13,000 residents. The rank-and-file are worried about job security.
"They are concerned about the lack of stability in the organization, whether or not they're going to have a job in a year or two," Lee Violett, Half Moon Bay's interim police chief who works part time because of budget cuts, told the newspaper.
"In today's environment, smaller jurisdictions are finding it more difficult to sustain public safety services," Violett said.
Mayor Naomi Patridge said outsourcing the services enables Half Moon Bay to stretch funds while maintaining the same level of protection.
The city is following the lead of nearby San Carlos, which eliminated its police department six months ago and is currently using the San Mateo County sheriff.
Violett is recommending not using Pacifica because there's no real significant savings. City officials have estimated that outsourcing to the sheriff would save about $510,000 a year, compared to $80,000 for Pacifica.
Half Moon Bay averages about 17 violent crimes a year and there have been only two homicides in the past decade.
Both were solved.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
