Despite $75,000 hiring bonus, Alameda is still having trouble attracting police officers

Alameda poised to cut budgeted number of police to 72, former Alameda city attorney passes; Oakland Public Ethics Commission is skeptical about plan to significantly increase officeholder funding caps

☕️MORNING BUZZ

—Amid a worrisome fiscal outlook, Alameda is contemplating a reduction in the number of budgeted police officers from 88 sworn personnel to 72.

The Alameda City Council made the direction to staff earlier this month at a budget work session.

If approved for the upcoming fiscal year budget, the reduction of 16 budgeted officers will not result in a decrease of police on the streets in Alameda.

The department currently has 69 police officers, along with 19 vacant positions.

“There’s a staffing problem within my membership,” said Kevin Horikoshi, president of the Alameda Police Officers Association.

The high vacancy rate comes despite the city’s highly-publicized $75,000 hiring bonus. The city received 695 applications for police officer positions last year, but hired just 15 candidates.

“You would think we would be getting the best applicants,” Alameda Councilmember Tracey Jensen said.

Neighboring San Leandro has similar staffing numbers. Out of 82 sworn positions, 19 are vacant. Last year, San Leandro hired 14 police officers, but did so with 329 applications, less than half the number in Alameda.

Since June 2021, Alameda Police has hired 48 officers. Twenty-two received the $75,000 hiring bonus.

But the department also lost 48 officers during the same period, including 5 recruits for various reasons, including those who move to other law enforcement agencies.

“Why did these people leave? I think the answers will vary,” Horikoshi said, “but ultimately it was because, for some reason or another, they were not happy here.”

With low staffing levels, comes worries about Alameda’s police officers suffering from burnout, Horikoshi said. Among the 46 on-duty police officers, just two are assigned to investigations, which equates to one officer handling up to 200 cases.

In addition, not a single police officer is dedicated to traffic enforcement. The police department once had up to six officers assigned to writing traffic tickets, Horikoshi said. Now the duties are done by officers on patrol and those working overtime.

“I’m not a criminologist,” Jensen said, “but I suspect when people feel they are going to be scrutinized for poor driving or illegal driving, they might not be so likely to do other things that are illegal.”

The police department’s staffing issues, however, are not leading to a rise in crime rates. In fact, crime is trending down in Alameda, Horikoshi said, although the summer months typically see an increase in activity.

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