Cal Coast News releases internal memo of Paso Robles Police Dept's safety plan

Posted: Feb 5, 2012 8:12 PM by Kathy Kuretich
Updated: Feb 6, 2012 8:11 AM

Kathy Kuretich sits down with police chief Lisa Soloman

It's been one accusation after the next for Police Chief Lisa Solomon and the City of Paso Robles.

10 days ago, allegations of unwanted sexual advances and retaliation were published in an article in Cal Coast News.
Then on Friday, a Paso Robles Police Officer filed a lawsuit against the city, claiming illegal ticket quotas.
Now, questions about the public's safety have surfaced, as the city is forced to operate with 14 fewer officers than it did in 2007.

Chief Solomon spoke to KSBY, but would only address the issue of public safety... and nothing else.
Saturday, Cal Coast News released an internal memo from Chief Solomon to City Manager Jim App.
It highlighted just how police officers respond to calls after a 34-percent decrease in the number of officers on the street.

The numbers show a department working within a budget stretched to its limits.
During a hiring freeze the police department lost 14 sworn officers, dropping from 41 in 2007, to the current number of 27.
"We are maintaining safety in this community, and we're doing it with reduced resources in the most efficient and effective way possible," said Chief Solomon.

To make up for the loss, Chief Solomon implemented a service reduction plan, designed to prioritize calls.
She said there are 3 to 4 patrol officers on the street on any given night.
If that number drops to two, police go in to a safety response mode.
"In our safety response level, we preserve our officers to be able to respond to our most emergency and in depth calls that are happening right now," said Chief Solomon.

The plan also delays response to calls that are deemed low priority.
They include suspicious person, vehicle or circumstances calls, DUI, theft reports, and drug activity. Chief Solomon said, they've gone into safety response mode 589 hours since February of last year.
"If you calculate that out, that's 24 days out of the entire year, most of that time was less than four hour increments," she said.

The memo also says property crimes under $10-thousand dollars will not be referred to a detective, but a patrol officer will follow up if they have time.
"There is a chance that something under the $10-thousand dollar mark, if there's not significant leads and so forth, that it may be delayed or put on the back burner or not responded to as quickly," said Chief Solomon.

This as Chief Solomon and the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Department rolled out "Operation Safe Streets", last September, to combat a growing gang problem.
KSBY asked Chief Solomon, is the city safe with 27 sworn officers protecting it?
"Yes, absolutely. I think an important thing is to look at the city's crime statistics. In fact, total part one crimes which are the major crimes that are measured across the country, are the lowest they've been in ten years. These are difficult times for us, and difficult times takes courage in leadership," she said.

She said the hiring freeze for the police department was recently lifted, and they can hire three to four new officers.
She told us they're working to fill those positions.