In the past year, the City of San Luis Obispo and its police department have been increasing the presence of their existing Community Service Officers (CSO), formerly known as Field Service Technicians (FST).
FSTs have been a part of the San Luis Obispo Police Department since 1980 and the name change occurred in 2023.
They’re not sworn police officers but they are civilian community service officers designed to patrol and check in on areas of San Luis Obispo and the downtown area, educating the public and responding to low-level crimes.
Over the last year, the police department has grown the number of officers from two to six, so they can have more of a presence downtown during the daytime hours and the weekly Farmers' Market.
“People have felt easier to approach us because we're very readily accessible to them," said CSO Samantha Corsaw. "Whether it's just from wanting to talk about the day and the weather to, 'Hey, I noticed this problem, can you go find a solution for me?'"
The officers utilize a warning system that then can lead to citations. With their increased presence in the downtown area, they try to utilize their resources to best determine where they are needed most.
“We definitely have ways to see where we're getting more calls and then we try and cater some of our patrol methods to where we are getting more calls or having more habitual problems at,” Corsaw explained.
Currently, there are six dedicated CSOs in the city with four of them in charge of patrolling downtown during the day and during Farmers' Market.
