[Trigger Finger]

It seems that San Jose, in Northern California is turning into another Oakland!! They have had four Officer Involved Shootings so far this month and three in the last four days!! :shocked:

I don't even remember the worst parts of Watts causing that many OIS's in that short a time span. Apparently laying off 70 or 80 officers is having a negative affect. No kidding!!!!

I think this proves that nothing is more important than public safety.

I moved up here from L.A. because I inherited a small ranch and to get away from the gangs and live in a less crime infested area. Luckily San Jose is still about 80 miles south of me but it's getting closer.

Any one else experiencing what used to be a nice quiet city suffering now due to police lay offs?

http://www.mercurynews.com/crime-co...earch-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com

 

[CAcop]

They laid off 106 cops from what a laid off SJPD officer told me. Plus the Taser head cams were given to the oldest, crustiest officers with the most complaints to get them to retire. They were supposed to lay off more officers but the POA president told them to retire or leave for other agencies ASAP. The city is trying to get the PD down to 900 officers. They were running about 1350 and were supposed to have around 1500 but they never got there. I wouldn't be surprised if they were under 1200 by now. They generally try to run two classes of recruits per year. The goal is to get 50 per class but they usually run about 35-45. They have tried to pick up another 50 laterals per year but that hasn't gone well since 3%@50 went into effect. Even with our second tier pension being 3%@55 their pension sucks compared to us. They were the safest big city in America.

BTW if they went to 900 officers they would be at less than 1 officer per 1,000. Nationwide the average is 2.2 per 1,000.

 

[ateamer]

SJDP is a fine department that has been torn apart by a ******bag of a mayor and a city council who gets their marching orders from the Mercury News newspaper, which has no love for SJPD officers. Due to the massive budget cuts, the PD disbanded their highly effective team that combated violent crime and gang members, cut their full-time SWAT team significantly (their SWAT team - MERGE - also does/did a lot of surveillance and tracking of felony suspects on higher-level cases) and nearly eliminated their helicopter. The helo gets little press, but it is a huge asset and sorely missed when it is on the ground and a suspect runs.

Hopefully they will get some people in officer over there who will return San Jose to what it used to be: a safe big city with a world-class PD.

 

[dano1427]

No one wants to return to a city run by such an anti-PD crowd. Combine that with the never ending stream of race-baiting lawsuits and cops will be forced into doing the bare minimum just to survive the beaurocratic bull****.

 

[MB-G26]

In addition to the other ridiculous cuts spelled out thus far,

... nearly eliminated their helicopter...

omfargingawd

 

[Trigger Finger]

The people of San Jose elected these people (politicians) in office and they are getting pretty much what they deserve. I just wish they truly would have considered the consequences of their actions. Other cities that were once considered safe and nice are being gutted because tearing down the police and fire are the easiest and turn out to be the most costly in the long run. I just hope it does not come at the expense of police and fire officers. Or any one for that matter.
They don't realize that every OIS could have easily gone the other way and cost the officer his or her life. They just look at every incidence through a microscope and hope things will get better. When they don't consider that having less officers can justify a slight justified overreaction!!! When shortages and little backing of officers means it is in fact NOT an overreaction but survival IMO.

When they expect the police to do more with less they get less with less. It's not worth sacrificing officer safety! IMO. The outcome is inevitable.

 

[swotivated]

San Jose native here - parents still live in the suburbs, but haven't made mention of this.

Question from a non-LE guy: are there any tripwires or mandatory staffing levels for local LE agencies (either federal or state mandates)? What's to keep a broke city from continuing to cut below 900, 700, 500 officers in a city of a million?

Scary stuff, but is there any emergency state/federal funding that kicks in at some level?

 

[OfficerChris]

Friend of mine is deputy in SJ, told me that a lot of officers where laid off. I still enjoyed staying there for two weeks, nice city.

 

[ateamer]

San Jose native here - parents still live in the suburbs, but haven't made mention of this.

Question from a non-LE guy: are there any tripwires or mandatory staffing levels for local LE agencies (either federal or state mandates)? What's to keep a broke city from continuing to cut below 900, 700, 500 officers in a city of a million?

Scary stuff, but is there any emergency state/federal funding that kicks in at some level?

If a city declares bankruptcy, then they can get a bailout. I think Vallejo did that a couple years ago. The thing about San Jose is, from talking with longtime officers there, is that the mayor is outright lying about the city's financial state. The money is there, and the PD should be where it always has been - fairly well staffed, responsive and highly effective. San Jose has been consistently rated as the safest big city in America, but it can't stay that way with laying off so many officers.

 

[CAcop]

There is no state or fed policy on minimums for a PD. For FD from what I understand there is due to mutual aid agvreements. FD will backfill for a nearby FD when they are tied up or fighting a big fire. PD just stops going to smaller calls. Research Oakland when they laid off cops. Their chief put out a list of calls they would no longer respond to. My city would be pissed if we did that. The city counsel would get recalled if they allowed it. Oakland...crickets. if that city burns to the ground the asked for it. Same for SJ.

 

[Trigger Finger]

I just heard on the news tonight that San Jose had another Officer Involved Shooting today!!

This is the 6th OIS this year. Suspect is dead, no officers hurt. They also said that last year San Jose had only 4 officer Involved Shootings and 2 the year before that.

CAcop, I agree. These cities are basically doing this to themselves by laying off officers and the citizens that back the politicians basically deserve this. I just feel sick for the officers that have to work in this deteriorating environment. Many have too much time invested in these cities to leave. They just have to hang in there till they can retire.

 

[CAcop]

At the funeral for the SJ HA who was killed in Sparks the Sgt at arms for Santa Cruz was smoked. Apparently the scene was a mess by the time SJPD could get through the 4,000 antendees.

As for SJPD guys staying, they aren't Santa Clara is probably going to get the Niner's new stadium and they are going to have to add at least 1/3 more officers to handle it. And Santa Clara pays a lot. The SJPD POA prez told his guys to leave if they can.

 

[Trigger Finger]

Again, I just heard on the ABC news at 1700 hrs that San Jose police officers were involved in the 7th Officer Involved Shooting this year.

This is more officer involved shootings then the last two years combined!!!:wow:
The only reason that the San Jose officer spokesman would give is that there is a marked increase in violence toward police officers. I think it is also due to the fact that San Jose P.D. laid off over 100 officers this year.

Suspect dead, no officers injured.

The police chief issued a special order that officers have to stop putting notches on the grips of there pistols to keep track of their kills!! :supergrin:
Just kidding about the notches.

Channel 5 just did a report on this shooting and said that the suspect is still alive and expected to survive.

This is the Seventh shooting this year and the fifth in the last six weeks for San Jose Police Department. They may have to change the name to Tombstone, California.