San Diego Lacks Adequate Number of Police Officers, Union’s Ad Says

The police officers union began a campaign Monday to convince the public that City Hall’s fiscal conservatism -- an approach embraced by Mayor Jerry Sanders -- has left the city without enough officers to adequately protect residents.

The campaign comes just days after the fire chief announced his resignation in frustration over the city’s refusal to significantly boost funding for his department, despite the 2003 fire that destroyed more than 300 homes and dire predictions that another such blaze could occur.

Sanders, a Republican, is trying to fix the city’s financial mess, including a $2-billion pension deficit, without asking voters for a tax increase.

For generations, San Diego officials have kept taxes considerably lower than those in most large cities. As a result, the city has fewer firefighters and police officers per 1,000 residents.

San Diego has 1.6 officers per 1,000, compared with about 2.4 per 1,000 in Los Angeles and 2.9 per 1,000 in San Francisco. For two decades, City Council members have promised to bring San Diego to a ratio of 2.0 per 1,000 but have never done so. The San Diego Fire Department has one-third fewer firefighters than the median of cities of 1 million or more.

During last year’s mayoral election, Councilwoman Donna Frye, a Democrat, suggested that the city needed a sales tax boost. Sanders quickly attacked her and coasted to victory.

On Monday, the San Diego Police Officers Assn. began airing a television commercial -- in English and Spanish -- suggesting that officers were leaving San Diego for better pay in other departments, increasing the problem of a low staffing ratio.

“The bottom line is cops are leaving and we are losing the ability to provide protection to the community,” union President Bill Nemec said.

Sanders, a former police chief, disputed Nemec’s assertion and accused him of being “intentionally misleading” with his use of figures.

The union’s commercial says that on an average night “when most violent crime occurs,” only 67 officers are on duty. Sanders released his own figures showing that the late-night tally is more like 135 when sergeants, traffic officers, canine officers and others are figured in.

Last week, Fire Chief Jeff Bowman announced his resignation after four years, rebuffing Sanders’ request that he stay.

By contrast, Police Chief Bill Lansdowne appeared at a news conference Monday with Sanders. Lansdowne said he would like more officers but rejected the idea that the public was in danger.

“We’re taking care of business, just as you’d expect us to do,” he said.

Sanders said he planned to eliminate 500 non-safety jobs and significantly increase the city’s contribution to the pension plan in a budget to be released Friday. He also is sponsoring a ballot measure that would give city officials authority to fire city workers and outsource jobs to private firms.

Sanders promised “a new model for effective city government.”