Panel Asks Study on 2-Officer City Patrols : Told S.D. Police More Likely to Be Slain Than Those in N.Y., Chicago

A City Council panel, after hearing that a San Diego officer has a higher chance of being slain than do officers in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago or Detroit, has urged a study to see if police officers should patrol in pairs.

Nine San Diego officers have been slain while on duty in the last five years.

Chris Ashcraft, attorney for the San Diego Police Officers Assn., told the panel the rate is “alarming” when compared to other major metropolitan areas.

He said figures compiled for the POA show “it is nine to 10 times more likely for a (San Diego) police officer to be killed in the line of duty than for a Chicago police officer.” It is six times more likely for a San Diego officer to be slain than a Detroit or New York City officer, and four to five times more likely than a Los Angeles officer, he said.

“These are very high crime cities, and yet the death rate of police officers in San Diego is one of the highest in the nation,” he said.

Ashcraft said a consultant’s preliminary survey of 24 metropolitan police forces indicated that “77% of police officer deaths occurred in one-officer patrol units.”

Safety Measure

The POA wants two-officer patrols as a safety measure. But Ashcraft said that if a new city study does not bear out the need for officers to work in pairs, “we’re willing to have our minds changed by the facts.”

By a 4-0 vote, the Public Services and Safety Committee followed Councilman Mike Gotch’s recommendation that the city manager’s office work with the POA to investigate two-officer patrols.

Gotch specifically asked for a study of the current use of two-officer units, the cost of expanding them and the safety of police officers in San Diego as compared to other major cities.

Most San Diego officers patrol alone. Even on the 7:30 p.m. to 3:30 a.m. shift, the city’s most active crime period, only about 25 of the 100 patrols are manned by two officers.

The issue of whether two-officer patrols increase safety and effectiveness has been debated by San Diego administrators and police officers for 30 years.

In 1977, the last time the City Council studied the question, analysts concluded that two-man units cost 83% more than one-officer cars. They also said that 18 one-officer cars could be sent on patrol for less than the cost of 10 two-officer cars. Soon afterward, the council did away with two-officer units and sent officers on patrol alone.

Double Slaying

The debate was renewed in September, when Officers Kimberly Sue Tonahill and Timothy Joseph Ruopp were shot and killed in Balboa Park.

Each was patrolling alone when Ruopp, checking two teen-age girls for drinking with two adult men in a car, called for assistance. Tonahill responded and began checking the two men for weapons. One of the men drew a pistol, shot Tonahill four times, then shot Ruopp in the face, according to police reports.

The double slaying, and a suspicion that two-officer patrol cars might actually be more efficient, prompted Gotch to discuss the issue with police officers and request that the committee seek a new study.

Gotch noted that two officers responding to a family disturbance call might be able to handle the problem more rapidly than a single officer, who would probably wait until a backup unit arrived.

The POA’s consulting firm, Ashley-Wayne Advertising Inc., provided these figures on officers slain in major cities since 1977:

New York, with 23,331 officers, led the list with 26 slain.

Los Angeles, with 6,998 officers, was second with 11 slain.

In third place, with nine officers slain, were San Diego, Chicago and Memphis. San Diego has 1,339 officers, Chicago 12,353 officers and Memphis has 1,250 officers.