Police Expected to Double Two-Officer Patrol Units

San Diego police officials this week are expected to approve a plan that would double the number of two-officer patrols in high-crime areas of the city.

Assistant Police Chief Bob Burgreen said Wednesday the decision to increase the number of two-officer patrol units from 19 to 38 represents “an immediate and very substantial step toward enhancing the safety of our officers,” who work in a city that has the highest per capita police mortality rate in the nation.

“With the recent deaths and injuries to our officers, we feel it is our duty to implement this and implement it now, rather than wait for the budget process to expand our force,” Burgreen said. “We wanted to do something quickly and decisively to address what we feel is an urgent situation.”

Burgreen estimated 35 officers will need to be reassigned to man the additional 19 two-officer cars for all shifts. Those officers will come from non-patrol details within the department, including administration, training operations and perhaps investigation. Although some of the reassigned officers will require retraining, most will be on the streets in selected high-crime areas within two weeks, Burgreen said.

The newly formed two-member patrols will be deployed in areas of the city that are notorious for gang or narcotics activity or are known to have a high incidence of assaults on officers. In addition, beats on which 55% of service calls require assistance of a second officer will be assigned two-member patrols, he said, adding that such areas are scattered throughout the city.

The decision to double the number of two-officer patrols comes amid mounting concern over the hazards of police work in San Diego. Nine police officers have been killed while on duty since 1977, three in the past seven months alone. Only New York --with a police force 20 times the size of San Diego’s--has had more officers killed in the line of duty since 1980.

And according to the Police Officers Assn., the recent slaying of Officer Thomas E. Riggs and wounding of another officer and a civilian ride-along propelled San Diego into first place among major cities in the mortality rate of police.

In recent years, both the 1,300-member association and some City Council members have urged the department to increase the number of two-officer patrols on the streets. But the department has balked, citing the cost of such an expansion and studies that showed a second officer did not necessarily reduce injuries or killings.

But times have changed.

“Our data dates back to 1975, and things are a lot different today,” Burgreen said. “Specifically, we’ve seen the emergence of the drug PCP and the violent behavior associated with its use, and the proliferation of firearms on the streets. Also, youth gangs, which were virtually unheard of in 1975, have emerged and changed the nature of police work.”

In June, the department will seek City Council authorization to hire more than 250 officers.