Citizens Panel Cites Concern Over Safety : Services: A yearlong analysis points to an understaffed and overworked Police Department, and firefighters inadequately trained for medical emergencies.

After a yearlong study, a citizens committee appointed by the City Council to examine municipal spending has concluded the biggest problem in Pomona is that people don’t feel safe.

“This can readily be observed by driving through the community and noting the security devices on homes and businesses,” the committee report says. It notes that some parks are never used because people don’t feel safe in them.

The report says the Police Department is so understaffed and overworked that the city is risking increased insurance liability. And it says the Fire Department is still geared primarily to putting out fires even though most of its calls are for medical emergencies for which its employees are inadequately trained and poorly equipped.

The 56-page report carries a long list of recommendations from reorganizing fire service to beefing up the police force to simplifying the city permit process. While detailed, the report does not put a price tag on its recommendations.

John Guthrie, a retired engineer who heads the Citizens Committee on Expenditures and also led a predecessor committee on revenue, said the study took a long time because of the absence of clear goals in city government.

The 14-member committee started out to measure how well the city was spending its money. But, Guthrie said, it quickly became clear that measuring cost-effectiveness was impossible without first analyzing the city’s service goals. And so, Guthrie said, what started as merely a budget analysis turned into a critique of city management as well.

The report criticizes the council and city administration for failing to define the city’s goals. It recommends that the council exert leadership by establishing priorities at the beginning of each year’s budget process.

And the report recommends a top priority.

“Public safety should be the first priority of the city for the next several years,” it says. “It must be emphasized that this is not just a police problem. . . . The objective should be an integrated approach of all city departments to make a step-by-step improvement in both the real and perceived safety of each individual in the community, independent of where they live or their ethnic background.”

The committee found that the Police Department has 1.3 officers per 1,000 residents, but should have at least 2.4 officers to provide an acceptable level of service, and even more to undertake strong crime-prevention measures. Pomona police handle three times as many calls as the Inglewood Police Department with three-fourths as many officers, the report says. And Pomona has 51 fewer officers than Pasadena, but substantially more crime, it says.

The report recognizes that hiring more police officers would be costly, but it suggests that money might be found through savings on reorganization of fire service, a citywide assessment district or by tapping revenues that are now going to the redevelopment program.

It suggests that the redevelopment effort has become a financial drain. Guthrie said the committee lacked resources to analyze the redevelopment program in detail, but concluded that the city needs to find out if its redevelopment project areas are receiving more city services than they are paying for in taxes.

The committee report lists a redevelopment analysis and the restructuring of fire service as “two areas clearly in need of action.”

City officials, it says, must decide whether to upgrade the Fire Department to provide a paramedic service or contract for paramedics--an option the report says would probably be cheaper for the city.

The Fire Department responds to medical emergencies with a rescue truck, but only one-fifth of the firefighters are trained as emergency medical technicians and none are paramedics, the committee found. A private ambulance company serves Pomona with two paramedic ambulances, billing customers for the service, but fire officials consider the arrangement inadequate.

Fire Chief G. John Parker has instituted a program to train firefighters as emergency medical technicians and has recommended that the city incorporate paramedics into the department.

The county Fire Department has offered to provide fire and paramedic service to Pomona at a cost that it claims would save the city about $1.4 million a year. County fire officials are scheduled to discuss the plan with the City Council at a meeting Jan. 11.

The committee says another option would be for the city to contract with a private ambulance company for paramedic service, paying for it by closing two fire stations.

But, in any event, the report says the city should not continue with its current system of responding to medical emergencies with ill-trained firefighters who then wait for the arrival of a private ambulance.

The report criticizes the Community Development Department for being too bureaucratic, and the Parks and Recreation Department for emphasizing park maintenance over park use.

The Community Development Department, which issues building permits and handles violations of city codes, is “basically not user friendly,” the report says. It recommends better training and a one-stop permit process, which, in fact, has been established in recent weeks.

The report says that Pomona parks are well maintained, but some are underused because residents fear for their safety. The report does not list parks by name, and Guthrie declined to specify those that are perceived as dangerous.

The committee recommends “a coordinated effort among various agencies and community leaders to take back our parks for the use of the citizenry.”

Although the committee suggests a citywide assessment district as one option to raise more money for police protection, the report notes that such a district would be politically unpopular. And, in fact, the report says, the city should be able to meet its needs with existing taxes.

Nancy Guider, assistant to the city administrator, said city department heads are examining the report and will submit responses to the City Council before it meets with the citizens committee on Jan. 25 to discuss the findings and recommendations.