CYPRESS : Claims by Police Disputed by Council

The City Council has issued an open letter to residents in defense of what council members call misleading claims made by the Cypress Public Safety Employees Assn. in a newsletter last month.

Councilwoman Gail H. Kerry, who wrote the letter more than two weeks ago, when she was still mayor, said: “The facts relating to the level of police services provided the community are not accurately reflected in this (association’s) newsletter.”

More specifically, she rebutted the newsletter’s claim that the city’s population has almost doubled in the last 17 years. There were 40,323 people living in Cypress in 1976, and today there are 44,940--an increase of 11.45%--while Police Department personnel have increased 28% over the same time period, she said.

Police maintain that their numbers are correct and said they are investigating the council’s statistics.

“I don’t understand why (the City Council) is spending so much time trying to defend the population count instead of trying to find solutions to the problem, which is a lack of staffing in the Police Department,” said Officer Matt Robinson, association president.

“We are critically understaffed,” he said. “It’s to the point that it’s a hazard to public safety.”

He said seven sworn officers have been hired in the last 17 years.

The police newsletter was mailed out to inform residents about increased crime in the city and to rally support for the Police Department, which has been working without a contract for a year, Robinson said.

Police are asking the city to hire at least eight sworn patrol officers and give pay raises of 5% to 7%. They are preparing another newsletter with updated crime figures to be mailed soon to 15,000 residents and businesses.

Last month’s newsletter “was intentionally written to get everybody excited, and we felt that it was imperative to respond to the inaccuracies to let people know what the truth was,” Kerry said.

But Robinson insisted that the facts stated are correct.

He said police plan to picket City Hall at the council’s Dec. 13 meeting if no contract agreement has been reached.

Kerry said that although the city is struggling with reduced revenues, it “strongly supports the Police Department.”