Police Reports, Do-It-Yourself Style

In Palm Springs, finding a cop when you want one is about to become a little harder.

Starting Sunday, residents will be asked to file their own police reports -- preferably via the Palm Springs Police Department’s website -- for many nonemergency calls, including most noninjury car accidents, petty thefts and some vandalism.

The idea is to free up officers’ time and save money.

“We’re going to find stuff to do now, more preventative stuff; we’re going to start hunting down the bad guys,” said police spokesman Sgt. John Booth.

Booth was quick to note that there are exceptions to the new rules.

Harassing phone calls and cases of vandalism will be investigated by an officer if there is a suspect or potential stalker.

Officers also will respond to hit-and-run noninjury car accidents or those that involve uninsured or unlicensed drivers, as well as any hate crime or report of gang vandalism.

Chief Gary Jeandron proposed the changes a few months ago in an effort to free officers from many hours of nonemergency service, Booth said.

The pilot program was requested by the police, and city leaders support it, said David Ready, Palm Springs city manager.

“Our whole goal is to make sure that we can respond quicker to those calls that really do need our assistance,” he said.

“This will enhance the safety in our city.”

By eliminating the need to respond to those calls -- about one in 20 -- the police agency estimates it will free about 4,500 hours per year of officers’ time for greater police presence on the streets, Booth said.

The practice also will save the department money, Booth said.

Police Lt. Dennis Graham estimated the savings would total about $220,000 a year, mostly in administrative fees.

“Normally, our reports have to be initiated on our counter [by the officer who has returned from the scene] and go through a very long process; that’s where the money is going to be saved,” Graham said.

But auto-accident victims won’t be completely on their own.

When the new program for reporting accidents starts a week from this Sunday -- one week later than for the other online reports -- officers will no longer determine the “at fault” party, but will be available to help collect information.

That will cut down the officer’s time at a crash site from up to 90 minutes to roughly 10 minutes, police estimated.

Palm Springs is not the first city to attempt an e-system for filing police reports. Sacramento and San Jose have both had similar programs during the past few years.

Michelle Lazarc, an officer with the Sacramento Police Department, said the process has run well.

“It’s been working on cases really well where the criteria fit, be it vandalism or a cold [crime] scene,” she explained, speaking of thefts where there is no suspect, or where the perpetrator has long fled.

Sacramento also has exceptions to the policy, but Lazarc said that these did not detract from the program’s efficiency.

“It saves a lot of time. Anytime you call out an officer and have to go out to a scene, it’s a good hour or more before he’s back,” she said.

“It frees our officers to go out to deal with more pressing matters.”

Lazarc did not believe that crime had decreased since the online reports, or that the city has saved significant amounts of money.