Protect San Jose

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2009-10-19T08:06:00.000-07:00

Thanks for visiting Protect San Jose on Blogspot. Our blog is now fully integrated with our website at ProtectSanJose.com, where we've also added technological upgrades that allow you to interact with us in exciting new ways. As such, we'll no longer be posting at this web address. We apologize for any inconvenience.

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Beat Cop: "I know it when I see it"

2009-10-16T09:10:00.000-07:00

Thanks for all the great questions. Keep 'em coming...

Mark:

When is something considered by the Police to be considered a civil matter, as opposed to a criminal one?

Beat Cop:

Mark, “I know it when I see it...”

That’s a line made famous by the U.S. Supreme Court when trying to define obscenity in the ‘60s. Well, trying to answer your question caused me to recall that famous line. How do we know if the situation put before us when we respond to a call is civil or criminal?

In short, we know it when we see it. In the world of police work, criminal law trumps civil law, and civil laws are many times hands-off for the police. We have well-trained dispatchers who can help you decipher the nature of your particular situation and let you know if the police can help. If there is still some uncertainty, please feel free to ask for an officer to respond.

Police departments can generally only enforce criminal laws. Sometimes a person will clearly violate a civil law and a citizen calls the police to take action. In a case like that, the police can assist by providing the appropriate court information but could not take action or force the issue.

One of the most common civil cases we come across are tenant-landlord issues. Local police departments do not handle most issues relating to evictions. The Sheriff’s department has a civil division that can assist with the eviction process and ultimately the physical eviction. It can be a long process, and we understand the frustration when you call the police for assistance and we can only point you in the right direction.

For more eviction information, contact the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department Civil Division at (408) 808-4800. The California Department of Consumer Affairs has a website with information, forms and explanations of laws. You can even request a free booklet explaining landlord tenant issues.

‘Til next time, proudly serving you,
Your Beat Cop

What's up, Doc?

2009-10-15T07:54:00.000-07:00

By Bobby Lopez

I just got back from vacation on Tuesday, and before I even got to the office, I saw this article in the Mercury News. In case you didn’t catch it, Dr. Rajiv Das, who advises San Jose’s Police and Fire Retirement Board on disability claims, has been accused by some of holding up the process.

As sometimes happens when there’s a controversial story involving police, a Mercury reporter, John Woolfolk, called me for a comment. The final story includes bits and pieces of all that I said, but it doesn’t accurately reflect my position.

First off, I have no personal problem with Dr. Das, and I have never referred to him as “Dr. No.” I have heard rumors that others refer to him that way, and that’s all I told Mr. Woolfolk.

My concern is that Dr. Das is overworked. As it says in the paper, Dr. Das also serves as a medical consultant to the pension board for civilian retirees and performs yearly physicals and driving and drug tests on city employees. That’s a lot of work, and it means Dr. Das reports to no less than three different governing bodies at City Hall. I doubt that he has a lot of free time.

Meanwhile, we have cops suffering from disabilities that keep them from doing the job they swore to do, the job they live to do. They’re forced to stay home with no income and wait for their claim to come through. Sometimes, this process can take six months or more. These are men and women with families to feed and bills to pay. They simply can’t afford to wait.

We have one member who’s been waiting on her claim for almost five months now. In that time, the medical insurance that covers her and her daughter has run out and her car has been repossessed. Adding insult to her injury, we found out the POA can’t assist her through our catastrophic emergency fund because of legal issues with workers’ compensation.

The City needs to reduce Dr. Das’ workload and get these claims processed more efficiently. Maybe that means hiring another physician to help Dr. Das. Maybe it means streamlining the claim process. Either way, we need a fair and equitable disability retirement system that supports our public safety employees who have sacrificed their bodies to keep us safe.

Bobby Lopez is President of the San Jose Police Officers' Association.

Special Public Safety Meeting

2009-10-14T08:02:00.000-07:00

By Kathleen Flynn

Tonight, I will be attending yet another meeting at City Hall which will focus on public safety and policing. After the meeting, I will write a follow up story to post the details of what happened. I hope those of you who support our men and women in blue and who have been victims of crime will join me. For more information on the meeting, go to the City of San Jose website and see the announcement at the top of the home page.

The Mayor and City Council have spent years now listening to a small but vocal minority claiming that SJPD has been engaged in racial profiling, and unfairly targeting minorities. This group has put so much pressure on the Council that laws that were designed to protect us from unlawful behaviors like being drunk in public have been watered down so much so that I hate to see what comes next.

Unless and until more people start speaking up for victims of crime, supporting SJPD, and demanding the hiring of more officers, the real issues of lawlessness that face our city will never be addressed. Victims of crime will continue to fall by the wayside and remain without a voice.

Our under-staffed and over-worked police will continue to feel unappreciated, and our citizens will continue to be affected by increases in crime while criminals walk free. The small, vocal minority that fights so hard for the rights of law breakers will continue to garner all the attention and City resources while deflecting the need for change in their direction, and the hiring of more police officers will be put off for yet another year.

Please tell your friends and neighbors about tonight’s meeting and join me. Or email the Mayor and Council to offer your support of our excellent SJPD and speak out in favor of putting victims’ rights first.

Thank you!

Kathleen Flynn is a professional mediator and community activist.

Community Budget Participation: Educate Yourself

2009-10-13T08:09:00.000-07:00

Part two of a multi-part series

By Ed Rast

Do you understand the actual condition of San Jose’s city facilities and service levels, where and why your tax dollars are being spent, and the City operating budget by department? It’s okay. Most people don’t. But that makes it difficult for them to participate in a community budget discussion.

Last week, I briefly discussed San Jose’s budget process and suggested that if you wanted to knowledgably participate in the coming community outreach that you should read the January 2008 report, City of San Jose: Development of Strategies to Address the City’s General Fund Structural Budget Deficit, in which many of this and next year’s deficit reduction strategies are discussed.

I also pointed you to previous blogs of mine on Protect San Jose in which I discuss public safety conditions, under-staffing, and the city budget.

If you’ve done your homework, you’re already better informed than most of your friends and neighbors. But access to this knowledge isn’t a privilege for the select few. It’s granted to all of us by law.

California’s Public Records Act, part of the state constitution, provides “access to information concerning the conduct of the people’s business is a fundamental and necessary right of every person in this state.”

As part of the budget process, the people of San Jose deserve access to more complete, understandable, and essential budget information that clearly shows:

• past actual budget spending, staffing and city service performance results;

• the current city facility, service, and performance measurement conditions, organized by responsible department;

• proposed city budget priorities, source of anticipated revenue, proposed revenue increases, and spending proposals organized by category, projects and public-private service partnerships and service grants;

• proposed actual staffing requirements and performance measurements to measure progress in meeting performance goals; and

• how each budget appropriation will or will not affect San Jose’s residents, businesses, and city government and how it will improve our community.

If everyone understood this basic budget language, City leaders and residents could engage in a proper, meaningful, and informed dialogue, which is essential to open, transparent, and accountable government

In recent years, the budget process has improved, and most residents believe that city staff who prepare the budget have good intentions, but it is not enough to be well-intentioned if most residents and even some councilmembers cannot clearly understand the City’s budget document.

San Jose’s budget looks good until you look closely look at the document itself. You find lots of confusing words and numbers that:

• summarize revenue, spending and staffing data but do not provide sufficient detail of actual vs. budgeted staffing and expenditures, common national performance measurement comparisons other cities use in their budgets;

• compare five year’s worth of budgeted staffing but do not compare that data to actual staffing by department;

• do not provide comparisons on a per-resident basis for 10 large local cities or the 12 largest California cities so city services provided for cities of differing populations can be compared to provide possible context or footnotes to explain unusual differences or variances;

• do not provide comparisons with local cites for a) development costs and b) cost of doing business, both of which affect business location, job retention, and city revenue

• lack detailed information by department and a summary listing a) tax spending for public-private partnerships that provide city services, b) non-city service spending to other governments, or c) grants or other tax subsidies, under-market rents and free services donated to non profits, developers, corporations and property owners with a stated public purpose; and

• are not organized as they are in budget documents of most other cities — where each department’s revenues and expenditures are broken down in a single section — but in four or more sections, with detailed information routinely available in other city budget documents is omitted.

If you don’t agree with the current city service and facilities conditions, city budget priorities, or cost and service comparisons, then you need to be prepared now, not next year, when many decisions will have been made — if they haven’t been made already.

As a community, we can direct the City Council and City Administration to publish more understandable budget information; improve and simplify the budget process; prioritize city spending into what should be fully funded, partially funded, and not funded; and develop or change city policies that could increase future budget deficits.

This week, your homework is to look closely at San Jose’s budget documents, particularly the 2009-2010 Operating Budget.

In coming weeks, I will continue to help by making additional budget recommendations, providing you with information to understand the budget, and notifying you of important budget meetings.

For example, at the City Council meeting on Tuesday, October 27th, there will be a staff presentation, discussion, and public comment on upcoming labor contract negotiations. I encourage all of our readers to attend and add their two cents to the discussion.

One Small Step

2009-10-12T09:36:00.001-07:00

A couple weeks back, we posted a column by Mary Klotzbach, Chair of the Mothers Against Drunk Driving Public Policy Committee for California, in which she called for the passage of AB91, a state bill by Assemblyman Mike Feuer of Los Angeles. AB91 would create a five-year pilot program in Alameda, Los Angeles, Sacramento and Tulare counties in which ignition interlock devices would be installed on vehicles owned or operated by first-time convicted drunk drivers. These devices force drivers to take a breathalyzer test before allowing them to start their cars.

AB91 passed both houses of the legislature, but before Sunday night, it was languishing on the Governor's desk as he threatened a political veto of nearly 700 bills before today's deadline to sign them into law. Late last night, the Governor's office announced he had signed at least 230 bills, including AB91. The pilot program will go into effect in January, 2010.

We'd like to thank MADD for their hard work and advocacy on behalf of this important policy that will keep our streets and neighborhoods safe. You can read more about AB91 and the hundreds of bills the Governor signed (and vetoed) in this article from the San Francisco Chronicle.

Happy Columbus Day, and stay safe.

Open Forum Friday

2009-10-09T08:11:00.000-07:00

Something on your mind? Let's hear it.

Beat Cop Responds

2009-10-08T08:04:00.000-07:00

Thanks for all the great questions. Keep 'em coming...

Karen:

When should I call 911 vs 311?

Beat Cop:

Karen, you are not alone with this question. I get asked this all the time. The best advice I can give you is: if in doubt ,call 911. In many situations, a citizen might feel there is not an actual emergency, like a fist fight or theft occurring at a shopping center. The Police Department would like you to call 911 in cases of any crime in progress or any level of emergency.

Calling 911 with a preserved, low level of emergency is not going to prevent someone from getting through with a “real emergency”. Calling 911 early and getting the appropriate police or fire response can however, prevent a situation from escalating and becoming the “real emergency”. 311 can be used from home phones only and is available for calls like music complaints, parking violations and police questions.

911 calls using cell phones are slightly more complicated. (311 is not available on cell phones.) Recently, a 911 cell phone switching system has been implemented, routing your cell phone 911 call to the local police agency whose jurisdiction you are calling from. This system is not flawless and often will default to the California Highway Patrol. Getting connected to the CHP while in San Jose can happen when you are near a freeway but not on it or when the system is not sure where you are. If you are connected to the CHP, dispatchers will make the transfer back to San Jose Police.

A sure way to get San Jose Police from the start on a cell phone is by calling 277-8911. This number will connect you the same way as a 911 call made from your home. You may want to store this number in your phone and put it on speed dial.

Proudly serving you,
Your Beat Cop

Community Budget Participation

2009-10-07T08:02:00.000-07:00

Part one of a multi-part series

By Ed Rast

Did you know that San Jose’s budget process for FY 2010-2011 will begin later this month rather than in January 2010 — as it normally would — because of numerous challenges, including a $90M deficit and proposed city service and staff reductions?

The typical budget process looks something like this:

• In January, the City conducts a telephone survey that randomly calls residents to asks them to rank their budget priorities and rate city services.

• Following a City presentation, neighborhood leaders this year were asked to review the Budget Office's prepared list of reductions and list those they preferred or offer their own cost or staff reductions which the staff would review to achieve a cost reduction target. We expect this step to be repeated in the next budget cycle.

• Community budget presentations are made in each council district and questions answered.

• In late spring, the Mayor and City Manager present their budget messages.

• The City Council conducts study sessions with staff presentations on departmental budgets.

• Councilmembers can recommend additional spending or reductions provided they also recommend changes in other areas to balance the budget. (By law, the City cannot operate without a balanced budget.)

• The City Council votes on the City Administration’s budget recommendations in June.

• The budget goes into effect on July 1st.

Many of this and next year’s strategies for combating San Jose’s chronic budget deficit were originally discussed and proposed in the January 2008 document, City of San Jose: Development of Strategies to Address the City’s General Fund Structural Budget Deficit. This was a report by Management Partners, a national consulting firm specializing in local government with offices in San Jose and Cincinnati. (See Pdf pages 6-8 for cover letter and index. A Budget Process Review and Recommended Budget Principals are described on pdf pages 133-137.)

From the Management Partners report: “The development and adoption of the annual budget is the most important responsibility for the city administration and the most critical policy decision made each year by the Mayor and City Council. In San José the annual budget allocates $3.7 billion in resources to provide services to nearly one million residents. The budget process in San José has continued to evolve and be improved by the City staff, Mayor and City Council.”

As we have previously discussed, the disorganization of current city budget documents makes them very difficult to understand for the City Council, and taxpaying businesses and residents. It also prevents us from comparing our city services, taxes, fees, spending, and performance measurements to community conditions.

Beginning later this month, there will be many important public meetings on city policy and budgeting — mostly at City Hall. Most residents will not be aware of these meetings nor able to attend. Regardless, policy recommendations will be made that affect city service levels, budgets, department performance measurements and proposed staff and service reductions.

It is very important that you, your neighbors, and San Jose taxpaying businesses and residents do some homework in order to knowledgably participate in the community budget process. You can begin by reading and clearly understanding the Management Partners report that I linked to earlier in this article as this will be used as the primary basis for the City Administration’s proposed budget and staff reductions.

As a community, we can help prioritize spending in our City. We can tell our leaders what services should be fully funded, partially funded or not funded at all. We can help to develop or change city policies that affect future budget deficits. If we take the time to understand the complex budget process and communicate our concerns and recommendations to the City Council and City Administration, taxpaying business and residents can join together to make San Jose an even greater city with a high quality of life for everyone.

In upcoming articles, I’ll continue our discussion of community budget participation by referencing data to help you understand the budget and notifying you of important budget meetings.

Ask Ed Returns

2009-10-06T08:27:00.000-07:00

Regular visitors to Protect San Jose know Ed Rast as a statistical guru, especially when it comes to public safety. In his regular Tuesday column, he's examined San Jose's exorbitant business taxes and fees, mismanaged budgeting priorities of City Administration, and our tendency to build more and more housing without bringing new jobs to the area.

A couple months ago, Ed opened up a dialogue with you, the reader, and he received some intriguing questions. Now, we're happy to open the floor again. This is your chance to Ask Ed.

Leave your questions in the comment space below, and stay safe.

Crime Doesn't Pay, But We Do

2009-10-05T08:11:00.000-07:00

By Jim Cogan

The title of this blog is one of the mottos that we have used over the years. It speaks to the simplicity of the program and its power over crime. This was a quiet month for Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers. We have 14 current cases under investigation, but only one closed last month. The one that closed was a great example of how crime doesn’t pay, but we do.

We received a tip drugs were being sold out of a house in San José. Police set up surveillance at the home and witnessed the suspect leaving with an accomplice. The officers followed them and were able to stop them on a traffic violation. After they stopped the car, they observed the suspects tossing bags of what later turned out to be marijuana out of the car. Officers recovered approximately half a pound of marijuana valued at $1,000, drug paraphernalia, and $1,000 in cash. The suspects will face criminal charges and jail time while the tipster will receive a reward. Crime doesn’t pay, but we do.

At Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers, we are proud of our impressive record of success, but we are also proud of the exceptional work performed by the men and women of Santa Clara County’s law enforcement community. Every year, we recognize their service by hosting an awards dinner where every jurisdiction is offered the opportunity to nominate an officer or team of officers who have distinguished themselves in the line of duty. Over the years, we have recognized heroes who day in and day out put themselves in harm’s way to keep us safe. We have honored law enforcement professionals who go the extra mile to get the job done, and it is our privilege to thank them for making us all a little safer.

This year’s awards dinner will be held on November 13th at San José’s Forth Street Summit Center. For more information, please call Councilmember Pete Constant’s office at (408) 535-4901. This is a great event that will show you why we live in one of the safest regions in the Country. Together we will thank the men and women who protect San José and all of Silicon Valley.

Jim Cogan is President of Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers.

For the Record

2009-10-02T06:54:00.000-07:00

By Bobby Lopez

There’s a lot of talk going around about next year’s District Attorney race and what role the SJPOA will play in it. I’ve heard and read a lot of different things, so I want to take a second to clear the air about our endorsement process.

As a policy, the POA does not make early endorsements. We have a process we’ve used since I became President, and we plan to follow it for the June 2010 elections. There are times when we make exceptions for friends who have a proven track record of supporting public safety issues, and we reserve that right. But that is not the norm by any means.

We are also part of a Public Safety Coalition with San Jose Fire Fighters Local 230 and the Association of Retired San Jose Police and Firefighters. From now on, our public safety organizations will work together when considering local endorsements. Once all three organizations have finished their own interview processes, we have the option to make a joint endorsement if we all agree on a candidate.

The endorsements of public safety organizations are important to any candidate because of the trust people place in us. Having our name on a mailer or a brochure carries a lot of weight with voters. I have made it a priority as President to ensure that our process is open and fair because I do not want to betray the people’s trust by making a decision without all the facts.

In coming months, we will extend an invitation to all viable candidates for the June 2010 elections to appear before us and request our endorsement. The current District Attorney will be welcome, as will any other candidate. She may win our endorsement, but only after a fair and thorough process.

Have a great weekend, and stay safe out there.

Bobby Lopez is President of the San Jose Police Officers' Association.

Beat Cop: A Dangerous Playground

2009-10-01T08:02:00.000-07:00

We all are mindful of predators that may be lurking near a school or playground. However, the Internet is a place where our children are playing much more frequently, and it is becoming increasingly dangerous. Some studies show that one in seven children between the ages of 10 and 17 will be sexually solicited online. Hate groups use the Internet to recruit young, impressionable kids. Studies show that anywhere from 20-70% of online children have been victims of some form of cyber-bullying. Many recent juvenile acts of violence have been linked to a cultivation of hate and violence online.

Growing problems from cyber-bullying are showing up at our schools. Disputes originating at school are transferred online and are fueled by unsupervised public humiliation in the online world. Results of cyber-bullying can range from depression and poor academic performance to violence on campus and even suicide.

Some of the 64,000 sexual offender registrants in California that are child predators have turned to the Internet as a new playground to prey upon. Most parents of child victims solicited online did not even consider that there was a physical risk to their children being online. We, as beat cops, are seeing more and more cases of child victimization on the Internet. Many cases in which a child had been victimized online only got to that point after a long period of interaction between the predator and the child.

These cases could have been prevented with the use of some simple Internet safety tips, like placing computers centrally in the home and using available monitoring or filtering software. Most computers have built-in parental controls in their operating systems and Internet browsers with varying levels of control. Service providers like AOL also have parental controls.

Start by becoming familiar with these safety tools. Learn how to check your computer’s online browser history. Next, invest in “aftermarket” Internet content filters, blockers, and/or trackers. This simple type of software is available for sale online and at local electronic stores. Examples of some are Netnanny, kidsnet and Spector Pro. These programs can filter or block content on the web. Social networking sites — like MySpace — and chat rooms can be monitored, and total time online or on these sites can be limited. Content trackers like Spector Pro can log all the emails, web pages, chats, and MySpace activity on a computer in an easy-to-use program, giving you a quick overview of your child's Internet activity. Knowing what your child is doing online and who is interacting with them is the key to keeping them safe.

Next, you should become familiar with the dangers our children are exposed to online. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (www.missingkids.com) is the world’s leading organization and partner with law enforcement for the elimination of online sexual exploitation of children. NCMEC operates a phone and online system to report any form of child solicitation at 1-800-THELOST or www.cybertipline.com. Tips are forwarded to the appropriate federal, local, or task force law enforcement agency for investigation. NCMEC also offers free online safety training at www.netsmartz.org. Also available are a variety of learning games for children as well as resources, videos, free CD's and presentations for parents educators and law enforcement. There is even the opportunity for a local presentation to be made at your school or organization. If the whole online world is a mystery for you there is a parents’ resource to explain all this mumbo jumbo in plain English at www.netsmartz411.org. Online help as well as free phone advice is available.

Your San Jose Police Department is working hard to keep kids safe online. The San Jose Police Child Exploitation Detail is a member of the National Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force program. The lives our kids lead online deserve the same amount of attention and protection we give them in the rest of their lives. Providing that protection will take some catching up for most parents out there, but the resources and help are available to you. Please take some time to consider what a dangerous playground the Internet can be and report any attempts of online solicitation of a child to the police.

Proudly serving you,
Your Beat Cop

Enough is Enough

2009-09-30T07:58:00.000-07:00

By Kathleen Flynn

Often times in high-profile cases, the victim, their families, and friends get lost in the media hype of political campaigns and community groups with personal agendas. If you look at infamous cases like Rodney King, O.J. Simpson, Michael Jackson, and DeShawn Campbell, you’d be hard pressed to figure out who the real victims are.

The problem as I see it starts when the media turns offenders, prosecutors, and police personnel into celebrities. It all becomes one big out-of-control circus that is soon joined by the political posturing of community leaders and groups and others with personal agendas. Groups campaigning against the death penalty, groups opposing law enforcement, community leaders screaming about racial discrimination take center stage, yet no one seems to notice the casualties that are being left behind in the dust on the field.

I remember reading about the shooting of Officer Jeffery Fontana. I felt heart broken for him, his family, and his friends. It wasn’t until the media started reporting stories that were bent on creating sympathy for DeShawn Campbell — along with my meeting of Officer Fontana’s mother, Sandy, at a vigil to honor victims of violent crimes — that I realized the true injustice that was occurring. The pain these families suffer at the hands of the media and all of the other players inspired me to give them a voice in this column. During that vigil, I listened to the heart wrenching re-victimization stories of victims and family members who not only suffered publicly at the hands of the sensationalistic media, but also at the hands of the very offices that are being paid to ensure justice for them or their lost loved ones.

Currently, we are seeing such a case play out in our local media instead of in the courtroom or in the voting booth where it belongs. Questions of ethical impropriety and early political campaigning are overshadowing the tragic murder of one of our very own much-loved community members. These outrageous behaviors being guised as “the public’s right to know,” are endangering not only the possible conviction of known criminals, but are also causing great pain to an innocent family that has lost a loved one in the commission of a violent crime.

Enough is enough. I am calling on the media, prosecutors, community groups, and law enforcement to end the political rhetoric and put the focus back where it belongs: on the victim and how we can use this tragedy to improve the safety of our communities and to support families that continue to suffer from the loss of a loved one.

Kathleen Flynn is a professional mediator and community activist.

A New Model

2009-09-29T08:37:00.000-07:00

By Ed Rast

Did you know that California’s current 12.2% unemployment rate is the highest it’s been since World War II and that Santa Clara County’s 12% rate of unemployment is the highest among nine counties in the San Francisco Bay Area?

In a column this past weekend in the San Francisco Chronicle, Michael Bernick, former Director of the California Employment Development Department (1999-2004) notes that, “Since 1970 state unemployment has soared near or over double digits several times, and each time the economy came back.”

In times of recession, the key assumption that both state and local governments have relied upon for decades is that there will be an economic recovery in less than a year (recessions in 1990-91 and 2001 both lasted less than 8 months) followed by significant growth in jobs and tax revenue.

Is the model of a brief economic downturn followed by recovery and significant growth a realistic assumption upon which to base our city budget and revenue forecasts? Let’s look at what leading economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and UCLA’s Anderson School are saying...

The current California economic downturn differs from recessions past in at least two major ways:

One is its severity. The 12.2 percent unemployment rate — affecting more than 2.3 million workers — is not the highest it’s been, but it does not cover the roughly 1.3 percent of workers who are discouraged or marginally-attached — more than 200,000 — or the roughly 5.8 percent — over 1 million — workers employed less than full time for economic reasons. Now we’re talking about roughly 19.3 percent of workers affected by the recession.

Second, this recession is across all sectors and occupations, unlike previous recessions that affected a few industries. Construction is biggest loser, down 140,000 jobs and 18.5 percent from last year and over 300,000 jobs since December 2006. Business and professional services, trade, transportation and utilities have also seen dramatic cutbacks. California lost 110.000 retail jobs in auto dealerships, electronics, apparel, real estate, and other areas. Many of these jobs are not coming back because Internet sales more than make up for the loss.

Outsourcing and new technologies are reducing the need for workers. The breakdown of the employer-employee relationship and enormous growth of independent contractors has accelerated changes in the California job market. For months, economists have said that unemployment will remain above 10% and not drop significantly until 2010 or even 2011.

It is difficult to predict employment numbers. When hiring begins again, the job structure will look different because of technology and globalization. Will there be enough jobs in the future of California, Silicon Valley and San Jose? Let’s see what the experts have to say:

Michael Bernick tell us that “A next wave of job creation, fueled by California’s entrepreneurial ethos, must be our hope as we try to survive the current turmoil.

English economist Arthur C. Pigon says, “The latest gloomy forecasts ignore an important lesson of history,” that the “deeper the slump, the zippier the recovery.”

Michael T. Darda, Chief Economist for MKM Partners posits: “The most important determinate of the strength of an economic recovery is the downturn that preceded it.”

The City of San Jose receives about 40% of its revenue from commercial and office activities, and about 20% from retail activities — which use less city services than they pay for in taxes and use less land than homes that use more services than their taxes provide. We have not grown our jobs and tax revenues in proportion to or ahead of our growing population, as most other cities in Santa Clara County have done since the start of the Silicon Valley tech boom, as my previous blogs have clearly shown.

“Doing the same thing the same way and expecting a different result” has long been considered the definition of insanity. As it concerns job creation and growing the City’s tax revenues, this philosophy has allowed San Jose’s quality of life to slip below the levels provided by neighboring cities.

It is very difficult to accurately predict the future, especially the timing of a recovery in an uncertain world, and there are many influences on San Jose’s economy which we cannot control or change. However, we can control many city policies and processes that take longer than necessary, amend the high tax rates and fees that cause businesses to perceive San Jose as “unfriendly,” and improve how we compare to our main competitors: neighboring cities.

San Jose has an opportunity to take advantage of the coming economic recovery and build a strong base of jobs and tax revenue, but only if we change how we deal with nurturing startups, growing companies, and retaining companies.

We need to find out exactly why these businesses choose not to make their homes in San Jose. We must be honest with our residents about the many reasons we have lost thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in tax revenue.

San Jose should be comparing its practices to what other local cities have been more successful at doing. We must make sure that public receives adequate value for the dollars they spend and hat they are involved in budget discussion and decisions rather than just City Administration and a few insiders who, after decades of effort, have not been able to produce the needed jobs and revenue results.

Stop the Subsidy of Drunk Driving

2009-09-28T07:50:00.000-07:00

By Mary Klotzbach

Drunk driving kills heroes too. My son, Matt, was in his third year at the United States Naval Academy in 2001 and an honor student inline for flight, when he was killed by a multiple suspended drunk driver while home on leave. Matt was killed in Santa Clara County by a man with a blood alcohol content of 0.9.

Before you sympathize with me for the loss of my son, consider the fact that every Californian faces the threat of drunken driving every time they drive on our roadways.

According to new data from the U.S. Department of Transportation, California’s families are sharing the road with 310,971 drunk drivers with three or more DUI convictions, and of those, 44,210 with five or more convictions. In 2006 alone, drunk drivers killed 1,276 of our states citizens.

These numbers show that California’s law enforcement agencies are doing their job – finding and arresting drunk drivers. Unfortunately, the rest of the judicial system has failed to protect the public. Mandatory alcohol ignition interlocks for all convicted drunk drivers would stop the revolving door of repeat offenders.

As a nurse in a large East Bay Trauma Center, a long time volunteer leader for Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), and as a mother who lost her son to a drunk driver, I can say that no parent should have to lose their child to the criminal negligence of a drunk driver - especially when technology exists to prevent such tragedy.

Right now, California has the opportunity to make a real difference in this effort. AB 91 has successfully passed through the California State Assembly (77-0) and the California State Senate (34-4). We urge Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to sign AB 91 and allow hundreds of lives to be saved and millions of dollars saved the state. It is estimated twenty five percent of the average auto policy holder’s premium in California is due to DUI’s on our roadways. According to the Marian Institute the state of pays $12.4 billion annually for DUI crashes.

Proven technology to save lives currently exists, but is not being used. Alcohol ignition interlock devices prevent a vehicle from starting if a convicted offender demonstrates that they are violating probation by continuing to drink and drive. Interlocks are proven to save lives, yet very few California offenders get the device.

Installing interlocks on the vehicles of all drunk driving offenders has the potential to save hundreds of lives and at the same time give offenders the ability to drive and not endanger the public. If all states mandated interlocks for all convicted drunk drivers, we could save up to 4,000 lives a year. The drunk driver pays for the entire cost of the device, not the taxpayers. Implementation of interlocks will help unclog the courts and the jails of California.

Some say that interlocks don’t work. They are wrong. I have had one on my car for the last ten months, twice the length of time a first time convicted offender would be required to have one installed on their vehicle. I have not had one malfunction. I have waited in the same shops as offenders to have my monthly and bi-monthly calibrations done and spoken to offenders who did not put the device on their vehicle voluntarily, but are keeping it on their vehicle voluntarily because what it has done for them. Interlocks are proven to be up to 90 percent effective in reducing recidivism while on vehicles. The real issue is not the effectiveness, but the use of interlocks – we need laws to make the interlocks mandatory for all convicted drunk drivers.

To prevent future drunk driving tragedies, Assembly Member Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles) introduced legislation (AB 91) that would require a pilot study in four California counties; Los Angeles, Alameda, Sacramento, and Tulare, mandating alcohol ignition interlocks for all convicted drunk drivers, including first time convictions. This bill has the potential to save hundreds of lives by reducing drunk driving in California. This bill is supported by a multitude of health care organizations, such as the American Nurses Association, Emergency Nurses Association, California Hospital Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, as well as a long list of law enforcement agencies, and insurance organizations. The opposition is the alcohol industry; American Beverage Institute, California DUI attorneys, and California Attorneys for Criminal Justice. Those facts speak volumes.

Some say that interlocks are too severe a punishment for those convicted of drunk driving. Compared to what my family lost on July 29, 2001 when a repeat DUI offender, arrested on at least two prior occasions, thought he had a right to drive after enjoying a few beers, an alcohol ignition interlock device is a fairly lenient sanction and is as much protection for him and his family as it would have been for mine. It allows offenders to keep their jobs, family, and ability to drive. They just can’t continue to violate the public trust by driving drunk.

Please visit www.madd.org to contact Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to let him know of your support for AB 91, a pilot study calling for mandatory ignition interlocks for all convicted drunk drivers in four California counties.

Mary Klotzbach, RN BSN, is Chair of the MADD Public Policy Committee for California. She wrote this article for the Mercury News, but it was never published.

Another One Bites the Dust

2009-09-25T07:53:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago on this site, Officer James Gonzales voiced widespread concerns for the safety of nightlife in Downtown San Jose. He wrote about our city's 20th homicide of the year and the dangerous environment created by supporting certain types of entertainment downtown. Officer Gonzales recalled the Ambassador's Lounge, a now-defunct nightclub that was shut down over safety issues.

Sure enough, earlier this week, San Jose police revoked the license of another downtown nightclub. This time, the axe fell on the dance club Wet, which saw 49 calls for service over a five-month period earlier this year, most of them for violent offenses.

Obviously, this is a hot-button issue for all of our residents, particularly those living downtown. Now, you can tell us what you think needs to be done. Pretend you're on the City Council and let us know how you'd protect Downtown. We'll repost the best comments in a later blog.

Have a good weekend, and stay safe.

Ask Beat Cop

2009-09-24T07:49:00.000-07:00

This feature worked out so well last time that we had to bring it back. If you’d like to submit a question, click here and fill out the form provided. Be sure to include your first name and email address. Beat Cop will respond to all of your questions and even blog some answers in the bi-weekly Beat Cop column.

The Big One

2009-09-23T07:58:00.000-07:00

We received some news yesterday that we wanted to pass along. As you may know, Assembly Majority Leader Alberto Torrico is a candidate for California Attorney General in 2010. Assemblymember Torrico has long been a friend of SJPOA and received our wholehearted endorsement over the summer.

Now, he has been honored with the endorsement of PORAC, a statewide organization of public safety unions, of which SJPOA is a member. This is a huge step for Mr. Torrico's campaign. and it's clear from reading the email below — which he sent to supporters yesterday — that he appreciates the significance.

——

Dear Friend,

The 62,000-member strong Peace Officers Research Association of California (PORAC) voted Saturday to endorse my campaign for Attorney General.

I’ve always made protecting the public my highest priority. Many of you know my brother is a veteran officer with the San Jose Police Department, so this powerful endorsement is more than a political victory. It is a very personal validation of years of work standing with law enforcement to make California safer.

PORAC President Ron Cottingham was very kind in his remarks:

“Alberto Torrico has made protecting the public his top priority. He is the best choice for California’s top law enforcement official.”

I want to personally thank the men and women of law enforcement for their confidence and for this endorsement.

This is just the most recent success for our campaign. We reported the strongest cash-on-hand position among Attorney General candidates in July. And we are back on the road today – spreading the word and gaining even greater momentum.

Please stay in touch as the campaign continues to grow. You can join me on Facebook, sign up on my website or follow me on my new Twitter account. And please help us maintain our strong financial position by making your donation here.

Respectfully,
Alberto Torrico

——

You can click here to read an article Mr. Torrico wrote for Protect San Jose back in June.

More Housing Won't Pay the Bills

2009-09-22T08:25:00.000-07:00

By Ed Rast

Did you know that San Jose has over 53% of Santa Clara County’s population but only 40% of its jobs?

Don’t believe me? Have a look at these charts. Pay particular attention to the charts for population and jobs. You'll find that San Jose's percentage of Santa Clara County's population rises from 52.9% to 53.8% between 1990 and 2010 (projected). You'll also see that San Jose accounts for only 35.8% to 39.6% of jobs countywide over that same span.

Why are the ratio of jobs to employed residents and the jobs/housing balance important for having an adequate city budget?

From a City of San Jose document on population, jobs, and housing:

“Historically, San José has had a shortage of jobs compared to the number of employed residents living in the City, commonly referred to as a jobs/housing imbalance. A jobs/housing imbalance, especially when there is a relative deficit of jobs, can be problematic because it results in longer commutes as City residents travel to other locales for employment. This same imbalance can result in financial hardships for a city due to the costs associated with providing services to residential land uses in relation to revenue generated.”

Table 4.13-1 in this document provides an overview of the historic and projected number of households, jobs, employed residents, and population in San José. The data in Table 4.13-1 indicates that the City was having success in correcting the historic imbalance, but recent jobs data shows that we slipped back again, making our budget deficit worse, thus requiring a reduction in staff and city services

In the Mercury News from Wednesday, October 24 2007, Mayor Chuck Reed said, “Eliminating San Jose's status as Silicon Valley's bedroom and better balancing the growth of new jobs with new housing is the key to getting out of this structural budget deficit." I would tend to agree.

So, how are we doing at achieving the Mayor’s goal? Let’s have a look at the San Jose General Plan Update: Projections of Jobs, Population and Households For the City of San Jose (Table 3, Page 9). This update predicts San Jose will account for 44.2% of countywide jobs by 2040, but if you crunch the numbers here, you’ll find that ABAG has allocated San Jose slightly over half of the County’s projected job growth. That's a pretty rosy prediction given the current business environment in our city.

Homes, unless they are very expensive, do not generate enough city tax revenue to pay for the services they require to maintain, thus generating a budget deficit. This is unlike businesses, which generate more revenue that their services cost based on California public finance policy.

Population growth without the required jobs to pay for city services and infrastructure has an adverse affect on the general fund budget and San Jose’s ability to provide adequate city staff, services, and infrastructure to residents and businesses

San Jose receives back from the state about $11-12 cents of every property and sales tax dollar. Property taxes are about 21% and sales taxes range between 24-29% of the general fund budget, with imposed taxes from other cities, licenses, user, or service fees — mostly paid by businesses — plus revenue from state and federal governments making up the rest of general fund revenues.

Jobs-rich cities like Palo Alto, Santa Clara, Milpitas, Campbell and other Santa Clara County cities that have more jobs than employed residents have the excess business tax revenue to pay for services for their residents. Almost a decade of budget deficits and the highest cost of doing business in the county has discouraged business and job growth in San Jose. See my previous posts, “Cost of Doing Business” and "Just the Taxes, Ma'am" for additional information about jobs and taxes.

To ensure that the City’s fiscal condition is stable, predictable, and adequate in the long term to serve the proposed development without detrimental impact to services for the rest of the city.

San Jose should strongly consider setting: 1. jobs/housing triggers as proposed in Coyote Valley or other residential growth controls; and 2. a jobs-per-employed-resident target of 125 jobs rather than current 100, which has never been met.

Open Forum Friday

2009-09-18T07:17:00.000-07:00

Pick a topic, any topic...

Beat Cop: The Sound of Safety

2009-09-17T07:20:00.000-07:00

Recently, I spoke at a neighborhood gathering that was organized by residents to address some issues of violent crimes occurring near them. At the end of my presentation, I asked the neighbors if there were any concerns I had not addressed or any further questions that I could answer. A man in attendance asked, “Why is your helicopter so loud, and why does it always seem like it’s over my house making noise?”

I appreciated the question. Conversations like these are important between law enforcement and the citizens of San Jose who support us. I spoke with the man about the essential uses of our helicopter, its overwhelming capture rate, and the enormous blessing it is to our city that we have a skilled and dedicated Air Support Unit.

I further spoke with the group and told them that my fellow officers and I know that doing our job does sometimes cause inconveniences for the residents we protect. We realize that our lights and sirens can be loud and annoying; we also understand that it’s a sacrifice when you need to get somewhere and we need you to yield the roadway to us for emergency purposes. We know you don’t like your route changed during our traffic diversions. I also explained that on my days off I experience the same things you do.

When I was done, the man spoke again. He said, “I understand it now. I may not like it, but I understand it. It’s the sound of safety.”

Please pardon the noise...

Proudly serving you,
Your Beat Cop

Early Release

2009-09-16T08:47:00.000-07:00

By Kathleen Flynn

I have grave concerns about media reports on the possibility of early prison releases and reducing criminal charges to save money. Our economy and jobless rate are resulting in increased crime and some questionable proposed budgetary fixes by both State and local governments. In a recent Mercury News editorial by District Attorney Dolores Carr and Dennis Graham, they express serious concerns about a proposal to reduce criminal charges from misdemeanors to felonies so that criminals can be sent to county jails instead of state prisons, thus saving the state millions of dollars. The results of this proposal would have devastating affects not only on public safety but on our already understaffed public safety and enforcement departments.

The San Jose Police Department currently has 1,352 officers to serve over a million citizens. In the year 2010, an estimated 40-50 officers will be retiring, taking with them approximately 2,000 combined years of experience, and will reduce our Police Department to a grim 1,312-1,302 officers. With budget constraints at the state level, a proposed raiding of city funds, and a seeming lack of willingness on the part of our City Council to hire the amount of officers we truly need to serve our community, I fear the situation is only going to go from bad to worse.

With the early release of prisoners and reduced criminal charges, we will be creating a monster of enormous proportions. Not only will the safety of our neighborhoods and police officers be jeopardized, but we also will be forced to contend with more highly-sophisticated criminals who will be using more efficient technologies to commit crimes in our community. Getting a job once you’re a felon is difficult, and this tends to lead them back to the profession they know best: crime, and the victimization of others.

Our parole, and probation departments are already understaffed, over-worked, and carrying huge caseloads. If these proposals go forth, keeping track of perpetrators will be nearly impossible. Our judges and courts will be even more overloaded with cases, and justice for victims will fall by the way side even more drastically than it does now.

According to Amy Cornell, Public Information Officer for the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office, “With the poor economy already resulting in cutbacks in positions, the number of cases we see come through our office could increase at an overwhelming rate. Prisoners who are considered ‘low risk’ will be the ones released, but with the reduction and elimination of parole supervision, we could be seeing a massive spike in re-offenses. In essence, we are minimizing the severity of certain crimes by allowing criminals to go free. Criminals are being allowed to escape accountability and proper punishment for their crimes. This is a disservice to our community, and a serious threat to public safety.

“In addition, it is proposed that parolees would only be sent back to prison as a result of being convicted of a new offense, not for being in violation of parole conditions. Before, we might not file a new criminal case if the parolee was being sent back to prison anyway. Also, early releases to the county of commitment, i.e. Santa Clara County, will include more rehabilitation programs. The problem is that local governments are not getting any additional money to either provide those rehabilitation programs or to prosecute parolees for new offenses. The bottom line is that the proposals will balance the state budget on the backs of local government.”

If that isn’t enough to concern us all, a recent article by April Dembosky in the Mercury News discusses the seriousness of communicable diseases that will be brought into our communities by prisoners released into our communities. Health care provided in prisons is insufficient; so many prisoners will carry HIV, Hepatitis C, and Tuberculosis into our communities. With people going without health care, and many struggling to get or keep health care for themselves and their children, the added possibility of being exposed to highly contagious diseases being brought into our communities by criminals just to cut state costs is very alarming to me.

In writing this article, I urge readers to call or write the Governor, members of the State Legislature, the Mayor and City Council, even Senators and Congressmembers, asking them not to allow this travesty of justice. Thank you!

Kathleen Flynn is a professional mediator and community activist.

Return On Investment

2009-09-15T07:59:00.000-07:00

By Ed Rast

Do you know what your taxes are being spent on and what city services or public benefits San Jose residents and businesses receive from them?

As we have discussed in “Just the Taxes Ma’am”, San Jose receives General Fund revenue of $663 per resident which is better than the average among 15 cities in Santa Clara County (5th) and the 12 largest cities in California (5th as well). Yet we continue to under-staff and under-fund essential city services including police, fire, and emergency medical services.

Budget documents prepared by San Jose city staff omit important revenue, staffing, and expenditure details. We frequently hear about city government spending in newspaper, television, or radio news, mostly as a result of a controversy, non-profit emergency funding, or critical City Auditor reports and Civil Grand Jury reports.

Most residents and businesses have little idea what their taxes are being spent on. But it’s not for lack of curiosity.

The lack of readily available and detailed city service spending and tax subsidy reporting makes it difficult for residents — not to mention the City Council — to understand where our taxes are being spent. This is particularly true for: 1) spending for services from non-profit, community-based organizations, school districts, or another government organization, or 2) corporations, developers and property owners receiving grants, economic development incentives or tax subsidies.

Here is a list of organizations receiving over $200,000 from the City of San Jose to provide a service in Fiscal Years 2005-2006 and 2006-2007. This is an incomplete list. We do not know how much support they received above $200,000, and we don’t know what specific service or services some of them provided as a public benefit to San Jose.

Here are two lists of organizations receiving grants from the City of San Jose in Fiscal Year 2007-2008, the first sorted alphabetically and the second by city service area and core services.

Now, read the two City Council policies on grants:

Council Policy 9-12 – Emergency Financial Assistance to Non-Profit Organizations

Council Policy 9-13 - Grants to Outside Entities

There are two questions you should be asking about these non-city services paid for with your taxes, and they’re multiple choice:

1. Who is receiving these services?
a) The general public
b) Individuals in need
c) Individuals, groups or companies that should be paying for these services
d) Residents and local businesses who pay city taxes

2. How should we classify these services?
1) Essential city services,
2) Services that the City should provide
3) Services we would like to provide if we did not have a budget deficit
4) Services that the City should not be providing

Do we know the answers? If not, why doesn’t the city administration make this information easily available and obtainable?

How can the Council and public make good policy, budget priorities, and spending decisions if we do not know where are our taxes are being spent, what tax subsidies are being provided and to whom, what services we receive, who is being provided outside services and what is the public benefit for our taxes spent?

Professional Respect

2009-09-14T07:44:00.000-07:00

By Sgt. Jim Unland #2666

Although the emphasis of this blog is directed at public safety from a police perspective, we would be remiss if we did not give an occasional nod to the other half of public safety — firefighters. PBS recently re-aired a documentary on Santa Rosa firefighters. It was produced in 2002, but is still relevant today as I try to get my mind around the recent, continued, and concerted attacks on San Jose public safety personnel by the local newspaper, radio, and most disconcerting, my own employer.

Those who would try to capitalize on the current financial crunch by advocating a stripping away of many negotiated gains over the last twenty years seem to be under the impression that ours is a normal profession. It is not. Watch the attached portion from the documentary and you will easily see that police and fire fighters do a job no one else wants to do, or in most cases, is qualified to do.

Whether or not they would admit it, I would argue that those whom you see in the video will carry an emotional toll from their job well into their retirement. Public safety work is rewarding, but at the same time, the price one pays both physically and emotionally cannot be easily conveyed.

To San Jose firefighters: all indications are that the city, your employer, is going to try to undo twenty years of improved working conditions for your members. You have a fight on your hands. Please know that the members of the SJPOA, who know firsthand the work you do and the risks you take, stand with you. All professional rivalry aside, know that when one of our members is shot, stabbed, or seriously injured performing their job, we’re relieved and deeply appreciative when you arrive on scene. I just wish your employer valued you as much as we do.

Sgt. Jim Unland is a 21-year veteran of the SJPD and a member of the Board of Directors of the San Jose Police Officers’ Association.

Righting a Wrong: Update

2009-09-11T07:59:00.000-07:00

By Sgt. Jim Unland #2666

Updating a story we passed along in a previous blog...

The San Jose Police Officers’ Association would like to thank 17-year-old Chris Coutinho and the other members of Boy Scout Troop 294 (South San Jose) for the work they did renovating the area around the sign at Jeffrey Fontana Park. This park was dedicated to the memory of San Jose Police Officer Jeffrey Fontana who was killed in the line of duty on October 28, 2001.

Over the course of several days, the scouts re-routed irrigation and laid new concrete in front of the sign to improve the curb appeal. Chris conceived this project as part of the process to earn the rank of Eagle Scout. He raised funds through donations from his Charter, San Jose Councilwoman Nancy Pyle, and the SJPOA.

Unfortunately, no good deed goes unpunished. On one of their workdays, someone stole a Hilti brand power hammer and drill bits from the job site. This piece of equipment had been loaned to the Troop, and the replacement cost was in the thousands of dollars. No one’s insurance covered the loss.

When we learned of the theft, the SJPOA established a victim’s assistance fund and, helped by stories in the local paper by Lisa M. Krieger, we received $1,800 in donations from concerned citizens. Hilti representatives Marcus Oden and Brian Comeau also stepped up to the plate. They heard about the theft and donated a replacement power hammer and several of the drill bits. They were also able to replace the remaining stolen items at a reduced cost.

With the money left over from donations, the SJPOA plans to fund other community projects performed by Troop 294, including continued maintenance and beautification at Jeffrey Fontana Park.

Sgt. Jim Unland is a 21-year veteran of the SJPD and a member of the Board of Directors of the San Jose Police Officers’ Association.

Protecting Downtown

2009-09-10T07:28:00.000-07:00

By James Gonzales

Protecting San Jose has been a calling for my fellow officers and I. We all strive to make our city a better place for all our families. Protect San Jose’s Beat Cop has been asking citizens to pitch in and work with the police department to help make our streets safer. I think we need to ask a few other groups to join us and help protect San Jose.

This last weekend, in the McEnery Convention Center's parking lot, San Jose had it’s 20th homicide of the year. The violence following the Dub auto show and concert was somewhat predictable. Event performer and notorious rapper E-40 has a following that tends to bring his lyrics to life. Not so long ago, E-40 had his own nightclub on South 2nd Street in Downtown San Jose, the Ambassador’s Lounge. Nightly brawls at the club brought some attention to the problems with Downtown’s image and night life.

The final straw came in the form of a running gun battle following an E-40 performance that was like something out of an action movie. Countless bullets flew across streets and parking lots leaving three shot, and police action closed the club. Will history repeat itself?

San Jose has a new big box club called Wet, just a few steps away from the old Ambassador’s Lounge. We certainly see nightly brawls outside of this club, and a recent stabbing inside the club caused a temporary suspension of its entertainment permit and brought some press attention to the issue. The larger issue is changing the image of Downtown San Jose and making it a safer place.

Police can only respond to violence after if occurs. There are, however, groups who can help protect us before the violence happens. Downtown events in our parks, convention center, and other public facilities are managed by contracted organizations like Team San Jose and the Downtown Association. These tax-funded groups make the choices of who will entertain us in our Downtown. These choices affect the safety and image of our Downtown. We have responsible and profitable choices available to us. Attracting wildly successful hip-hop artists like Roots, whose lyrics don’t inspire hate, fear and violence would be a good first step. Not extending alcohol sales hours at park events is another.

Think of the byproducts of a poorly planned event: the police overtime needed to investigate a homicide or shooting — or stabbing — in a concert setting among thousands of people; the citizens in our other neighborhoods, left with only a handful of officers to ensure the safety of hundreds of thousands of people when the majority of resources are pulled Downtown for another major crime response; the officers’ safety when they have to respond to violent crimes in those neighborhoods with no back-up available.

The quick dollar made by booking fare whose image and message puts fear in our citizens is not enough to cover the cost of policing the incidents that erupt at nightclubs and bars afterwards. The Civic Auditorium on San Carlos Street has a beautiful new facelift and is now attracting new artists. Will some acts be reluctant to come into a downtown known for post-show gun battles? I think they might.

Downtown San Jose is a community and a place to bring our families for entertainment and culture. There is however, tremendous pressure to make Downtown profitable. New, towering, luxury condominiums are flying up all over, and hundreds of millions of redevelopment tax dollars are being invested there. Risks are being taken by both private and public entities. In order for our Downtown to succeed, a clear direction must be set by its operators.

The citizens of San Jose must tell our city leaders to make Downtown safety a priority. The City’s Redevelopment Agency and other policy agencies must make Downtown safety a priority in their planning. And groups like Team San Jose — who answer to the City — must hear this message loud and clear: protecting Downtown San Jose takes a cooperative effort by all involved.

With a clear direction and a positive image of Downtown, the people will come and the profits will follow.

James Gonzales is a San Jose Police Officer.

California Leads the Way

2009-09-09T08:12:00.000-07:00

By Julianne Sylva

Since the late 1980's, the District Attorney has dedicated a team of professionals to locate and recover children who have been abducted by a parent or family member. This is a complicated area of the law as the district attorney may utilize either criminal or civil laws in family abduction cases.

While I cannot comment specifically on the case presented by Kathleen Flynn in last Wednesday’s blog on this site, I can give some general information about family abduction matters that might be helpful.

In California, a person may not withhold, conceal or abduct a child from another person who has a right of custody to the child. This is different than most states as California does not require that a custody order be violated. In California, both parents have an equal right of custody to the child, even without a court order.

California has been used as a model for other states in this regard. The national Uniform Child Custody and Jurisdiction Enforcement Act (UCCJEA), which has been adopted in 48 of 50 states, is based upon the California Civil Code sections that mandate that prosecutors locate and recover children taken in violation of a person's right to custody. What is so helpful about these civil code sections is that they provide the district attorney with additional tools other than prosecution in order to locate and recover children.

This is important because an arrest warrant may be served upon an abductor, but it will not get the child back to the left-behind parent or guardian. Alternatively, under the civil enforcement option, the prosecutor may get a protective custody warrant for the child and recover the child. Both parents or guardians then return to family court where the judge may resolve outstanding custody and visitation issues.

Another great tool provided to prosecutors is that we may facilitate communication between judges. For example, if one court issues an order regarding custody and a parent removes the child to another jurisdiction and gets another order without revealing that there was a prior order, there would be two conflicting orders. A judicial communication (a fancy term for getting the judges to talk on the record, in their respective courtrooms, with the parties present in their jurisdictions and the matter being conducted on speakerphone and taken down on the record) enables the judges to examine the case history and documents and make a determination as to which court order takes precedence.

I want to take this opportunity to remind you that there is no waiting period to report a missing child, despite what you may hear on television (Penal Code 14205). In fact, we ask that police take a missing person's report and enter the information into the Missing and Unidentified Person System (MUPS) any time a parent or guardian reports to the police that he or she does not know where the other parent and child are. This is because, even if the parent is with the other child and the parent takes the child from the other parent and withholds the child, if the other parent does not know where they are located, the child is considered "missing."

If a situation arises such as the case Kathleen describes in her blog, please contact the district attorney's office in the county where the left-behind parent lives. There are 58 counties in our fine state, and most DA offices have individuals trained to handle these cases.

Our District Attorney, Dolores Carr, created a special service for Santa Clara County residents who wish to report a visitation violation. Her office website now allows a parent to make a visitation violation report online without having to contact their local police agency. This not only frees up valuable police resources and time but also saves the reporting party from having to go to the police station to collect a copy of the report as the party can print the report out immediately at home.

Please be advised that, upon receipt of the online visitation report, the District Attorney's Office will not take further action on the reported violation, but the reporting party may use this report in any future family court filing.

If you have any questions, you may contact me directly at (408) 792-2523 or jsylva@da.sccgov.org. If you’d like our assistance on an abduction case, I ask that you please call our intake number at (408) 792-2921 during business hours.

Julianne Sylva is a Deputy District Attorney for Santa Clara County assigned to the DA’s Child Abduction Unit. She wrote this article in response to last week’s blog by Kathleen Flynn and the comments it generated.

A Rose By Any Other Name

2009-09-08T07:57:00.000-07:00

By Sgt. Jim Unland #2666

When I say, “vegetable peeler,” what do you see in your mind’s eye? I’ll wait a moment while you get the image. OK, do you see what I see — a curved kitchen implement a few inches in length used for peeling carrots and potatoes? How about if I were to ask you what you picture when I say, “machete,” “sword,” or “dagger”? Each of these words has a distinct connotation and brings to mind a different image. When the average person communicates, he or she attempts to use precisely the words needed to convey a particular (and accurate) meaning to the intended recipient. Apparently, our local newspaper writers are more interested in conveying scandal than accurate meaning.

Several years ago when a San Jose police officer was confronted by a volatile woman holding a “bladed weapon,” he ordered her to put it down. When she refused, advanced on him and raised it over her head, the officer, fearing for his life, fired his pistol at her to protect the lives of those around him as well as himself. This “bladed weapon” was approximately 10 inches in length and resembled a meat cleaver. Reporters for the local newspaper continue to refer to this bladed weapon as a “vegetable peeler,” which the officer “mistook” as a cleaver. In fact, they did it again in Sunday’s edition, six years after the incident occurred. In reality, what they call a “vegetable peeler” is a cleaver-like implement with a peeler apparatus built into the blade area. To clear up any confusion, I’m including a picture of it here.

There is a very simple point on this matter which I believe has been overlooked all these years: it doesn’t matter what we call this thing. When Bich Cau Thi Tran made the fatal decision to ignore the officer’s demands, when she decided to advance on the officer with the item in question raised above her head in a menacing and threatening manner, it was no longer a kitchen utensil of any kind — it was an instrument of death. It became the sort of deadly weapon that could prevent that officer from ever seeing his loved ones again.

I was the supervisor on the scene that night. I realize I’m probably not the most objective person when it comes to this issue. But let me tell you something: to do our jobs effectively, we rely on people obeying lawful orders. If they don’t, people can die, and no one wants that outcome. If a police officer is confronted by a person holding a bladed tool and orders that person to drop it, they should drop it. That’s what any law-abiding citizen would do because they understand the consequences at stake.

Here’s a question that no one has ever bothered to ask: Why did Tran ignore the officer’s commands and go to a drawer in her kitchen to grab this bladed instrument when the police came to her house on a child endangerment call for service? Why this particular device? What was her intent? What sort of message could she have been trying to convey to the officers? I don’t know about you, but “compliance” and “cooperation” certainly aren’t what I’m thinking. There is no other logical conclusion that can be drawn other than her obvious intent to cause or threaten to cause physical harm to the responding officers.

I’m not sure why reporters for the local paper want their readers to have an image of a harmless kitchen utensil when it comes to this tragic event. Instead of the phrasing “an Asian vegetable peeler that the officer mistook as a cleaver” how about, “an Asian vegetable peeler that looks like a double bladed meat cleaver?” If I were cynical, I might think they were trying to disparage the police department or worse, suggest the most vile use of unnecessary force.

I’m not saying that San Jose police officers are perfect and never make mistakes. But I know this for a fact: not one of the men and women I’ve worked with for the past 21 years desires to take a human life. We got into this profession to protect life. And for the local paper to suggest, imply, or infer otherwise is the only miscarriage of justice to have occurred in this whole tragic episode.

Sgt. Jim Unland is a 21-year veteran of the SJPD and a member of the Board of Directors of the San Jose Police Officers’ Association.

Open Forum Friday

2009-09-04T08:18:00.001-07:00

We hope you're looking forward to the long holiday weekend. Maybe you're already enjoying some time off before the end of summer. Either way, it's time once again to pass the reigns to you, the readers.

Let us know about activities and events happening in your neighborhood on Labor Day, or just tell us what's on your mind. The floor is yours...

Stay safe.

Beat Cop Responds

2009-09-03T08:06:00.000-07:00

Looks like our experiment worked. Thanks for all the great questions. I tried to pick one to answer in this week’s blog, but in this first installment, I’ll respond to two of them...

George:

I am always impressed by the way SJ officers always seem to keep their uniforms pressed and neat. But this raises some questions: How much does one complete uniform cost? Do officers get a uniform allowance? Does it cover 100% of costs? Does the department require officers to have a minimum number of uniforms? And what happens if, during the course of a shift, a uniform gets messed up (blood, torn in a struggle, etc.)? Is the officer required to change uniforms so that he/she can look professional for the rest of the shift? Thanks for keeping us safe!

Beat Cop:

Thanks for the question(s) George.

A set of uniform pants and shirt costs about $300 dollars. That does not include boots, hat, tie, and nameplates, which together total about $250. Each officer is required to have a clean, military-pressed uniform for each day of work. Officers usually maintain three to four sets of uniforms. Some uniforms will be at the cleaners and others will be rotated for use on upcoming work days.

Officers are required to have a clean uniform ready to change into during a shift if it is exposed to blood, torn or soiled. Dry cleaning is the only way to get the uniforms looking the way they do. The cost of dry-cleaning pants and a shirt is about $6. Normal wear and tear gives a new uniform a lifespan of about a year.

A total of four sets of uniforms, boots, and dry cleaning for a year comes to a total of $2,050. The city provides a $675 uniform allowance to each officer and does not cover any dry cleaning costs. That leaves $1,375 out of pocket for each officer per year.

—

Kathleen:

I live near Houge Park in [City Council] District 9. Every night after 10 pm, there are teenagers at the playground drinking and smoking pot. I never see any police officers patrol there. Why not? Is it because you are short-staffed?

Beat Cop:

Most parks are “closed” after dusk per municipal code. Drinking alcohol, smoking marijuana or just being in a park after hours are all crimes. Whenever you see this type of activity, call 3-1-1 (non-emergency line) and report it. Officers will be dispatched if they are not responding to crimes in progress or crimes with greater priority.

If the activity is ongoing and you would like to request officers make patrol checks in your neighborhood, you can call 3-1-1 for that as well. The dispatcher can make up a patrol check request that will be routed to the officers that work the area and make the supervisors aware of the problem. Officers will generally make checks at parks in their beat when they have free patrol time.

For the purposes of policing, San Jose is divided into patrol divisions, districts, and finally individual beats. I cannot remember the last time every beat in the city was filled with an officer. The hours you are concerned about — after 10pm — tend to be the busiest times for calls for service. Depending on the time of night, your whole council district may only have 5-8 officers patrolling it. A large event or several small events commonly leave no officers free to patrol parks during these times.

The San Jose Police Department is undeniably short-staffed. It is possible that there are not officers assigned to the beat your park is in from time to time and officers must respond form neighboring beats and districts to calls for service in yours. The chronic lack of officers in a city the size of ours is a well-known problem that has been overlooked by our city administration. The city has consistently denied our Chief of Police’s request for an appropriate amount of officers to patrol the city.

Despite these shortfalls, SJPD takes pride in addressing all crime in our city. We ask that the public be patient form time to time as we address your problems with our current level of staffing. You can also help us help you. When reporting a crime, be as descriptive as possible. Write down license plates, clothing descriptions, and anything else that could help a responding officer locate the people responsible for the crime.

I will pass on your patrol request to the beat cop in your area and have an officer contact you for more information.

—

That’s all for now. If you have a question for Beat Cop, please fill out this online form, and we will try to answer each question individually and may use yours in upcoming blogs.

Check back next Thursday for a new Beat Cop column.

Proudly serving you,
Your Beat Cop

Gender Bias and the Judicial System

2009-09-02T07:25:00.000-07:00

By Kathleen Flynn

Does the judicial system treat men differently than women when it comes to child custody and providing legal representation? A recent incident has made me wonder. My neighbor came home from work a month ago to find his live-in girl friend of three years gone. She had packed up all her things and left with their newborn son. He had no idea she was leaving. Being close to both of them and Godmother to their son, neither did I.

After trying to call her to no avail, he came to my door in tears asking me if I knew where she was. When she wouldn’t answer her cell phone for me, I advised him to call the Police. SJPD came out and tried calling her too but no luck. We suspected that she was at her mothers in Visalia. SJPD called the Visalia Police.

The Visalia Police finally reached the young woman who simply said, “I don’t want to live with him any more,” and the Visalia Police left it at that. SJPD let my neighbor know that it was now a civil matter, and after trying to console him a bit they left.

The next day, I made several calls and got advice on where to send him for legal assistance. Since he lost his job over this, he qualified for Legal Aid. He went down there but they refused to help him, citing not enough staff. An attorney I know who works in the Family Law Clinic had me send him to a free clinic in San Jose. After several hours wait, he had to fill out his own paperwork with very little guidance, take it down to the court, file it, and wait another ten days until the judge issued a court order.

I had him call the DA’s Office for help. Their office was very helpful and compassionate. The clerk had him come down immediately and fill out paperwork, so they could assist him. I asked the clerk why the Police didn’t put out an Amber Alert when the child was abducted. She said she didn’t know but that the mother could not leave the County with the infant without a court order. She advised that once the judge issued an order he was to bring it to them immediately so they could track her down and serve her.

Ten days later, the judge finally ordered the mother back to Santa Clara County and set a court date for September 18th. The judge knew the mother was unemployed, living with her mother — who is on drugs and on Welfare with three other children — and had abducted his child. Yet the judge refused to give him temporary custody, even though he lives with his fully-employed mother, and has the means and will to take care of his son. No visitation order before the court date was made either. The DA’s Office has spoken to the young woman to notify her that she must return immediately, but she has refused, so they are still working to locate her residence.

In the midst of all this, I have continually wondered: Would they have treated her the same way if the situation were reversed? Would Legal Aid, attorneys, authorities, the judge, and the judicial system have behaved with the same disinterest they have toward him? If he had taken the child, would they have asked her if she beat him, or beat her son, or cheated on him? I don’t believe anyone in authority would ask a woman those kinds of questions.

What do you think?

Kathleen Flynn is a professional mediator and community activist.

Cost of Doing Business

2009-09-01T08:37:00.000-07:00

By Ed Rast

Did you know that San Jose, without sufficient jobs for its residents and lacking the tax revenue that would generate — has raised taxes and fees to the point that the cost of doing business in our city is prohibitive to recruiting new businesses.

As I noted last week, San Jose loses 50,069 working residents — or 5.6% of our residential population — during the day when they commute to jobs in other cites.

Businesses looking to startup, grow, or relocate review many factors when making a decision about where to locate their operations: availability of skilled workers and management, housing for those workers, access to transportation, city service levels, quality of life, customers, suppliers, the city’s public policies, time to approve permits. All of these factors contribute to the “cost of doing business” in a particular locale.

A 2008 survey by the Kosmont-Rose Institute ranks San Jose as a “High Cost of Doing Business” city based on city business, sales, property, electric and phone utility rates, and state corporate income taxes. Community data takes into account city population, FBI Crime in the United States rates, taxable retail store sales, and transportation and economic development Incentives to create a complete understanding of the business climate in a city.

The Kosmont-Rose Survey User Guide explains the methodology behind the rankings.

The Kosmont-Rose survey is widely used by corporations, real estate developers, community planners, and public officials. Business relocation specialists use it to compare cities, especially when trying to decide between desirable locations.

Economic development officials use it to target companies in high cost cities that might be relocation candidates as we have seen with relocation campaigns run by states like Texas, Arizona and Nevada. Many former San Jose companies have moved their jobs or expanded in other states

California’s corporate tax rates are among the ten highest in the nation per the Kosmont-Rose Index of Corporate Tax Rates by State.

This Santa Clara County Cost of Doing Business and Jobs Map shows the cost of doing business ranking and the number of jobs per 100 employed residents for cities in Santa Clara County. Here are the top seven cities in jobs per 100 employees and their cost of doing business:

Palo Alto : Average CODB; 254 jobs per 100 employed residents
Santa Clara: Low CODB; 218 jobs per 100
Milpitas – Very low CODB; 164 jobs per 100
Mountain View: Average CODB; 147 jobs
Cupertino – Average CODB; 147 jobs
Campbell – Low CODB; 109 jobs
San Jose – High CODB; 88 jobs

This South Bay Area Cost of Doing Business Map shows other cities color-coded by cost of doing business. Note that job growth in Northern California has come mostly in inland cities with lower costs of doing business.

A February 2009 survey by the Ticon Company entitled Tenant Improvement Permits and Fees shows that fees and plan check times for a 10,000 square-foot tenant improvement with a valuation of $300,000.00 range from $4352 to $9763 on average. San Jose’s fee for the same permit is $24,000.

A high cost of doing business, while not the only factor that determines where a business will locate, is many times a “deal breaker” in these decisions, especially when the debate is between desirable neighboring cities, a problem San Jose knows all too well in Silicon Valley.

California city government revenues can be significantly increased or decreased by business activity – through jobs and consumer sales taxes or increases in business tax and fee rates. The local cities with more jobs and retail stores per resident have higher revenues and a lower cost of doing business than San Jose.

However, instead of trimming back on non-essential services, San Jose’s city administration chose to increase tax and fee rates to balance the City budget.

See my blog from last week for comparisons of local city tax revenue and jobs.

Sleeping Giant

2009-08-31T07:45:00.000-07:00

By Pete Pomerleau

Admiral Yamamoto could have been speaking for the San Jose City Council when he said: "We have awoken a sleeping giant." Yamamoto’s sleeping giant was the United States, awoken by the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The giant in today's terms is the body of active and retired employees of the City of San Jose, and the battle is over our pension plans.

For those not up to speed, the City is in full-on attack mode. City administration hired an outside agency from Canada called Cortex to look at making our pension plan "better." We were assured during meetings with these consultants that we as stakeholders would have a say in any re-organization. I can tell you for a fact that we will, because this is a clear meet-and-confer issue under our contracts, as noted by Bobby Lopez and Randy Sekany in their blog last week on Protect San Jose.

I spent two nights last week listening to and addressing some of the changes proposed by Cortex that the City is planning to ram down our throats. Beyond the damage these changes would do to officer morale as well as our recruitment and retention efforts, the proposed plan is just plain flawed.

The best people to manage a pension fund are the employees who pay into it. City staff has been trying to figure out ways to cut into our well-managed plans for years to subsidize the many financial quagmires they’ve gotten themselves into. We have to scale back on our new Southern Substation because of poor business decisions and practices made by supposed experts. We couldn't even get our new City Hall completed without numerous problems, and we hired the best architects in the country. Now the city wants us to hire more experts to manage our pensions. Well, I’ve got news for you: You could hire Warren Buffet to manage our funds, but he wouldn’t be able to guarantee higher returns.

I want to share some other ideas that were presented to us by Cortex and some of our responses. For reference, you should click here to open their report, which City Manager Figone brought before the City Council on June 23rd.

On page 27 of the report (p. 33 of the pdf), Cortex cites “good” examples of companies that changed their retirement boards in similar ways. Funny, but the numbers I have tell quite a different story:

• Canada Pension Plan: lost 18.6%
• National Railroad Retirement Investment Trust: lost 19%
• Yale Corporation Investment Fund: lost 25% this year

On the other hand, during 2008, the San Jose Police and Fire pension plan lost 5.1% and the Federated plan lost 3.1%. The question begs to be asked: What are we getting by putting our future in the hands of the “experts”?

As members, we contribute a chunk of our salaries every payday to the future of our plan. We also contribute our tax money into the plan along with every other resident. This is a well-developed plan that has generated tens of millions of dollars in returns to the City. We never asked for a bigger cut while the City reaped the rewards in the bullish years. But they have seen it fit to attack and demonize us in the court of public opinion in the lean years.

Maybe in the future the City should think about putting some revenue away for a rainy day, rather than spending it on non-essential services. Wouldn’t that be a sound business idea?

Before I sign off, you should know that Councilmembers Ash Kalra and Rose Herrera sat through both community outreach meetings last week. They listened as City employees described their frustrations. Rose even walked through the crowds and spoke one-on-one with us. This is a fine example of the dialogue we so desperately need to have with our Councilmembers. I’d like to thank Ash and Rose for leading the way.

Righting a Wrong

2009-08-28T09:02:00.000-07:00

You might have seen this story by Lisa Krieger in the Mercury News about Boy Scout Troop 294, which had volunteered to help clean up newly-renamed Jeffrey Fontana Park in Almaden Valley. Chris Coutinho, a scout trying to become an Eagle Scout, left a rented Hilti rotary hammer at the park entrance while he went to pick up supplies at a nearby Home Depot. When he returned, the power hammer had been stolen, and Chris and his troop were on the hook for $5,000 to replace it.

Well, we're happy to say that the San Jose Police Officers' Association Victim's Assistance Fund has stepped up to help raise money to defray the cost of the hammer. Donations can be made online at www.sjpoa.com. You can also mail a check payable to SJPOA-CF to SJPOA-CF, c/o Chris Countinho, 1151 N. 4th Street, San Jose, CA 95112. For more information, call 408-298-1133. We'll post updates on this story in later blogs.

Stay safe, and have a great weekend!

Ask Beat Cop

2009-08-27T09:01:00.000-07:00

Readers,

Every other Thursday, we post columns by Beat Cop, one of over 1,300 sworn San Jose police officers who keep us safe by protecting our streets and neighborhoods. So far, Beat Cop has commented on the rise of burglaries in San Jose and what citizens can do to prevent it, exposed deficiencies in police staffing and budgeting, and informed us of new programs that help residents and business owners fight back against vandalism.

To be sure, Beat Cop has plenty more stories to tell, but this week, we’re debuting a new feature of Protect San Jose that will allow you to ask direct questions of San Jose’s finest. If you’ve ever wondered why three or four black-and-whites were needed for the same traffic stop, or how many cops are patrolling your neighborhood on any given night, or what eight years of budget cuts mean to the average cop on the street, now’s your chance to Ask Beat Cop.

If you’d like to submit a question, click here and fill out the form provided. Be sure to include your first name and email address. Beat Cop will respond to all of your questions and even blog some answers in the bi-weekly Beat Cop column.

We hope you enjoy this new experiment. Stay safe.

Protect San Jose

Meet and Confer

2009-08-26T09:11:00.000-07:00

By Bobby Lopez & Randy Sekany

As promised two months ago, the City of San Jose will do public outreach this week on proposed changes to its employee retirement boards. Up to now, neither of our organizations has been engaged in the outreach process – even though this is a “meet-and-confer” issue per our contracts. (This was the case in 2000, when the board was expanded from five to seven members.) Nonetheless, we’ll be attending public meetings at City Hall to learn more about what’s being proposed. We’re always open to listening and talking about ways to improve things.

Under the current system, the boards are made up of two city councilmembers, two active employees, one retired employee, a member of the Civil Service Commission, and a city administrator with experience in financial matters. The City’s consultants have proposed eliminating the two council positions, the Civil Service Commissioner, and the city administrator in favor of four outside financial experts, who would be appointed by the City Council.

Putting experts in charge of the pension funds sounds like a good idea – or does it? Weren’t Wall Street financial expert responsible for our recent financial disaster? This is something we should think about and talk about.

Regardless of who was sitting on our retirement boards, our pension funds were bound to take a short-term hit thanks to the stock market collapse. In fact, when you look at other struggling funds around the country, we’re in pretty good shape. Despite all the losses, our pensions are still fully funded, and that’s a testament to how well they’ve been managed by the current boards.

The bottom line is: everybody’s interested in improving things. We all have a stake in the City’s financial security because it’s all our dollars that make it run. Like you, we’re anxious to see the results of this week’s public outreach meetings, but we want to make sure that whatever comes out of these proposals, nothing is done to jeopardize the top priority of our organizations and our residents: public safety.

We invite you to attend these meetings to hear what city staff has to say. Tonight’s meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. in City Hall Wing rooms 118 & 119. Tomorrow’s meeting is at 1:30 p.m. in City Council chambers.

Thanks for reading, and stay safe out there.

Bobby Lopez is President of the San Jose Police Officers’ Association, and Randy Sekany is President of the International Association of Firefighters Local 230 in San Jose.

Just the Taxes, Ma'am

2009-08-25T07:51:00.000-07:00

By Ed Rast

Do you know why San Jose city administration year after year has recommended police staffing and budget cuts?

The primary reason is for the last eight years San Jose has had a “structural budget deficit” — in other words, city government’s projected revenues (from taxes, fees, licenses, service charges and other sources) are less than projected spending. State law requires cities to have balanced operating budgets for each year when city revenues are equal to or less than projected spending.

San Jose revenues increased steadily from 1990 through 2007-08, at a rate between 1% and 13% a year, except for FY 2002-03 and 2003-04 when they declined 3% and 1% respectively following the burst of the dot com bubble. City revenues decreased again in 2008-09 and are projected to fall once more in 2009-10 due to the ongoing economic recession.

Have a look at these three tables:

• California General Revenues by city/county
• Population — California Department of Finance Demographics
• General Revenues per Resident

(Source: Computations by CaliforniaCityFinance.com from State Controller and Dept. of Finance data, 1991-92 through 2005-06.)

San Jose’s average General Fund revenue of $663 per resident ranks around the middle of both the 15 cities in Santa Clara County (5th of 15) and the 12 largest cities in California (5th of 12). (On a brighter note, this has improved from 1991-92, when we were 9th out of 15 in Santa Clara County and 8th out of 12 large California cities.)

The cities in Santa Clara County with higher tax revenues than San Jose have more jobs and businesses, more sales taxes, or both. Here’s the top ten and how they rank for total revenue per resident, jobs per 100 residents, and consumer sales tax revenue per resident:

1. Palo Alto: $1,194 revenue per resident; 254 jobs per 100 employed residents; and $228 consumer sales tax revenue per resident
2. Mountain View: $998; 147; $125
3. Los Gatos: $860; 143; n/a
4. Santa Clara: $ 848; 218; $159
5. San Jose: $663; 88; $82
6. Gilroy: $658; 83; $200
7. Milpitas: $655; 164; $133
8. Sunnyvale: $628; 125; n/a
9. Campbell: $607; 108; $138
10. Cupertino: $581; 147; $82

San Jose does not have sufficient jobs for all of our employed residents and during the workday loses 50,069 or 5.6% of our residential population when they commute to other cites for jobs. The resulting loss of sales tax from spending by both individuals and business and other business-related revenues is in the tens of millions of dollars per year.

In July 2008, the U.S. Census estimated San Francisco’s residential population at 808,976 with daytime population increasing by 168,747 (21.7%) due to work commuting, for a grand total of 977,723. At the same time, San Jose’s residential population of 948,279 drops to 898,210 during the workday.

By comparison, Palo Alto adds 47,707 workers or 81% of its residential population, while Santa Clara adds 54,655 workers (63%), Milpitas 18,948 (30%), Mountain View 18,972 (26%), Cupertino 11,119 (22%), and Sunnyvale 18,163 (13%).

Here’s how San Jose compares to other large California cites in terms of revenue per resident:

1. San Francisco: $2459
2. Oakland: $873
3. Los Angeles: $768
4. Sacramento: $758
5. San Jose: $663

All four cities ahead of San Jose have a higher ratio of jobs per resident, and many have higher sales tax revenue per resident.*

In coming weeks, we will continue this discussion about San Jose’s structural budget deficit, city revenue sources, where taxes are being spent, other city budget comparisons, policies/practices that affect our city budget and revenue, and spending and policy recommendations.

In the meantime, to better understand San Jose’s budget and how it compares to other city’s budgets, you can track back and read my June 30th “Dollars and Sense” blog and last week’s “Priorities and Objectives".

* Data sources:
1. General Tax revenue comparisons 2005-06 data by city, jobs per employed resident and sales tax revenue per resident from CaliforniaCityFinance.com
2. City Population and Commuting Workers from U.S. Census
3. 2007 Consumer Sales Tax from City of San Jose / MBIA – Consumer Sales Tax Retail, Transportation and Food Products from SJEconomy.com

Crime Stoppers Make a Big Splash

2009-08-24T08:21:00.000-07:00

By Jim Cogan

This month, among arrests for drug sales, assault and burglary was a new one for me. One of the criminals arrested through a Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers tip had 44 stolen tickets to Raging Waters valued at $2,200. (Maybe he was in planning on a whole summer worth of daycations.) While it doesn't sound serious, this crime could result in charges like felony grand theft. I guess you could say that this guy is all washed-up and could get sent up the river for a long time thanks to an anonymous tip from a concerned citizen.

All joking aside, crimes like this one are all too common and can have a devastating affect on businesses that are just barely making it in this economy. It is unclear how the suspect was able to get so many tickets, but in many cases it is an inside job. Merchandise theft from employees results in millions of dollars in lost profits annually.

At Crime Stoppers, we are serious about helping businesses avoid unnecessary losses. We have worked with retailers and their loss prevention departments to make employees aware that they can call Crime Stoppers and remain anonymous. If you know of anyone stealing from your employer, then please call our tip line at (408) 947-STOP.

Crime Stoppers also made a big splash this month in San Jose by partnering with Councilmember Madison Nguyen to give her constituents a tangible way that they can make a difference in their community. A couple of years ago, Councilmember Nguyen approached me about partnering with us to pass out t-shirts with the Crime Stoppers name and phone number printed on them. Hundreds of San Jose residents learned about Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers this year thanks to this partnership and Councilmember Nguyen’s support of the program.

Thank you, Councilmember Nguyen. Crime Stoppers works because of leaders like you.

Jim Cogan is President of Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers. This is a monthly report he writes exclusively for Protect San Jose.

Open Forum Friday

2009-08-21T08:13:00.000-07:00

Given the popularity of our last open forum experiment, we're more than happy to roll it out again.

It's been a busy week at City Hall...

• The City Council approved a funding plan for $5 million in cost overruns on the South San Jose police substation, cutting back on other planned public safety projects like the regional driver training center.

• The Consortium for Police Leadership in Equity was back before Council committees with a quarterly report as they look to begin their study of police practices in San Jose.

• And Protect San Jose's resident statistical guru Ed Rast and the rest of the Sunshine Reform Task Force that he chairs made their Phase II recommendations, albeit through the middle man of the Rules Committee.

Let us know what's on your mind.

Beat Cop: Tag, You're It...

2009-08-20T08:15:00.000-07:00

Did any one notice massive amounts of graffiti on buildings as they drove to work today? I didn't either, probably because San Jose has long made reducing graffiti a priority. Travel to any major city in the country and you will very likely recall tagging spread throughout the city where you were vacationing or on a business trip. Some large cities like San Francisco, LA and New York have even become destinations for traveling vandals. People traveling to San Jose can feel our community pride and have a sense of security knowing that a city this free from graffiti makes crime a priority. A business looking to relocate to San Jose surely will be influenced by tagging in the area of their prospective business. There has been a long standing partnership between city leaders, city services, community members, business, probation, courts and the police department to keep San Jose free from graffiti. Unfortunately, like many crimes in our city, graffiti vandalism has risen in recent years. Two San Jose Police Detectives in the METRO unit are responsible for investigating thousands of graffiti and vandalism cases a year.

Now the citizens of San Jose have a new weapon to help keep their streets clean. A little more than two weeks ago, the San Jose Police Department launched a new online graffiti reporting system. The new system is accessed on the department’s website, SJPD.org, under the Report a Crime/Graffiti tab. It allows citizens to take digital photographs of graffiti and upload the pictures directly into a police database. The reported graffiti does not even need to be on your property. Graffiti detectives track the distinctive tags and locate the suspects responsible for them. Having a database of tags allows for effective prosecution of vandals in our community. Once a suspect is associated to a distinctive tag, detectives can then charge the suspect with past tags logged in the database. Victims of the vandalism are reconnected and have an opportunity to recover the cost of the vandalism through the court’s restitution process. All police agencies in the county have signed on to the San Jose police-initiated system. Other cities in the state like San Francisco are joining the shared network as well. Citizens who are in need of a crime report for insurance proposes or who have suspect information can still call 3-1-1; or file an online report using SJPD.org.

If you locate graffiti on city property, you can report it for clean up to the city of San Jose Anti graffiti hotline at (408) 277-2758. Remember, by immediately addressing new graffiti, we send a strong, zero-tolerance message to the perpetrators. If you want to get directly involved in keeping your community graffiti- and crime-free, you can become a volunteer. The City of San Jose has a program to assist residents and businesses that need to remove graffiti from their property. Free paint and graffiti solvent is available through the San Jose Anti-Graffiti program at 501 Vine St. To pick up your free Anti-Graffiti Tool Kit or to volunteer to clean up graffiti, call (408) 277-3208. Working together we can protect San Jose from the blight and crime associated with graffiti.

Proudly serving you,
Your Beat Cop

Parent-Teen Mediation and How It Can Help

2009-08-19T08:16:00.000-07:00

By Kathleen Flynn

Laws governing how you can discipline your child have changed considerably. If you use any type of physical force on your child, spouse, or a family member you can go to jail. Once you are arrested, jailed, and ordered to appear in court your whole life will change and not for the better. Luckily, the DA’s Office offers families without a history of violence an option to consider avoiding prosecution. The DA’s Office sends cases to mediation in an effort to empower families to better communicate and come up with improved skills in which to handle conflict. The County’s Dispute Resolution Program (DRPS) receives DA referrals and provides the community with just that type of service.

Last week, I handled such a case. A mother and daughter got into a physical altercation over a cell phone. After attending a Birthday party, were she had had a few drinks, the mother came home at 1:00 am to find her teenage daughter talking and texting on her cell phone. When she told her daughter to give her the phone and go to bed, the daughter told her mother to get out of her room and mind her own business. The fight escalated from yelling into a physical tug of war over the cell phone which ended in black eyes, a swollen ear, choke marks on the daughter’s neck, and a bloody foot that ended in a trip to the Emergency Room, and 7 stitches. During the fight, a neighbor called the Police. The mother ended up in jail, and the teen ended up in a shelter run by Child Protective Services.

When the mother and daughter recounted their version of the events, I was struck by the immense lack of compassion and communication I saw between them. As I listened to the mother telling me that she lost her job because she had to miss so much time to keep her court dates, the loss of some friendships, and humiliation she has suffered from this experience, I was surprised to hear them both say that if they had they known that programs like ours existed maybe this and other fights could have been avoided.

Parent/Teen Mediation, or any type of mediation through DRPS is a voluntary program that is free to the public. It is not therapy or counseling. Mediation is a setting in which you can clear the air and find positive, constructive ways of dealing with volatile emotions in a safe place. It isn’t as formal or frightening as it sounds.

After scheduling an appointment, you will meet with two experienced mediators that will listen to both sides of the story. Everything said in the mediation is kept strictly confidential. They are not there to judge you, nor will they tell you what to do. They are there simply to assist you and your child, family member, or spouse in learning active listening skills and ways to communicate more effectively. Once you have reached an agreement on how to do things differently, the mediators will put it in writing so that both of you know what was agreed to. No one sees that agreement but you. You may come back for a second or third mediation if you need to.

For more information on the Dispute Resolution Program you may call Brohne Lawhorne at 408-792-2330, or email him at Brohne.Lawhorne@ohr.sccgov.org.

Kathleen Flynn is a professional mediator and community activist.

Priorities and Objectives

2009-08-18T08:13:00.000-07:00

By Ed Rast

Did you know that 4376 criminal cases in San Jose were not investigated in FY 2007-2008 due to a lack of police officers and resources, up 70% from 2,574 uninvestigated cases the previous fiscal year?

It is estimated that 5,800 cases — or almost 10% of all cases received — were not investigated in FY 2008-2009. This would mean an increase of over 125% in uninvestigated crimes in just two years.

Estimates predict that 4,500 criminal cases will not be investigated in FY 2009-2010... even if the eight new police officers approved in 2008-2009 budget for Investigative Services are hired to improve case investigations and clearances in burglary and auto thief.

The 2009-2010 proposed operating budget (p. VII 282) states that these eight investigative officers could instead be assigned to “service demand increases related to annexation of County pockets within San Jose, normal population growth and the impact of proposed reductions to other police services.”

The State of California plans to take $75 million from San Jose’s Redevelopment Agency and borrow $20 million of San Jose's property and sales tax revenues to balance the state’s $24.1 billion budget deficit, which means that previously eliminated public safety staff and budget cuts are back on the table.

So how can San Jose city administration year after year propose cuts to police staffing and funding if public safety is the No.1 budget priority of residents, neighborhood leaders, and most of the City Council?

Because our city administration:

1. Does not have a clear definition of “essential city services” — which always includes police, fire and emergency medical services — to be used to prioritize budget cuts;

2. Does not link city budget items to clear performance service objectives* (see below);

3. Does very few city service and cost comparisons to other large California cities or local cites using national performance measures; and

4. Does not link staff compensation to the achievement of department-specific service objectives in the budget, which are linked to long-term city goals.

We will continue to see police staff and budget cuts until our city administration defines their budget priorities and expenditures are linked to clear performance objectives and measurable standards.

* A performance service objective is defined in a budget document from nearby Sunnyvale as “generally a two-part sentence, describing both the service to be provided and the measurable standard with which it’s results will be compared.” For example, here’s the police service objective from Sunnyvale’s budget: “a) Provide quality investigations to aid the District Attorney in the prosecution of criminal cases in order that criminal charges are files on 90% of the cases submitted for review; b) promote the safety of the community and an atmosphere of security, primarily through the deterrence and prevention of crime and the apprehension of offenders in order that the city remains within the lowest 25% of Part 1 crimes for cities of comparable size at a cost of $103.82 per capita.” Now that's specific!

Paperwork

2009-08-17T09:15:00.000-07:00

By Bobby Lopez

I don’t know about you, but I was having a good weekend up until yesterday morning. That’s when I saw this article in the Mercury News.

A long-awaited police substation is about to cost $5 million more than the City originally thought. It’s the second time this year City administration has had to adjust their numbers because of “flawed design documents”. To add insult to injury, they want the council to pay for the cost overrun with funds that are meant for a police driver safety training center.

In the past, I’ve pointed out numerous examples of wasteful spending coming out of City Hall. This is just another example, and it comes at the expense of cops.

This substation has been a long time coming. Our officers and support staff are stretched too thin to keep our streets and neighborhoods safe. A second home in South San Jose would relieve some of the pressure. Councilmember Kalra has it right the Merc story when he says, “it’s something we need to do.”

But think of the cops we could put on the beat with $5 million. Think of the new technology SJPD could use to improve reporting and records keeping. Think of the community policing programs we could fund. I think about it, and it makes me cringe, because instead of spending that $5 million on public safety, we’re making up for messy paperwork.

Recently, we’ve been hearing about how police pensions and benefits are bleeding our City coffers dry. Maybe things wouldn’t be so bad in the first place if the City spent our tax dollars wisely.

Bobby Lopez is President of the San Jose Police Officers' Association

Time to Go

2009-08-14T08:13:00.000-07:00

Friends,

I am writing to explain my decision to resign as President of the San Jose Police Officers’ Association effective January 1, 2010. I am extremely proud to have been President for nearly four years. We have the finest group of police officers in the entire country, and it has been my privilege to serve you. That being the case, I feel that it is now time for me to leave.

I have made some needed changes, and I hope that my Presidency has strengthened the organization, both internally and through relationships with every organization and person the SJPOA deals with.

I will be writing in more detail regarding my term as President in my monthly column in the POA’s Vanguard newsletter. It has been a long four years, with numerous late nights and long meetings. I have been thinking about this for some time. I signed up to be a street cop and a father to my two sons. As I come to the end of my career, I want an opportunity to finish on the streets and to spend more time with my two boys.

I know that Vice President George Beattie will be a strong President for you in the future and that the POA has a great Board of Directors to serve its membership.

Please be safe out there.

Robert "Bobby" Lopez
President, SJPOA

Where's the Accountability?

2009-08-13T07:59:00.000-07:00

By Pete Constant

How many times have you read an article online or in a newspaper that questions whether the San José Police Department holds its officers fully accountable for their actions? To be honest, I’ve lost count.

In 1993, the City of San José opened the office of the Independent Police Auditor (IPA). This newly created position was designed specifically to ensure that police officers were held accountable for their actions and to ensure that the police Internal Affairs Unit did not whitewash investigations of misconduct.

Approximately 4 years ago the San José City Council appointed Barbara Attard to be the IPA for a four year term. Since Attard lived in San Francisco, the city council provided her relocation assistance and a $250,000 executive home loan so that she could live in the community she served. When her term of office ended at the end of 2008 the city council decided to not re-appoint her. Attard continued to make her payments on her executive home loan for 3 months, and then abruptly stopped paying – even though she continued to make her first mortgage payments to her mortgage company. Months later, she informed the City of San José that she could not sell her home so she offered the city a deed to the property in lieu of foreclosure. Of course, there was still the matter of the first mortgage, so the city would have to pay off that loan in order to take possession of the home. Unfortunately, the city council agreed with this, voting to approve the settlement (9-2, with Councilmember Campos and myself voting against).

So she walked away from her obligations, leaving the taxpayers holding the bag – nearly $350,000 in loan forgiveness, and now the residents of San José own a downtown condo that might be worth $240,000 - if you could even sell it in today’s market.

So I ask, where did the concept of accountability go?

Four and a half years ago the city council approved this home loan, even though it appears to fail to meet the spirit or even the letter of the Executive Home Loan Program. After all, the intent of the loan program was to help new executive relocate to San José, an area long known for its high housing prices. But Attard was coming from San Francisco, an area with even higher housing costs.

Can anyone really argue that accepting a job 40 miles or so from your home requires relocation? Many hardworking city employees and taxpayers commute farther than that every day to their jobs.

The Executive Home Loan Program also specifically states that these loans are for the executive’s “principal residence.” While it was well known that Attard maintained her San Francisco residence during her employment, it is less known that Attard maintained her voter registration in San Francisco County and continued to vote in elections there while she was employed as the IPA. Remember, if you move, you are required to re-register to vote when you move to a new residence. Additionally, Attard never filed for a Homeowner’s Property Tax Exemption in Santa Clara County, but did keep the Homeowner’s Property Tax Exemption on file for her San Francisco residence. You can see that to claim this exemption, you must certify, under penalty of perjury, that you occupy your home as your “principal residence”.

So did Attard qualify for an Executive Home Loan to purchase her principal residence? I don’t think so, it’s clear to me she didn’t think it was her principal residence.

So where’s the accountability? Is the city council not responsible for approving this loan? Most of that council is no longer in office, so I guess not. Is Attard responsible for leaving the taxpayers holding the bag? I guess not, since the city attorney has informed the council that we have no other recourse. In fact, the city’s Finance Department doesn’t even think we are able to report the default to the credit reporting agencies.

With the city unable to provide essential services, can we really afford to buy a condo?

I, for one, am not willing to sit by and just let this go. I have asked the city manager to not offer this Executive Home Loan to any new hires until the Council can conduct a full review of the program, and I have asked for an investigation into the facts of the case.

Pete Constant is serving his first term on the San Jose City Council representing District 1 (West San Jose).

Our Report Card from the IPA

2009-08-12T08:42:00.000-07:00

By Bobby Lopez

Yesterday, the San Jose City Council got some good news in an annual report from our interim Independent Police Auditor: The total number of citizen complaints against San Jose police officers fell 5% between 2007 and 2008.

I have to admit, hearing that made me feel pretty good. But then I thought about a Mercury News story I read two weeks ago when the IPA report was first published. I didn’t remember seeing that 5% figure in the story, so I looked it up online and read it again.

Sure enough, the overall drop in complaints isn’t mentioned until the middle of the third paragraph, and even then it’s almost an afterthought. Based on the headline and the opening of the story, the paper was more interested in pointing out that “slightly more people complained that San Jose officers used unnecessary force or were rude to them in 2008.”

Maybe the Mercury News thinks a slight increase in a single category is bigger news than a 5% drop overall. I like to focus on the bigger picture, so let me borrow a line from Protect San Jose statistical guru Ed Rast:

Did you know that SJPD handled a record 436,855 calls for service in 2008 and only 467 (0.1%) of those resulted in a citizen complaint? Or that the number of complaints per 100,000 residents (47) has stayed pretty much level over the past few years even though our city’s population has grown by almost 50,000 people since 2005?

(By the way, I’m a little confused... The City Administration’s numbers say that 1.0% of calls for service resulted in a complaint. By my math, it’s about ten times less than that. I went ahead and included the Administration’s numbers, just so you know I’m not kidding around. Check out the chart at the bottom of page 2, run the numbers, and see what you get.)

I’ve said it before, cops work in the most scrutinized profession in America. We accept that and we welcome the scrutiny because we think we do a pretty good job. But I’d sure like to see the number of complaints against other City departments — that is, if statistics are available. Can any department do better than 0.1%?

Who do I call in the City of San Jose’s Department in Charge of Decimal Points?

Bobby Lopez is President of the San Jose Police Officers' Association

Right Goal, Wrong Measure

2009-08-11T08:45:00.000-07:00

By Ed Rast

Did you know San Jose residents and business don’t have sufficient information to know if our city is safe?

San Jose frequently quotes CQ Press’s 2008 City Crime Rankings as an indicator of our city’s public safety. In 2008, we were ranked 4th on CQ’s list of “Safest Large Cities in America” (with populations over 500,000) based on the FBI’s “Crime in United States 2007“ data.

CQ Press’ methodology states:

The crimes tracked by the UCR Program include violent crimes of murder, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault and property crimes of burglary, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft, also called “Crime Index” offenses; the index is simply the total of the seven main offense categories. The FBI discontinued use of this measure in 2004 because its officials and advisory board of criminologists concluded that the index was no longer a true indicator of crime. ….. The consensus of the FBI and its advisory groups was that the Crime Index no longer served its purpose and that a more meaningful index should be developed.

Public safety is consistently ranked as the #1 city budget priority by San Jose’s residents. With that in mind, maintaining our status as the “Safest Big City in America” is still a good goal. But once you looked at why the FBI discontinued its use of the CQ methodology — because it was “no longer a true indicator of crime” — you begin to understand a new measurement is needed.

San Jose’s city administration should not rely on CQ Press’s City Crime Rankings to measure public safety, or set city budget priorities or police staffing levels.

Developing additional, detailed crime comparisons for San Jose and selected large cities in our county and state based on the FBI’s annual “Crime in the United States“ report will provide the Mayor, City Council, residents and businesses with additional information to measure public safety and set police staffing and budget levels.

In addition, there are two public reports that, if published monthly, could assist in police staff and budget allocations and educate everyone about crime and related social issues. The public could then use Community Policing to potentially prevent crimes and also address the social issues that contribute to crime.

Phoenix’s Monthly Count of Actual Offenses Known to Police uses the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) classifications and definitions and is a more comprehensive citywide crime report that what is available in San Jose.

The California Department of Justice’s Adult and Juvenile Criminal Report provides crime and demographic data that could alert city leaders, city administration and residents to potential social or criminal problems such as the drunk-in-public arrest rates. (See Page 2: Misdemeanors - Drunk; Page 4: Adult demographics; Page 6: Juvenile demographics.)

Unfortunately, due to budget shortages, the San Jose Police Department does not have the requested staff or improved technology systems needed to replace it’s decades-old, inefficient manual reports and retrieval system. Either of these would allow SJPD to produce the desired reports I have discussed previously.

National Night Out Recap

2009-08-10T08:35:00.000-07:00

By Jim Cogan

Last Tuesday, thousands of San Jose residents joined together with San Jose police officers to celebrate National Night Out. All over the city, officers who walk the beat on the midnight shift came to work early to get the opportunity to meet the neighbors that they serve.

In my neighborhood, over 80 residents came together for the first time in recent memory. It was a wonderful gathering of neighbors and police officers. Two sergeants and six officers attended our event. Amid the ice cream and good conversation I heard a phrase that summarized the entire event: “Now that I know about it, I’ll be on the look out…”

This statement was made by the officer who works the midnight shift on our neighborhood beat. His promise to be on the lookout for whatever was bothering my neighbor is exactly what National Night Out is all about, the community and police working together to protect San Jose. Perhaps they were discussing the recent car burglaries in the neighborhood or a strange car that doesn’t belong to anyone in the neighborhood. Whatever the case, the officer now has some invaluable information and my neighbor knows that that the police are ready to help.

I spoke to the officer, who appreciated the opportunity to meet the residents on his beat. He told me that he never gets to talk to residents, because most of us are asleep when he punches in for his shift. I was impressed with all of the officers who attended our event and speaking for my neighbors, I think we all will sleep a little better. The officers were all very courteous and excited to have the opportunity to meet residents. It really made my neighbors happy as well. Many of them thanked me for organizing the event and talked about how to make it better next year.

In our neighborhood, National Night Out sparked interest in getting organized. In fact, sixty of my neighbors signed up to organize a neighborhood watch and start a neighborhood association. I am confident that together we will strengthen our partnership with the San Jose Police Department and make our neighborhood safer.

Jim Cogan is President of Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers.

Open Forum Friday

2009-08-07T09:15:00.001-07:00

It's your chance to jump on the soap box...

What's on your mind this week? Post your thoughts in the comments below. If we like what we read, we'll try this again.

Stay safe, and have a great weekend!

Help Us Get Your Stuff Back

2009-08-06T01:11:00.000-07:00

By Beat Cop

Part three of a three-part series.

Getting woken up by a late night phone call from the police is almost always a bad thing. Extreme anxiety fills your body as you hear, “Hello this is Officer Fernandez from the Police Department.” The worst case scenario runs throughout your head.

“We have located a laptop computer that may have been taken from your house in a burglary. If you can come down to the police department and identify it, I may be able to release it to you tonight.“ Sounds almost too good too be true. It could be a reality if you follow some simple advice from your local Beat Cop.

Taking the time to inventory items in your home may be the most effective weapon you have in helping the police catch thieves. When an officer responds to your home to take a burglary report, they will look for clues, canvass for witnesses and catalog the items taken. A victim who has serial numbers written down for their stolen iPod, laptop, camcorder and Play-Station will likely get “some or all” of the items returned to them. If however, no serial numbers are available, there is almost no chance the items will ever be returned to their rightful owners.

All police departments in California utilize the same database to track stolen items. High-value items are entered into a nationwide tracking system. Police come into contact with crooks every day as part of our job. It can be frustrating to come into contact with a person on parole for burglary that has three laptops in a backpack and tells you that he “found them.” The officer will surely do their part and have the dispatcher check the serial numbers in the database. But if the victims of the burglary were not able to provide serial numbers to the responding officer, the parolee may be able to walk away with the likely stolen laptops. Even if the officer is able to seize the laptops for further investigation, the owners will likely never be located if no serial number was provided.

Burglars are predictable. If you or your neighborhood have been target for a burglar, it is likely they will continue to victimize that same area. One tool citizens use more frequently is a low-cost home video surveillance system. Home DVR systems are becoming more popular and are helping the police catch burglars. Even if you have not been the victim of a burglary, your video system may have seen the person who broke into your neighbor’s home and is planning on breaking into yours in the near future. Neighborhood organizations and groups are coordinating with each other after a crime occurs on their street. They are sharing information about the crime in emails, community meetings and now videos of suspicious people — and even criminals caught in the act.

Help us help you now and download this simple home inventory form. Walk through your home and jot down the make, model and serial numbers of any item in your house you would like returned to you if ever a burglar makes their way into your home and walks off with your stuff. Take photos of jewelry and items without serial numbers. Tuck the form away and hope it is never needed. If the unfortunate day comes when you do need it, you will have done the most effective thing you can to help the police catch the person who violated you and get your stuff back.

Proudly serving you,
Your Beat Cop

Opening Police Records

2009-08-05T08:45:00.000-07:00

By Kathleen Flynn

As a Victim’s Right Advocate and a mediator who has worked with both victims and offenders, I fervently oppose opening Police records to the press and the public for a number of reasons. If the City were to cave in and enact said policy, who would oversee and hold the press accountable for what they print? The answer, absolutely no one! Clearly the media has a problem with grasping the difference between facts vs. fiction, personal bias vs. truth, and sensationalism vs. true journalism. Pick up a paper, or turn on the TV or radio, and read about the woman who murdered her child, ate her brain, tore her face off, and then tried to kill herself. I rest my case.

If there were an open policy for the press to read Police records, and you were a rape victim or if your neighbor molested your child the press would be allowed to read every detail of your assault, or your child’s molestation. You would be re-victimized, and forced to relive that horror every day thanks to sensationalistic reporting.

How many victims of rape or any other victim of violent crime do you think would come forward knowing that their right to privacy is going to be violated by prying eyes? Rape and violent crimes are already grossly under-reported as it is, and this type of “sunshine” isn’t going to benefit a single victim I know or have worked with.

What about the rights of someone who has been falsely accused of a crime, or the families of offenders who suffer hate crimes due to press coverage of the case? What about groups like the ACLU, the NAACP, and others who are lying in wait to sue the Police Department or the City over something they think should have been handled differently? None of these groups are trained or skilled in Police work, policies, or procedures, nor were they at the scene of the crime, nor were they sitting in on interviews of witnesses or offenders yet they would be allowed to make judgments on practices they have no expertise in.

While these are just some of the concerns I have on this topic, let me leave you with this to ponder: How much easier would we be making it on child molesters, rapists, robbers, or gang members to study the way Police investigations are handled so that they could cover their tracks better, or figure out exactly who provided the Police with information on apprehending them so they could take their revenge?

Kathleen Flynn is a professional mediator and community activist.

A Four-Year-Old Mistake

2009-08-04T08:32:00.000-07:00

By Ed Rast

Did you know that after police staffing reductions in 2005, San Jose’s property crime rate increased 25%, causing us to lose our “Safest Big City in the United States” ranking after six consecutive years at the top?

The San Jose Police Department in 2005 was required by city administration to reduce staffing because of budget cuts. This brought police staffing back to nearly 1998 levels — though the city’s population had grown 10% between 1998 and 2005 — and forced the department to appropriately prioritize violent crimes against people over property crimes.

The 2005 staffing and budget reductions resulted in many property crimes not being prevented, investigated or cleared due to officer and police staff shortages. Property crimes increased as well as misdemeanor and financial crimes.

If you go to City-Data.com’s San Jose page and scroll down to he chart labeled “Crime in San Jose by Year”, you can see the increase in crime after 2005 in the eight categories used by the FBI to determine the safest cities. (Click a category to compare San Jose’s crime rate to national crime rates in a bar graph.)

Many property crimes like burglaries and vehicle theft are committed by habitual criminals who will continue to commit increasingly more property crimes unless prevented by patrolling officers or arrested after their crimes are investigated. But due primarily to officer shortages, San Jose’s property crime rates are on the rise.

For example, San Jose’s car theft rate first exceeded the national vehicle thief average in 2004, when 4,517 vehicles were stolen here. The rate dramatically increased after 2005 staff cuts to reach 2006’s high of 7,139 stolen vehicles. That and the 6,413 vehicles stolen in 2007 were both almost double the national rate. 2008’s 5,229 stolen vehicles — while a substantially lower number — still exceeds the national average.

Reducing police staffing in 2005 as opposed to adding additional police staff proportional to San Jose’s increased population was not the only factor in the increase in overall and property crime rates, but it was likely a very significant factor. The FBI Crime Report cautions: “Valid assessments are possible only with careful study and analysis of the range of unique conditions affecting each local law enforcement jurisdiction. It is important to remember that crime is a social problem and, therefore, a concern of the entire community. The efforts of law enforcement are limited to factors within its control.”

Crime will predictably increase during recessions due to unemployment, underemployment, homelessness, and reductions in government and non-profit social services.

Further police staffing or budget cuts do not seem to be in the public interest for San Jose’s residents or businesses, especially during a recession. These cuts should not be imposed in the 2009-2010 budget without asking city administration to clearly answer two questions for the City Council and residents:

1. Why have San Jose’s overall and property crime rates increased since 2005 police staff and budget cuts?

2. If proposed reductions to police staffing occur in the next round of budget cuts, what effective actions will be taken during this recession to prevent potentially increased crime rates?

P.S. Thanks for your thoughtful questions on last week's open thread. I will look to answer many of them over the coming weeks.

To Pledge or Not to Pledge

2009-08-03T08:15:00.000-07:00

We thought we’d give you another update on the status of the pledge we asked your Councilmembers to sign to recommit to making public safety their top priority.

The scorecard as of our last post: Mayor Reed and seven Councilmembers signed on; Councilmemer Oliverio abstained; and Councilmembers Herrera and Liccardo had not responded.

We’re happy to announce that Councilmember Herrera’s office called to let us know she will make signing the pledge one of her first acts when the Council returns from their Summer recess.

We also saw that Councilmember Oliverio mentioned the pledge in his blog on another website. He explained that he doesn’t sign pledges for interest groups because he doesn’t want to promise anything he may not be able to deliver.

I understand where he’s coming from. But an overwhelming majority of San Jose’s residents regularly list public safety as their top priority. Are the people of San Jose an interest group?

We’re only asking our leaders to reflect the support our public safety officers receive from the community. It’s a pledge of principle.

Later on in his blog, Pierluigi mentions that he’s already got his own public safety pledge posted on his city website. We went there and looked around but couldn’t find it. Maybe he’ll post a link in his blog today. We’ll let you know.

P.S. In case you were wondering, Councilmember Liccardo still has yet to respond.

Rushing to Judgment

2009-07-31T08:33:00.001-07:00

By Bobby Lopez

I think President Obama got it right, just not right away.

Last week, he made some negative comments about the arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Gates by Cambridge Police. This week, Mr. Obama corrected himself, and he deserves credit for that.

Unless you’ve been on a desert island, you know Prof. Gates was apprehended at his home after Sgt. James Crowley and others responded to a reported break-in there. Prof. Gates refused to provide his identification, which is all the cops needed to see it was actually his house.

If Prof. Gates had simply shown the officers his driver’s license, he could have avoided this mess. Instead, he got angry and accused the cops of racial bias. (I can speak from personal experience this happens a lot – even when a Latino officer, like myself, questions a Latino citizen).

Mr. Obama got caught up in the moment and rushed to judgment without knowing all the facts. At a press conference, he said the officers “acted stupidly."

When I heard Mr. Obama’s statement, it was like deja vu. It reminded me of the reaction of our city leaders to recent news reports of arrest data.

Without waiting for a complete analysis of the facts, some city leaders looked at one set of numbers and decided we have a problem. In general, the City Council allowed itself to be intimidated by vocal activists pounding the podium.

They created a task force to examine the “problem” and had numerous council discussions on the topic. Finally, they brought in an independent group of academics to study the numbers.

As I’ve said before, we welcome any fair and unbiased study of our work. If the academics come back in a year’s time and clearly prove that we do have a problem, then I’ll be the first to admit it, right here on this blog.

But what if they don’t? What if the study finds that the men and women of SJPD acted professionally and fairly? Will our city leaders follow President Obama’s lead and admit a rush to judgment?

And will I get a beer out of it?

Bobby Lopez is President of the San Jose Police Officers' Association.

Cracking Down on Bogus Charities

2009-07-30T09:31:00.000-07:00

By Jerry Brown

As part of a nationwide crackdown on fraudulent charities, my office recently filed eight lawsuits against 53 individuals, 17 telemarketers and 12 charities that "shamelessly exploited" people's generosity and squandered millions of dollars of donations intended to help police, firefighters and veterans.

These suits are intended to permanently stop the charities' deceptive practices and require the repayment of all funds raised under false pretenses. My office is seeking involuntary dissolution of eight of the charities.

These individuals shamelessly exploited the goodwill of decent citizens trying to help police, firefighters and veterans. In point of fact, a shockingly small portion of donations went to those in need, while millions went to pay for aggressive telemarketing and bloated overhead - and in one case, to purchase a 30-foot sailboat.

These suits were filed in conjunction with the Federal Trade Commission and 48 other states as part of a nationwide sweep called "Operation False Charity."

In California, just as in the other participating states, the so-called charities raised millions of dollars based on false claims that donors' contributions would benefit police, firefighters and veterans organizations. But in reality, these charities rarely benefit public safety personnel. And, in most cases, 85 percent to 90 percent of donations are used to pay the fees of for-profit telemarketing firms.

Last year, I launched an investigation into 12 of the worst offenders, resulting in the eight cases filed today in Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, and San Mateo counties. It is estimated that since 2005, hundreds of thousands of Californians have been deceived by the solicitation campaigns these charities and their fundraisers have conducted.

Here are tips to avoid being the victims of charity fraud:

- If you receive an unsolicited call asking for a donation, it is most likely from a paid telemarketer who may keep a substantial part of your donation as payment of fundraising fees.

- Recognize that the words 'veterans' or 'military families' in an organization's name don't necessarily mean that veterans or the families of active-duty personnel will benefit from your donation.

- Donate to charities with a track record and a history. Charities that spring up overnight may disappear just as quickly.

- If you have any doubt about whether you have made a pledge or a contribution, check your records. If you don=t remember making the donation or pledge, resist the pressure to give.

- Check out an organization before donating. Some phony charities use names, seals and logos that look or sound like those of respected, well-established organizations.

- Ask the soliciting charity or the paid fundraiser what percentage of your donation will go towards fundraising expenses and what percentage will go towards the charity's charitable purpose.

- Do not send or give cash donations. For security and tax record purposes, it is best to pay by check made payable to the charity.

- Ask for a receipt showing the amount of your contribution.

- Be wary of promises of guaranteed sweepstakes winnings in exchange for a contribution. You never have to give a donation to be eligible to win a sweepstakes.

There are a number of resources to obtain information about a charity. My website is a good place to start.

Use the search feature to find out if a charity and its fundraiser are registered. Review the Attorney General's Guide to Charitable Giving for Donors for additional tips. Other sites that have valuable information include:

American Institute of Philanthropy
Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance
CharityNavigator
Federal Trade Commission

Jerry Brown is Attorney General of California.

Integrity

2009-07-29T08:13:00.000-07:00

By Francisco J. Hernandez

How about truth, integrity and consistency in news reporting?

I’ve lived in San Jose for all 30 years of my life. Born, educated and employed in San Jose. I’ve enjoyed living here (with some ups and downs) and have no immediate plans to leave. In my 30 years, I’ve read thousands and thousands of San Jose Mercury News articles spanning the Knight-Ridder era to the brief McClatchy ownership to the current MediaNews (aka Bay Area News Group) ownership. There have been excellent news stories and stories about the news. Lately though I’ve noticed a lot more of the latter.

I don’t know what it is but over the last three years I’ve seen a rise in articles that are biased against San Jose police. While there have been officers “spotlighted” for their accomplishments on and off duty (one recent article was about two officers taking enforcement action 20,000 feet in the air), the majority of the stories have been negative (use of force, public intoxication, retirement benefits, etc). The overwhelming majority of negative stories are about racial profiling.

I find it insulting when people make racial accusations as soon as they are stopped. People never pause to think, “Why is this officer stopping me? Was I supposed to stop back there? Is my music too loud?” or maybe, “Is my tail light out… again? I thought I sent in my registration yesterday… Oh crap, here’s the envelope…” Nope, some people jump straight to the racial difference between us. I’ve heard the “You only stopped me ‘cause I’m (insert non-white race)!” rationale more than I care to say. (The fact that I’m Hispanic doesn’t seem to matter because, in their eyes, I’m no longer Hispanic once I put on the uniform.)

To those who have used that rationale or plan to continue using it, all I have to say is, “Oh really?” I guess it doesn’t matter that I was behind you when you ran that red light or rolled through that stop sign. Or that I could hear and feel your music from half a city block away. Or that I noticed your tail lights are out or your vehicle registration is expired. Or that I can see that you are driving an otherwise clean car that happens to have “limo-tint” on all windows. You insist that I stopped you only because you are (insert non-white race), even though I can’t see inside your car and was behind you the entire time. As I walk up to your car, I only know that there is one person (you, the driver) in the car. I don’t know who else is in there or if they have a gun pointed at my head since the windows are tinted.

I’ve been in law enforcement for seven and a half years with the first five and a half spent on patrol, and I can tell you that the San Jose Police Department employs a diverse group of officers. Our officers are Caucasian, Hispanic, Asian, Pacific Islander, African-American, Middle Eastern. You name it, we have it, from Sergeants to Lieutenants, Captains to former Chiefs of Police. To say that SJPD is plagued with officers who enforce the law based solely on a person’s real or perceived ethnicity, as the Mercury News seems to suggest, is a complete insult. In this case, the Mercury News is also neglecting to acknowledge its own past reports.

In February 2007, the Mercury News published a front-page article about the perceived racial profiling behavior of the SJPD. The article was seven months in the making. What was the Mercury News’ conclusion? Its own reporters found no evidence of racial profiling by SJPD. NONE!

Don’t believe me? Here’s a word-for-word excerpt from the article:

“To move beyond the rhetoric, Mercury News Reporters fanned out across downtown on selected weekends during a seven-month-period, delving into the city’s nightlife from the perspectives of the police, clubs, and customers. In more than 100 hours on the streets, they did not witness racial profiling.”

- James Hohmann, Rodney Foo, Marian Liu and Leslie Griffy
San Jose Mercury News, February 17, 2007

So, what gives? Why does the Mercury News continue to publish stories about racist cops intimidating the public (i.e. minorities)? Why do they continue to suggest that the high number of minorities arrested by SJPD is a problem of racial profiling?

Apparently, the Mercury News has forgotten what its own people have seen (or in this case, not seen) with regards to the current accusations against the San Jose Police Department.

Francisco J. Hernandez is a San Jose Police Officer.

Ask Ed

2009-07-28T08:32:00.000-07:00

Anyone who follows Protect San Jose knows Ed Rast is good with numbers, especially when it comes to public safety. In his regular Tuesday column, he's examined staffing imbalances between local agencies, wasteful spending at City Hall, and methods for modernizing the San Jose Police Department to save money and ensure the safety of our streets and neighborhoods.

Now, Ed wants to open up a dialogue with you, the reader. This is your chance to ask him all those questions that have been nagging at you...

What's the most wasteful spending project in San Jose?

What are the factors that determine "America's Safest Big City"?

Where do all these taxes and fees end up?

These are just a few examples. We encourage to post your own questions in the comments below.

Stay safe.

Protecting the Horse Mounted Unit

2009-07-27T08:10:00.000-07:00

By Denelle Fedor

The San Jose Mounted Unit is an integral component of the San Jose Police Department.

The unit was created in 1986 by Police Chief Joe McNamara, who came from the biggest city in the United States; New York City. Chief McNamara served 15 years as San Jose’s Police Chief. He is currently a research fellow at the Hoover Institute, has authored numerous books on policing and is regarded and recognized nationally as an expert in criminal justice, police technology and management systems, crime prevention, and international drug policies.

With Chief McNamara’s experience in working in a big city, not a small town, he understood the importance that a horse patrol would bring to San Jose. As a result, he created a task force of private citizens to help establish the unit. This group raised $70,000 to help pay the costs, making the unit one of, if not, the first public-private partnerships in
San Jose.

Although every Police Chief since McNamara has supported horse patrol, city management proposed eliminating police officers on horseback this year by stating the city could save $1.4 million if the unit was cut. However, management’s million dollar number was misleading. The actual cost of the unit is approximately $230, 000. The1.4 million is the compensation for the eight officers who patrol on horseback. Therefore, the only way management could save 1.4 million is if they eliminated police positions, which has nothing to do with mounted unit. They should have stated they were eliminating police positions instead of using the mounted unit as a ploy.

Mayor Chuck Reed kept his commitment to public safety and specifically to horse patrol by directing management to enter into an agreement with the Friends of the San Jose Mounted Unit who agreed to pay the cost of the unit for the 2010-2011 budget year, making the unit a cost-effective public-private partnership.

As a result, the Friends of the San Jose Mounted Unit will be embarking on a campaign called “Pony Up, San Jose” which will officially launch in August 2009. With a million people in San Jose, all we need is $1 from two hundred and thirty thousand of them. Spread the word and send your dollars to Friends of the San Jose Mounted Unit PO Box 7408 San Jose, CA 95150-6511 or visit our website.

In my opinion, San Jose has moved away from community policing since McNamara’s retirement. However, under Chief Davis, San Jose is trying to bring it back. The new Captain for the Downtown nightlife served as a mounted unit officer. Perhaps the unit will be utilized more in the Downtown. We can only hope.

When you have former Vice Mayors Cindy Chavez and Pat Dando along with Tom Martin, General Manager for Santana Row, Scott Knies, President of the Downtown Association, and thousands of business owners and residents in San Jose who support the mounted unit, then perhaps these voices should serve as testament that the Mounted Unit is important and should remain intact.

Denelle Fedor is President & Founder of the non-profit Friends of the San Jose Mounted Unit (www.sjmu.org). She has worked for Councilmembers Pat Dando and Ken Yeager and currently serves as Chief of Staff to Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio.

Bringing Silicon Valley Innovation to Sacramento

2009-07-24T08:29:00.000-07:00

By Chris Kelly

When I was growing up in San Jose, it was the safest big city in America. I know that the SJPOA is dedicated to restoring that designation, and that you’re going to need lots of help in these tough times. I promise to stand with you when I’m Attorney General.

We need innovative solutions from Sacramento to get out of the $26 billion budget mess, but instead we get schemes to release over 20,000 felons from state prison – not to mention the attempt to seize local government funds that may result in cuts for your department.

The prison release plan is supposed to save $1.2 billion, but that’s just accounting trickery. In fact, a Federal Bureau of Justice Statistics study finds that nearly 70% of early-released inmates are rearrested within three years, 20% of them for violent crime. That will mean more than $3 billion in increased costs from crime while causing serious harm to hundreds of thousands of innocent victims.

I've spoken to police chiefs, law enforcement groups and civic associations throughout California about the issue, and they're deeply worried about the crime wave this scheme will unleash. It will be hard enough to make San Jose a safer community in tough economic times without the problems caused by early release.

I know that we need to solve the budget crisis. But this misguided early release plan would do far more harm than good, and I need your help to stop it.

To organize against schemes like this, I’ve started the cause Protect California Communities on Facebook, which is already helping avoid the worst forms of early release. But the plan keeps coming back. Please join me at http://www.causes.com/protectcalifornia, and follow the activism instructions to help us beat it back again.

Over the last four years, as Chief Privacy Officer and Head of Global Public Policy at Facebook, I’ve been working with Attorneys General from across the nation and law enforcement across the world to build a safer and more trusted Internet for our more than 250 million customers.

Working together, I know we can bring the innovation of Silicon Valley to Sacramento and develop real, honest solutions to get California moving again.

Chris Kelly is Chief Privacy Officer and Head of Global Public Policy for Facebook and a candidate for Attorney General of California. He wrote this article for Protect San Jose.

Preventing the Break-In

2009-07-23T08:20:00.000-07:00

By Beat Cop

Part two of a three-part series

I just added a new “friend” on Facebook. I don’t know this person, but two of my friends do, so why not, right?

Of course, I forget for the moment that I’ve used this excuse to add half the friends I already have. I click “What’s on your mind?” and enter a status update for all my digital friends to enjoy. Something witty... I know, talk about the New York trip... “Beat Cop is looking forward to his trip to NYC on Monday.”

Sadly this innocent act is just an example of one of the increasing burglary opportunities we’ve seen. Yes, the criminal I just added to my “social network” reads my update as, “Beat Cop is leaving town on Monday, I can’t wait to break his window, go in his house, go through his stuff, and steal whatever looks good.”

Far fetched or not, that scenario is rearing it’s ugly head too often lately. After reading the last Beat Cop article, "Nightmare On My Street," you learned that a reduction in police staffing has led to an increase of residential burglaries in our city. This week we will look at burglary prevention. We will explore ways all of us can contribute in order to prevent burglaries from occurring as well as learn ways to catch the crooks coming into our homes. In part three we will look at ways to get the cuffs onto those who prey on residents while they are away from their homes.

Burglary is a crime that is preventable even when you are not home. Burglars are in general cowardly and lazy. Most often they look for easy targets and quick loot. After succeeding with an easy break in, a burglar will go on the prowl for the next easy target, often in the same area/neighborhood.

I used the look up calls for service in your area link on the www.protectsanjose.com and saw that there were 94 burglaries last week in San Jose, with four of them occurring in my small neighborhood alone. Here are some of the top ways to prevent burglaries in your home and your neighborhood:

1. Don’t showboat.

Leaving valuables out in your frontyard or a new flat screen TV in plain sight from the road, can unwittingly lure thieves onto your property just like a frantic bargain hunter is lured to a flea market. The thief is always out shopping for loot. Don’t make it easy for them by letting them know what you have. Dont’ leave your garage door open for extended periods of time.

2. Don’t put up the “Out for Lunch” or “On Vacation” sign.

Burglars only want to break into your home when they know you are not there. Protect yourself by creating the illusion you are home even when you are not. Leave a radio or TV on. Buy a ten dollar timer from your local hardware store and have lamps on at night when you are gone (energy efficient florescent bulbs of course). Stop mail and newspaper subscriptions while on vacation.

3. Lock your doors and windows.

I once asked a burglar why he chose the house he did. His response was, he didn’t, it chose him. After tugging on four or five doors/windows in the neighborhood he went with the one that was open. Most home breakins are more like “walkins” requiring very little force or none at all. Invest in quality deadbolts and locks. Use wood or steel dowels in sliding doors and windows. Don’t forget about upstairs windows. It’s not hard for a burglar to climb up an air conditioning unit or a left out ladder and enter your second story window. Burglars know to look under the front mat for a hide-a-key. Leaving your spare house key in common hiding places is like leaving milk and cookies out for neighborhood thieves. Lock it up.

4. Make your yard welcoming to guests not thieves.

Keep the bushes and trees trimmed near your windows. Clutter and large items offer concealment and a chance to pry a window open in privacy. Make use of motion lights and other outdoor lighting. A well maintained yard brings more friends over and keeps more crooks out.

5. Get to know your neighbors.

Knowing who belongs in your neighborhood, will help you to recognize those who don’t. Take notice of suspicious persons and note license plates and vehicle descriptions. Take a proactive approach to keeping yourself safe and let the police help keep predators out of your neighborhood. SJPD is available to help with this. Gather a group of ten neighbors and make arrangements for a crime prevention specialist to meet with your group. You can contact the SJPD crime prevention unit at (408) 277-4133 or log on to the SJPD website.

6. Use an alarm system.

A well maintained residential alarm system can make a burglar passup your house. Monitored systems are great and alert the police of a breakin when you are not home. A system that does not have a paid monitoring service can be very effective as well. Inexpensive systems are available that make that same high pitch noise as the expensive ones and scare the burglar off just the same. An alarm sign strategically placed in your yard might be all it takes to keep the crook moving along.

The reality is that some burglaries will still occur despite our best efforts made at preventing them. Taking the time to implement as many preventative measures as possible can help to keep you safe. In part three we will continue to work together to catch crooks with efforts taken before a breakin and after. Stay tuned and help San Jose Police Officers as they work to return San Jose to being the safest big city in America.

Proudly serving you,
Your Beat Cop

I Didn't Click It

2009-07-22T08:30:00.000-07:00

By Kathleen Flynn

I have Rheumatoid Arthritis in my hands so putting on my seat belt isn’t easy. I was in the parking lot struggling to get mine on. I couldn’t so I just drove away. I was merging onto the freeway when sure enough I saw a Police Officer pulling up behind me red, white, and blue lights on, and telling me over a speaker to pull over. I knew I was in the wrong and realized I’d just have to suck it up and accept the consequences of my ignorant decision not to click it.

The Officer walked up to my window and immediately began lecturing me on how many fatalities occur everyday due to the lack of wearing a seat belt. He went into great detail about how many people would have survived had they just chosen to click it. This Officer wasn’t speaking to me in a calm way either. He was angry, disgusted, and quite honestly I was pretty irritated with him for his tone. He demanded my license and registration and huffed off to his car.

As I watched him in my rear view mirror, I began to think about what he had just told me. I began to realize he wasn’t angry so much as he was concerned about my safety. He returned to my car he gave me a ticket, and explained that he had just returned from a fatal car crash. He said he didn’t want to see that happen to me. My irritation about getting a ticket, and an attitude from him dissolved into compassion. He was only human and was probably pretty shaken up by what he had just seen.

I sincerely thanked him for caring about my safety. He looked stunned for a moment and walked away. To my surprise, he turned around and came back. He looked at me and in a soft, respectful voice asked me if I knew how to get back on the freeway. I said yes, but he followed me anyway to make sure I got back on safely.

On my drive home I reflected on how little we know about what Officers experience everyday. I began thinking about being on the parking patrol at my condo complex. Residents yelled at me when I asked them to move their car off the red curb, even though I explained the need to keep it clear in case of fire. I began to feel real compassion and gratitude toward that Officer.

So Officer if you are reading this thanks for stopping me that day. Painful hands or not, I have never gotten into the car without a seat belt since. Readers, when stopped by Police try to remember that Officer you want to get an attitude with might have just left a horrific crime, or accident. Give him/her a break because that Officer might be the one who keeps your son, daughter, or mother out of harm’s way.

To all of you Officers, thank you for your service and stay safe!

Kathleen Flynn is a professional mediator and community activist.

Technology and Officer Reports

2009-07-21T08:43:00.000-07:00

By Ed Rast

Did you know that today, just like in 1960-70’s, many San Jose Police officers still hand write their crime reports?

San Jose has about 520 patrol officers who complete 1 or more crime reports per shift with each report taking 1 to 2 hours to complete. Potentially 1 to 4 hours (10% - 40%) of an police officer’s 10-hour shift are not available for officers to spend on patrol, crime prevention and community policing.

A report for a single drunk driving incident can take up to 4 hours for a police officer to complete because they must complete both a drunk driving crime report and an accident report.

Some police officers use their own personal computers to fill out the San Jose Crime Report (Form 2) Word document template rather than write a hand-written report, and then they print out the crime or accident report(s) since the current systems does not accept electronically submitted reports.

When each shift ends, police officers turn in their manual or personal computer printed crime reports to shift supervisors. After being reviewed, the incident, arrest, crime and accident reports are sent to the police records section where staff manually inputs the crime reports data into the current police records system’s crime and accident templates. The manual or printed crime records are then manually filed in one of the police records warehouses by the records staff

A well designed, modern, comprehensive police records management system would retrieve already available police dispatch and records information to quickly fill in crime and accident report data fields so patrol officers could quickly go back to their patrol, community policing, and crime prevention duties.

Recent San Jose crime or incident data is not easily available for 1-2 days or more after a crime or series of crimes occurs. Access to recent computerized incident and crime records would allow patrol officers or detectives to quickly analyze recent crime reports to determine crime patterns and dispatch specialized or additional patrol units with the crime report’s suspect or suspicious vehicle descriptions to prevent or solve multiple crimes.

Since 2007, San Jose’s 50-officer traffic unit has successfully used hand-held computers to replace the previous paper-based traffic citation process and improve accuracy in issuing, collecting and recording citations for traffic violations, DUIs and other violations.

A modern police records management system could be used to easily prepare crime, routine police, and requested police statistical reports, retrieve police record requests, and redact victim and witness information which now takes many staff hours or is not available due to staff shortages. Significant police officer and staff time would then be available to focus on further reducing our city’s crime rates to make San Jose a safer city.

Pledge Recap

2009-07-20T08:10:00.000-07:00

One week ago on this blog, San Jose Police Officers' Association President Bobby Lopez posted a challenge he issued to Mayor Reed and the entire City Council. He asked that our city leaders sign a pledge to:

• Return San Jose to the rank of “Safest Big City in America” within the next five years;

• Support our officers by refraining from knee-jerk reactions to activist complaints, particularly from those who lack expertise; and

• Involve more neighborhood leaders on committees and task forces regarding public safety.

We noted that not every member of the Council had signed or committed to sign the pledge. In the comments that followed Sgt. Lopez's post, our readers asked that we reveal the names of councilmembers who had not signed on. In the interest of sunshine and open government, we feel it's only fair to do so:

Signed pledge
Mayor Chuck Reed
Vice Mayor Judy Chirco
Councilmember Pete Constant
Councilmember Ash Kalra
Councilmember Kansen Chu
Councilmember Nora Campos
Councilmember Madison Nguyen
Councilmember Nancy Pyle

No response
Councilmember Sam Liccardo
Councilmember Rose Hererra

Other
Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio responded to our request to say that he does not sign pledges as a matter of principle.

NOTE: The Mayor and Council were contacted multiple times regarding the pledge after Sgt. Lopez hand delivered it at a City Council meeting.

We need your help!

2009-07-17T08:13:00.000-07:00

By Jim Unland

In case you missed it, San Jose suffered its 17th homicide of the year on Wednesday night. With four killings so far in July, we’re on pace to match if not exceed San Jose’s rising homicide rates of the past few years. As you can see from this interactive map, none of our neighborhoods are immune from this horrible crime:

View in a larger map

I can only hope that if our city leaders had followed through on the staffing increases they’ve been promising for as long as I can remember, we might have been able to prevent more of these tragic deaths. Unfortunately, due to budget cuts and attrition, the San Jose Police Department has returned to 1998 personnel levels. In the meantime, the city’s population has grown by more than 140,000.

Despite being overtasked and understaffed, the men and women of the SJPD work as hard as they can to keep our streets and neighborhoods safe. But we can’t do it alone. We rely on members of the community to help by providing us with tips and information that we can use to catch the criminals who prey upon our residents.

If you have information that could help us solve a crime, you don’t have to worry about retaliation from anyone involved. Just call the Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers anonymous tip line at (408) 947-STOP or submit an anonymous tip online by using this simple web form.

You can also visit the SJPD website for information on ongoing investigations and cold cases, many of which have been solved with help from the community.

Thanks for reading, and stay safe.

Sgt. Jim Unland is a 21-year veteran of the SJPD and a member of the Board of Directors of the San Jose Police Officers’ Association.

Heroes Come in All Sizes

2009-07-16T07:38:00.000-07:00

I’m always on the lookout for stories and tips to provide our residents with a better understanding of police work and the dangers we face every time we put on a badge.

Yesterday, I caught an article in the Fresno Bee that was so inspiring, I thought I’d share it with you. It’s about a Tuesday shootout involving Fresno County Deputy Sheriffs and a suspect wielding an AR-15 rifle. This is a wonderful example of peace officers, community members, and one brave K-9 coming together to protect our streets and neighborhoods.

Enjoy, and stay safe out there.

Bobby Lopez
President, San Jose Police Officers' Association

* * * * * * *

Heroism converges at Fresno Co. shooting

By Jim Guy and Paula Lloyd
Fresno Bee
July 14, 2009

Deputies quick to answer a call for help, a sheriff’s dog and two women on their way to work were hailed as heroes in a shooting Tuesday that left the gunman dead and two officers wounded.

The rifle-wielding gunman killed by Fresno County Sheriff’s SWAT team officers was identified as Jesus Serna, 32, of Fresno.

The incident began with a call reporting a man with a gun at a tire shop just south of Fresno. Sheriff Margaret Mims said Serna shot at the first two deputies to arrive, firing even before the deputies could get out of their cars.

Deputy George Ozburn was struck by bullet and glass fragments in his shoulder, arm and face. Ozburn never lost consciousness and directed other deputies to the shooting scene before he was taken to a hospital.

Deputy Mark Eaton was hit in the arm by glass fragments. He stayed on the scene to help with the investigation.

Mims praised two women who came to Ozburn’s aid moments after he was shot: “They stepped up. This was a dangerous situation. … They stopped the bleeding and helped him from going into shock.

“My gratitude is boundless."

At a Tuesday afternoon news conference, Mims described what happened at Jerry’s Tire Shop on Elm Avenue just south of North Avenue.

Just after 8 a.m., a shop employee reported a man he knew as “Chewy” was at the business with a gun. Initial reports said Serna went to the shop to confront a man he thought was having an affair with his wife, but Mims declined to discuss those details.

Serna used a semi-automatic rifle to fire at the driver’s side window of Ozburn’s marked patrol car and Eaton’s unmarked car.

“This incident happened so fast, the deputies didn’t have time to get out of their vehicles,” Mims said.

After Serna fired at the deputies, he drove about 50 yards away, crashed into a fence and ran into an area where wood pallets are stored.

Within minutes of the shooting, other deputies, Fresno and Clovis police and California Highway Patrol officers sped to the scene, some dressed in civilian clothing. Heavily armed officers carrying rifles and shotguns fanned out around the industrial area as the sheriff’s helicopter circled.

A deputy who arrived moments after the shooting helped Ozburn, who took cover behind a building wall, clutching his shoulder.

That’s when the women, Yvette Dader and Angelique Rocha, took over.

They said they had been driving to work. Dader said she is a home care worker who is interested in medicine.

“I applied direct pressure [to the wound],” Dader said. “We just tried to help as much as we could, which wasn’t much, because we were waiting for the ambulance

“I always seem to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Corrected Rocha: “You weren’t in the wrong place."

Ozburn, 34 and a 12-year veteran of the sheriff’s office, was taken to Community Regional Medical Center and released about 11:30 a.m., Mims said. Eaton, 41 and a 15-year veteran, was treated at the scene and released.

The Sheriff’s SWAT team was training Tuesday morning; less than an hour after the deputies were shot, the SWAT officers with Reno the sheriff’s dog and his handler, Deputy Robert Marean, were searching the storage area. They found Serna barricaded behind a pile of pallets and tires.

Deputies told Serna to come out, but he refused. Reno was “sent in to catch the bad guy and he was shot in the line of duty,” Mims said. The round hit Reno behind his left ear and exited through his face, she said. Reno survived but lost his left eye.

Deputies fired several shots at Serna, killing him.

Mims said Serna “didn’t care for his safety, he didn’t care for the deputy sheriff’s safety. He certainly didn’t care for the safety of the public. But he paid the price."

Mims said Serna has an arrest record for violent crimes, but declined to say what those crimes were.

National Night Out 2009

2009-07-15T08:08:00.000-07:00

By Jim Cogan

The best weapon we have against crime in our City is each other. Community policing relies on community involvement. Whether it’s participating in Neighborhood Watch, joining a neighborhood association or simply picking up the paper when your neighbor is on vacation, San Jose’s neighborhoods offer many models of community involvement that make a difference in keeping us safe.

Normally, I encourage you to support my favorite community policing program, Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers, but I would like to take this opportunity to invite you to participate in another valuable community policing event, National Night Out.

National Night Out is a crime and drug prevention event sponsored nationally by the National Association of Town Watch and co-sponsored locally by the San Jose Police Department. This year marks the 26th annual event, and over 34 million people across the country are expected to participate.

Tuesday evening, August 4, 2009, residents across the country will be taking back their streets. In my neighborhood, we are organizing an ice cream social in a park. A few of us have committed to distribute flyers inviting our neighbors to get together and meet each other. Other neighborhoods have barbeques or extravagant resource fairs, but we have chosen to keep it simple to ensure everyone the opportunity to talk and get to know each other.

Though ours will be a humble outing, we still expect our beat officers and perhaps some of the command staff to attend. We are an official National Night Out celebration and the police department makes every National Night Out event a priority. In fact, I first met San Jose Police Chief Rob Davis at a National Night Out event many years ago.

In order to ensure that the police knew about our event, I called the SJPD Community Services office at (408) 277-4133. They provided me with a lot of helpful information for making our flyers and put me on the list for police visits. They also referred me to this page on the SJPD website for more information.

I am really looking forward to the opportunity to meet my neighbors and talk about how we can improve our community. Please join me in making San Jose a little safer by getting involved and organizing your own National Night Out event on Tuesday evening August 4th.

Jim Cogan is President of Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers.

San Jose's Understaffed Police Department, Part 2

2009-07-14T08:48:00.000-07:00

By Ed Rast

Did you know that the San Jose Police Department ranks sixth out of Santa Clara County’s 11 largest cities in the number of sworn officers and civilian staff per 1000 residents?

Here’s how we stack up against the top five:

Palo Alto 2.55
Sunnyvale 2.18
Gilroy 2.01
Mountain View 1.96
Los Gatos 1.95
San Jose 1.86

The City of Santa Clara comes in a close seventh at 1.85. Note that total police staffing includes both sworn officers and civilian staff. For example, San Jose has 1.46 sworn officers and 0.40 staff per 1000 residents. Each city uses different ratios of officers to staff depending on local crime and budget situations, training and technology usage.

SJPD civilian staff makes up about 21.5% of the total force while many other local and large California cities maintain a staff that’s 25-40% of the force. San Jose has the lowest ratio of police staff per officer of any of the county’s 11 largest cities.

Our staff numbers are lower for a variety of reasons: consistent budget cuts since 2001; the failure to add staff over the past ten years to keep up with growth; and the decision to retain sworn officers in staff positions rather than reduce the number of sworn officers. It costs about $250,000 just to recruit and train every new sworn officer.

It has become very difficult for SJPD to recruit new officers while competing with smaller local agencies, but the problem isn’t just local. There is a growing shortage of about 7,000 police officers in agencies statewide. In addition, many older officers are scheduled to retire within the next five years. Reducing newly-trained officers (last in, first out) would only make San Jose’s future police shortage worse, likely resulting in increased crime rates.

San Jose’s overall crime rate in 2007 was 256.9 crimes per 100,000 residents. While one of the best rates among large cities with populations 500,000, this ranks us 13th out of the 15 cities in Santa Cara County.

Let’s go back to our list of large local cities with the highest police staffing levels and compare 2007 crime rates:

Palo Alto 153.5
Sunnyvale 138.4
Gilroy’s 340.0
Mountain View 186.8
Los Gatos 145.7
San Jose 256.9

You’ll notice that Gilroy’s crime rate is above the U.S. average of 320.9 while San Jose and other big cities in Santa Clara County are well below that average. This goes to show that staffing, while important, is not the only factor in crime prevention.

Higher youth populations, lower median income levels, less jobs per employment age resident (or underemployed residents), large geographical areas, and other factors contribute to increased crime rates.

In San Jose, community policing — including Neighborhood Watch and Neighborhood Action — has been reduced or discontinued. Specialized mounted, traffic and investigative units have been reduced, and overall police staffing is currently at 1998 levels despite a population surge of over 140,000 residents since then.

For FY 2009-2010, city administration proposed reductions to police funding and staffing for the eighth year in a row despite projected higher crime rates. Thankfully, the City Council did not approve the proposed reductions except that a planned 25 new officers were not included in the final budget.

Of course, adding staff is just a part of the solution here. Increased community policing and officer training, more officers assigned to investigative and detective duties (see Beat Cop’s blog from last week), and new technology for patrol and analysis can help to lower crime rates — especially for property crimes — and help offset some staff shortages.

In future articles, I’ll look at rates of various types of crime in San Jose and how increasing police staffing, technology and funding can prevent crime and help protect our streets and neighborhoods.

A Pledge for Public Safety

2009-07-13T08:15:00.000-07:00

By Bobby Lopez

For decades, San Jose has had a top-notch police department and avoided the controversy over policing that is a routine occurrence in major American cities. But recently, San Jose has seen a seemingly endless string of negative stories regarding its police department. What’s different here is that the source of the controversy is not a bad cop on the beat or a rogue group of officers. Rather, the problem stems directly from weak administrative and political leadership at City Hall.

For example, the number of arrests made downtown, which some believe is excessive, is a result of administrative policy. The feuds between city leaders and the Task Force on Public Intoxication is a turf battle. The fiasco over the hiring of a new Independent Police Auditor is a political fight between the Mayor and Council.

These stories don’t accurately reflect the outstanding work of our cops on the street. Our officers are highly educated, well-trained, and reflect the communities we serve. We are respected by the vast majority of San Jose’s citizens, as is demonstrated in numerous City surveys, for the tremendous job we do with limited resources.

But negative stories caused by poor leadership have hurt officer morale and distracted us from our real goal: keeping San Jose’s streets and neighborhoods safe. So, in an effort to return our focus to what’s really important to the people of San Jose, I’ve asked our city leaders to pledge the following:

1. Return San Jose to the rank of “Safest Big City in America” within the next five years. We once enjoyed and bragged about this achievement. This goal can be met not just with more cops on the streets but also fully-funded libraries, more homework centers, and cleaner parks. All of these contribute to public safety by keeping our kids off the streets and out of gangs, thereby reducing violent crime, which was the major culprit in our recent drop from the top spot on the FBI list of Safest Big Cities.

2. Support our officers by refraining from knee-jerk reactions to activist complaints, particularly from those who lack expertise. If the experts from the Consortium on Police Leadership in Equity, who were hired by the City Council to review downtown arrests, are hesitant to pass judgment on one set of arrest data without further research to back it up, our elected officials should refrain from doing so as well. Yet we’ve consistently heard prejudicial statements about downtown arrests from the Mayor and City Council when vocal critics of our police force are in front of them.

3. Involve more neighborhood leaders on committees and task forces regarding public safety in addition to the regular cast of activists, who have many complaints when it comes to our police department. San Jose neighborhood leaders know best what the entire city wants from their police force, and should be heard as well.

In December, Mayor Reed was quoted in the Mercury News saying, “We like the bragging rights of being one of the safest big cities, and we're committed to getting back to No. 1.” Now, on behalf of the dedicated men and women of the San Jose Police Department, I’ve challenged the Mayor and City Council to re-commit to putting us back on top by signing this pledge.

Bobby Lopez is President of the San Jose Police Officers' Association.

EDITOR’S UPDATE:

As of this posting, Mayor Reed and all but two Councilmembers have committed to this pledge. One Councilmember refuses to sign pledges as a matter of principle, and another has yet to respond.

The Ultimate Price

2009-07-10T08:15:00.000-07:00

In case anybody needed a reminder of just how stressful police work can be, I ran across an article in Wednesday’s Los Angeles Times and wanted to share it with you.

Susan Clemmer was veteran detective with the LAPD. She was a stand-up cop, well-liked by co-workers, and always wore a smile. The other day, she put a gun to her head and pulled the trigger. As of now, nobody knows why.

Of course, it isn’t hard for a fellow cop to imagine the emotions that must have bottled up inside Ms. Clemmer over almost 20 years on the force. Her death and the suicides of another 19 LAPD officers since 1998 are a stark reminder that this job doesn’t end when you hang up the uniform. The things we see and do on a day-to-day basis take a constant toll. In the backs of our minds, we all know that one day we may be asked to pay the ultimate price in the line of duty.

Police officers are some of the finest men and women around, and they chose public service They chose to serve and protect our streets and neighborhoods. They defend the peace and serenity that we enjoy, and they do it under difficult conditions, understaffed and sometimes feeling unappreciated.

I think everybody should take this opportunity to look at cops as human beings, not just blue uniforms in cars.

Stay safe, and have a great weekend.

Bobby Lopez
President, San Jose Police Officers' Association

* * * * * * *

LAPD mourns suicide of veteran narcotics detective
By Richard Winton and Joel Rubin
Los Angeles Times
July 8, 2009

Officers throughout the Los Angeles Police Department grieved Tuesday as news spread that a veteran detective had killed herself in the lobby of an L.A. County Sheriff's Department station Monday night.

Susan J. Clemmer, a well-regarded officer assigned to the LAPD's Gang and Narcotics Division, walked into the Santa Clarita sheriff's station about 9:15 p.m. and spoke to the sheriff's deputy at the front desk, according to sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore and LAPD officials.

Clemmer, 41, placed a box of personal items on the counter and asked to speak to a different deputy. After a brief conversation with a second deputy, when Clemmer was briefly left unattended, staffers heard a gunshot and rushed out to find her with a single gunshot wound in her head, police said.

No one else was injured.

What Clemmer said to the deputies, and whether she identified herself as a police officer, remained unclear Tuesday.

The death of the 19-year LAPD veteran left officers throughout the tightknit department stunned.

"We're in shock. It came as a complete surprise," said Capt. Kevin McCarthy, one of the commanders of Clemmer's unit. "She was always smiling and easy to work with. There was no indication that anything was wrong."

Clemmer, McCarthy said, had sent a text message to another detective in the unit saying she looked forward to seeing him at work later in the week.

Clemmer joined the narcotics unit about a decade ago and for the last several years was assigned to a squad that worked with the U.S. Postal Service on cases involving drugs sent through the mail, according to McCarthy.

He praised her as a solid officer.

Soon after joining the LAPD, Clemmer was thrust into the spotlight as a crucial witness for the defense in the Rodney King beating trials of the early 1990s.

She told jurors in a federal civil rights trial that King had laughed about the beating he got from several LAPD officers after a traffic stop and said King had spit blood on her during the ambulance ride to the hospital. She also testified that she had spoken to one of the accused officers moments after the beating and that he appeared frightened by the confrontation.

Clemmer's testimony was central to bolstering the officers' defense that they had been frightened by King and acted out of concern for their safety. She took the stand after an expert witness for the defense testified that King's behavior, as described by the defendants, was consistent with PCP intoxication.

Two officers were eventually convicted in the federal civil rights case. Clemmer gave substantially the same testimony in the officers' state trial, which ended in acquittals and sparked deadly riots in Los Angeles.

Between 1998 and 2007, 19 LAPD officers committed suicide, according to a department study released last year.

Nightmare On My Street

2009-07-09T08:22:00.000-07:00

By Beat Cop

Part one of a three part series

Picture this...

You are returning home after a long day at work. While driving down your street you discover your garage door is open. “Hmmm, I must have left it open when I left this morning”, you think to yourself. This self talk provides a few moments of comfort as you pull in the driveway.

Scanning the front of the house, you notice the side gate is open. This is not getting any better. A quick phone call to your spouse confirms nobody has been home all day. You walk into the garage and notice the door leading into the house is partially open. Reality sets in. Someone has broken into your home...

The Reality

In our city, with a population of almost 1 million, the San Jose Police Department investigates over 4,000 burglaries a year with only 7 detectives assigned to the burglary unit. Eight consecutive years of cuts to the public safety budget are bound to affect you as a victim of this type of crime.

In 1986, with a population of approximately 700,000, San Jose Police had 13 burglary detectives and a 16-person burglary suppression unit. Since that time, the city has eliminated the entire burglary suppression unit and cut investigators almost in half.

The city projects that by the year 2020 the population will have increased to 1,150,000. More people and more housing will undoubtedly lead to a rise in burglaries. There does not however, seem to be any plan to increase the amount of burglary investigators.

The case load of every burglary detective does not even come close to making a dent in the amount of cases going through the unit. The lack of adequate personnel prevents most burglaries from even being investigated. With the public safety budget getting cut every year, non-violent property crimes receive less attention. Understandably violent crimes continue to take priority with investigators. For the victims of home burglaries, this is of little consolation.

The Good News

On the bright side, SJPD takes great pride in our professionalism. An overly-abundant case load will not make a detective care for your case any less. There does, however, exist the undeniable reality that an impossible workload reduces the time allotted for each incident.

Thankfully, Chief Davis understands our staffing shortfalls and is working with the City Council to staff SJPD at appropriate levels for a city of this size. Until that happens, we will do the best with what we have. As always, call us, we will be there.

As members of your San Jose Police Department, we want to get involved. We want to catch the person or persons responsible just as badly as you do. With your help, and our expertise, we have a good chance.

Most importantly, let us go inside first to make sure no one is still there — this is why we have guns. Once inside, we will start the collection and preservation of evidence for future prosecution. All patrol officers are trained in evidence collection. You are welcome to watch although don’t expect the process to look like an episode of CSI. It’s actually slow and meticulous, not glamorous, but very important.

Finally, we will work with you and your neighbors to offer our expertise in burglary prevention. There are steps members of the community can take to help protect themselves from burglaries and help the police catch the crooks.

Working together, we can reduce the number of burglaries that occur and arrest more of the people responsible for them.

I’ll tell you more about this in future articles.

Proudly serving you,
Your Beat Cop

You Are Not Alone!

2009-07-08T08:19:00.000-07:00

By Kathleen Flynn

A rape prevention class saved my fiancé’s life and mine when we were victims of road rage that could’ve ended in a stabbing.

We were driving home one night after a late night meeting. We were stopped at a stop sign. An SUV sped up behind us and passed too close, almost hitting us. My fiancé honked his horn — a natural reaction — and I watched in horror as the driver spun around and started chasing after us. Of course this would be the one time we didn’t have our cell phone with us so we were pretty much on our own until we could get to a phone.

Even in my terror, I began to remember what I was taught in the rape prevention class I took. They said to try to remain calm in a crisis, never drive home if you are being followed and whenever possible, drive to the nearest police station, or brightly lit busy convenience store. I told my fiancé to pull down a side street, and not into our driveway, and to get on the main street as soon as possible. The SUV caught up and cut us off, boxing us in behind a parked car. The driver got out, stood in front of my car, and started threatening to kill us.

He didn’t look like the creeps you see in the movies, quit the contrary. I was deeply struck by the fact that the man standing before us was an attractive, blonde haired, blue eyed, young man in his late 20s early 30s. He didn’t have any tattoos, was nicely dressed, and spoke in a soft voice. The only thing that gave me cause for alarm besides the fact that he had chased us down, and was threatening to kill us was the crazy look in his eyes.

My fiancé got so angry he started to roll down the window to yell at the guy. Another thing we were told never to do, so I begged him not to, and to lean on the horn non-stop instead, in the hopes that someone would call 9-1-1. It was rather frightening to see that people looked out their windows but that no one came out, or called the Police. Something that the instructor told us would likely happen in these kinds of situations.

Undaunted by the horn, the driver proceeded to the passenger window while pulling out a knife. This move cleared a way for us to escape. I got the man’s license plate number as we were backing out, and we drove to a well-lit gas station and called 9-1-1.

The police came immediately, took down our information, but never caught the guy, as far as we know. The officer told us we did the right thing by taking the actions we did, and gave us instructions on what to do to get home safely. He assured us that the guy was probably high on something, was long gone, and most likely wouldn’t even remember doing this in the morning.

I barely slept a wink for days. I kept seeing the terrifying scene every time I closed my eyes. I was frightened to go outside because this took place right next to my home. I was sure he was outside watching, laughing, and waiting to “kill us.”

After three days of hiding and canceling appointments, I reflected on my work with victims of violent crimes. In almost every case, the crimes they experienced were random, not intentional. When victims realized that they were not targeted but rather victims of random crimes, they were able to find a bit of peace.

The phrase “random acts of violence” kept running through my head. Then I got angry. The reality was that I didn’t know this guy, and he didn’t know me. He was just a bully high on something who randomly chased us down the street. That anger turned into empowerment. I was taking my power, and my love of life back! I wasn’t going to stay a prisoner of fear any more; I was going to get on with my life just like he had.

I decided to share this story because all of us have the same emotional reactions to being victimized. Whether you have experienced a crime as simple as vandalism or as devastating as rape, you are going to feel outrage, fear, and a sense of helplessness. It is nothing to be ashamed of; it is a natural response to having our sense of security and safety violated.

Also, when we don’t report crimes we are enabling thugs like this to hurt someone else. Two of the most important things to do when you’ve been victimized by a crime are report it to the police, and talk about it with someone you trust. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at the support you’ll receive and how many stories similar to yours you will hear. And if you’re like my fiancé and want to confront the guy, please DON’T! There’s no reason to lose your life over something like this.

I also want people who are here illegally to know that if someone violates you or commits a crime against you or a family member, please report it to the Police. They will not report you to ICE, nor will you be deported. Too many undocumented immigrants are victimized and don’t report it to the authorities. Whether you are a legal or illegal citizen, no one has the right to harm you or your property and get a way with it.

I’d like to invite readers to share their stories. Tell us how you coped with or are coping with being a victim of a crime. Please add any resources you have used or know of that would help others.

Kathleen Flynn is a professional mediator and community activist.

San Jose's Understaffed Police Department

2009-07-07T07:58:00.000-07:00

By Ed Rast

Did you know that San Jose in 2005 had the lowest ratios of sworn and civilian police per resident of the 23 U.S. cities with populations between 500,000 and 1 million?

At the time, San Jose had only 1.48 sworn officers and 0.40 civilian staff per 1,000 residents while the average of those 23 large cities was 2.64 sworn officers and 0.72 civilian staff per 1,000 residents.

Mayor Gonzales in his 2006-2007 budget message directed the San Jose Police Department to prepare a Five-Year Staffing Plan to close that gap and deliver to the community the high-quality, innovative, and efficient police services we have come to expect.

It was estimated in 2005 that 597.5 additional personnel were needed — including 332 sworn patrol officers, 146 sworn staff in investigative, preventative and administrative positions, and 119.5 civilian staff. But this would still not bring San Jose to the 23-city staffing average.

Unfortunately, San Jose’s sworn and civilian police ratios have only gotten worse. To date, the City has added only 40 new staff of the 597 proposed in the five-year plan. A proposed addition of 25 officers in FY 2009-10 went unfunded. Meanwhile, our population continues to grow, and the police workload right along with it.

SJPD’s understaffing problems began with an economic downturn in 2001 and continued through eight straight years of budget deficits. For four of those years, there were no staffing increases to offset increases in population, development, service calls and administrative workload.

Officers were shifted from proactive prevention activities and community policing to primarily reactive Patrol Division calls for service. Limited investigative personnel gave priority to crimes against persons.

This shift in priorities resulted in significant increases in auto theft (111%) and burglary ( 52%) from 2000-2005. Increasing property crimes — as predicted — jeopardized San Jose’s “Safest Big City in America” status.

Staffing reductions in 2005 nearly brought the SJPD back to 1998 levels (1,343). But between 1998 and 2005, San Jose’s population grew 10% to 910,528. That’s an increase equal to an entire council district.

As estimated by the California Department of Finance, San Jose’s population increased 10.6% (or 111,949 residents) from 894,943 in the 2000 census to 1,006,892 in January of 2008 — two years ahead of an estimate by the Association of Bay Area Governments.

The long and the short of the story is this: We need more police, and we need them now.

Many residents do not understand how adding new officers, staff and improved technology like a proposed computerized records system as well as increasing — not decreasing — community policing activities can help our understaffed police department prevent, investigate, and solve crimes.

If you’d like to get a better idea for yourself, have a look at SJPD’s proposed Five-Year Staffing Plan for 2007-12. Police and staff comparison charts can be found in graphics 9 and 10 (or pdf pages 16-17).

Next week, we’ll compare San Jose’s police staffing and crime rates to local cities. Enjoy the summer with your family and friends.

What do you think?

2009-07-06T09:06:00.000-07:00

EDITOR'S NOTE:

It's been a month since we opened our doors here at Protect San Jose, and we'd like to hear what you think about the site so far. What do you like? What do you dislike? What could use improvement? How should we improve it?

It's an open forum, so speak your mind. But remember the ground rules: keep it brief and keep it clean. The floor is yours...

Fourth of July Safety Tips

2009-07-03T08:01:00.000-07:00

As we begin the holiday weekend, we wanted to take a moment to remind you to have fun and stay safe out there. The Fourth of July is an exciting day all across America, with sun-baked parades and barbeques giving way to night skies lit up by fireworks. But it only takes one careless moment to spoil a good time.

With that in mind, the San Jose Police Department has released their tips for a safe and happy Independence Day celebration. We've included them here, along with the original press release.

Stay safe, and have a happy 4th!

City of San José Welcomes July 4th with Caution
Residents Urged to Celebrate Safely

The City of San José welcomes this upcoming July 4th on Saturday by encouraging safe celebrations and reminding residents that all fireworks are illegal in San José. The only legal use of fireworks allowed in the City is for a “pyrotechnic display,” operated by a Licensed Pyrotechnician, with a City Permit.

“We’re increasing our outreach to make certain San José residents understand not only that fireworks are illegal but why they are illegal,” says Fire Chief, Darryl Von Raesfeld. “This ban was added to the municipal code in the interest of public safety. Fireworks cause hundreds of severe injuries in the United States and ignite thousands of fires in California every year. With our current drought conditions the potential for a major fire incident is incredibly high.”

For many residents fireworks are considered an integral part of July 4th celebrations, along with other traditional community festivities. While fireworks are suitable for large scale events, they must be used under carefully controlled conditions. Groups planning to host a ‘pyrotechnic display’ should contact the Fire Prevention Bureau for permits with the understanding that only fully professional displays under very strict safety regulations will be permitted.

When most residents think of fireworks they think of large bottle rockets, roman candles, and firecrackers. However, the ban includes the popular ‘sparklers,’ usually reserved for younger children.

“Sparklers can reach over 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit,” says San José Fire Marshal & Deputy Fire Chief, David Schoonover. “They account for 50% of fireworks-related injuries to children under age five and 10% of fireworks-related injuries overall.” For residents who’d like to observe the tradition, ‘snappers’ and ‘champagne party poppers’ are not considered fireworks and deemed legal for use in San José.

The penalty for violating the fireworks ban is stiff. Any individual who possesses, stores, sells, or uses any materials deemed fireworks, is in violation of the law and subject to arrest. Violation of these laws can result in a fine of up to $1,000 and possible jail time according to California Fire Code (CFC 7802.3) and the San José Municipal Code (SJMC 17.12.730). For more information on the laws, regulations and rules regarding fireworks in the City of San José call the Fire Prevention Bureau at (408) 535-7750.

Click on the arrow in the upper right corner to go to full screen mode.

About Time

2009-07-02T09:04:00.000-07:00

EDITOR'S NOTE:

Regular readers of this blog will remember Monday’s post from SJPOA President Bobby Lopez defending Lieutenant Jose Salcido from attacks on his character as he ponders a campaign for Santa Clara County Sheriff. Mr. Lopez pointed to Lt. Salcido’s lifetime of work keeping our streets and neighborhoods safe and his strong ties to the community as reasons why he deserved a promotion.

Well, it looks like Mayor Reed was paying attention... But seriously, we'll repeat what Mr. Lopez wrote earlier: Lt. Salcido is a good man and deserves recognition for his years of public service. Let’s hope the Mayor and others listen to him.

UPDATE:

The Mayor's office finally got around to posting the official press release on the web. You can read it here for yourself. (Click on the arrow in the upper right corner to go to full-screen mode.)

Let's Conversate

2009-07-01T07:31:00.000-07:00

By Bobby Lopez

When Sean Webby first called me yesterday for a comment on a story for today’s Mercury News, my initial reaction was: This must be a publicity stunt.

You see, Raj Jayadev was back at City Hall, holding a rally and calling for meetings with Mayor Reed, councilmembers, Chief Davis, and the SJPOA to have an open dialogue about community concerns with police and our union.

It makes sense that Mr. Jayadev would request a meeting by using a microphone instead of a cell phone. After all, he CC’d the mayor and the entire city council on an email he sent to me on June 4th to request just such a meeting. He also posted it on San Jose Inside as well as this website before I’d even had a chance to respond. (See comments here.)

Of course, if he wanted to sit down, he could’ve just called me. That’s what Skyler Porras of the ACLU did several weeks ago. I ended up meeting with Ms. Porras, and we had a productive conversation, even though we don’t see eye to eye on everything.

In my mind, there’s a pattern developing. Remember, Mr. Jayadev’s comments at the City Council meeting on May 5th, which were featured in our now-infamous YouTube video? At that meeting, he used the vague notion of a “street response” as a political threat to intimidate the council into judging arrest data before an independent analysis could happen. I think he believed protests would not reflect well on politicians at election time and the council would indeed feel threatened.

In another case, just a week before that council meeting, Mr. Jayadev walked off the Public Intoxication Task Force in protest. This was an interesting move because he was among the most vocal community members who called for the mayor to create such a task force.

These were the thoughts running through my mind when Mr. Webby called. I got ticked off and said I wouldn’t meet with Mr. Jayadev.

But after I hung up, I remembered my email response to Mr. Jayadev’s request for a meeting almost a month ago. I told him exactly what I later told Ms. Porras: I have an open door policy, and I’ll meet with anyone who wants to talk.

So I called Mr. Webby back and said I would meet even though, given Mr. Jayadev’s track record, I’m skeptical that he wants to engage in a real dialogue.

I’m used to working with all kinds of people, even difficult personalities. I’ll be interested to see if Mr. Jayadev walks out of our meeting to call a press conference if we disagree. What do you think?

Bobby Lopez is President of the San Jose Police Officers' Association.

Dollars and Sense

2009-06-30T09:36:00.000-07:00

By Ed Rast

Did you know that the San Jose budget is one of the most perplexing documents in the world?

Administrations of different cities use significantly different but easily understood language, performance metrics, and comparisons in documents presented to their Council as the basis for final budget decisions. The idea being that the average citizen shouldn’t have too much trouble following the flow of money from revenue to expenditure in their city’s budget documents.

Budget documents prepared by San Jose city staff omit important revenue, staffing, and expenditure details. Performance information is not compared to other cities with regard to population or geography. This makes it hard for both the City Council and residents to understand the difficult decisions faced by the nation’s 10th largest city in its 8th consecutive year of deficits. What this all means is that San Jose’s budget is exceedingly difficult to understand, even for CPA’s and MBA’s.

Let’s take a look at the budgets for three California cities so you can get a better idea...

Los Angeles is California’s largest city with a population of 3.8 million and the second-largest police force in the United States. It’s budget contains detailed information on revenue, staffing, expenditures, and performance:

• Go to the City of Los Angeles Proposed Budget 2009-2010 and flip through the pages concerned with police funding: p. 37, 41, 143-146.

• While you’re on page 41, have a look at the simple math: police operations ($1.2 billion) + pensions & benefits = $ 1,98 billion. Now go to pages 143-146 and read through the Police Department budget, complete with sources of funds, expenditures, and cost programs.

• Still with me? Okay. Open up the Los Angeles Blue Book 2008-09. This budget addendum is a detail of departmental programs. Flip to the page 507 to read about the Police Department’s indicators of workload. Here, you’ll find hard numbers of crimes, cases, violations, and investigations taken on by the LAPD since 2002-03.

• You can complete your tour with the Blue Book 2009-10. Simple charts and graphs on pages 525-528 (pdf pages 55-58) compare the 2009-10 proposed police budget to the actual 2008-09 budget as well as valuable metrics for technological and operational support. Pages 525-555 (pdf pages 55-85) detail the entire police budget all the way down to cabinet makers (p. 548).

Sunnyvale is the second-largest city in Santa Clara County with a population of 137,538 and is internationally recognized for its comprehensive approach to managing performance budgeting outcomes.

The U.S. Office of Management and Budget said Sunnyvale is “the single best example of a comprehensive approach to performance measurement in the United States... allocating funding for tasks rather than for personnel, equipment, and supplies, with quantified objectives that are expected to be achieved with the funding." For examples, see the following documents:

• Operating Budget Guide: A glossary of terms, which comes in rather handy.

• Sunnyvale 2009-10 Recommended Budget and Resource Allocation Plan

• General Fund Revenues by Source: See pages 11-13 for police and fire sources.

• Law Enforcement Goals, Policies and Action Statements: See pdf pages 1-6.

I wish things were that clear in our neck of the woods...

San Jose is California’s 4th largest city with a population of right around 1 million (or 939,890, according to census data from 2007). We have just risen to the status of 2nd Safest Large City in the U.S. (pop 500,000+) with lowest police officer per resident ratio (1.48) of 23 cities with populations from 500K-1M.

Yet here are the documents our leaders use to determine the city budget:

• San Jose Proposed Operating Budget 2009-10

• Public Safety Budget and Performance Metrics: See pdf pages 3, 4, 10-16 and 53-76.

With a mess like this to sort through, is it any wonder the City Council has such a difficult time balancing the budget?

Cheap Shot

2009-06-29T09:16:00.000-07:00

By Bobby Lopez

A recent posting on another website is the perfect example of the need for a place where we can speak our minds.

Someone is attempting to smear Lieutenant Jose Salcido just in time for his 2010 campaign for Sheriff to get underway. Lt. Salcido has not yet committed to running, but a deputy named Joe Charvez has stepped into the race to throw around baseless accusations about Salcido.

As I write this, I hold in my hand a decision by The Honorable James Emerson stating that Lt. Salcido committed no civil wrongdoing. The fact is that no criminal action has ever been taken because the investigation was laughable and filled with bias.

They really had to scrape the bottom of the barrel to find Mr. Charvez, who has made the same accusations over the years with the obvious belief that if you repeat something enough people will believe it.

Who is Jose Salcido? First and foremost, he is an extremely religious and devoted family man who has worked and volunteered in the community for many years. He has worked for charities like Sacred Heart and been a major fundraiser in the community. The Hispanic community has acknowledged him for his years of tireless work as a citizen and a law enforcement leader. The Sheriff’s Department command staff have done nothing but place road blocks in his way as he reaches out to the community.

Lt. Salcido is currently President of the Central Coast Chapter of PORAC (Peace Officer Research Association of California). He sits on the PORAC Executive Committee and serves as the state Secretary. He was elected to all of those positions. That means almost 60,000 law enforcement officers trust Lt. Salcido! The article failed to mention that. I wonder why.

I truly believe that Lt. Salcido has suffered because of his union activity. While president of the DSA, he had to stand up to the Sheriff on many occasions, something that I’ve been told she does not forget. He demonstrated true leadership as President of the DSA and continues to shine at the state level. He has willingly provided help and advice to many of the union presidents in the area. I have known him for almost thirty years, and he is one of the most honorable men in public service.

And since I don’t want to be accused of not giving the full story, I’ll let you know that Lt. Salcido has been endorsed for Sheriff by the SJPOA.

Stay safe.

Bobby Lopez is President of the San Jose Police Officers' Association.

Every Dollar Counts

2009-06-26T08:19:00.000-07:00

By Bobby Lopez

With all the brouhaha over the city budget in the past couple weeks, you might have missed this interesting nugget: the San Jose Police Officers’ Association and the City agreed on a way to save over $200,000 a year.

Like everybody else these days, we’ve been looking for ways to cut down on expenses without sacrificing the safety of our streets and neighborhoods. I’ve always said we’re willing to talk with the City about ideas for helping with their budget problems.

One of these ideas was to provide the option of using specially-trained traffic flaggers at construction sites. In the past, the City as well as private developers and utilities used off-duty cops to direct road traffic around construction sites in San Jose. While experienced officers are necessary for directing traffic through busy roads and intersections, there are also sites on quiet neighborhood streets where certified flaggers would be cheaper.

Last month, we got together with the City Manager’s office to amend the traffic flagger ordinance to include the option of using certified flaggers where appropriate. This amendment was approved by the City Council on Tuesday, the same day the 2009-10 budget went final.

Now, I know what you’re thinking: “That’s great news, Bobby. But what the heck does a measly $200K mean when the City’s staring at a $73 million budget deficit?”

Well, if you’ve been following this blog, you’ve learned how seemingly small expenses can start to add up real fast. A $50,000 cut here or $100,000 trim there could be the difference between one of your family members or friends and the unemployment line. In other words: every dollar counts.

I should note that the POA put aside what we saw as a meet-and-confer requirement on this issue because our conversations with City administration were open and productive. They agree with what I’ve said before: in bad economic times, we all need to tighten our belts and think outside the box — as long as we don’t jeopardize the safety of our streets and neighborhoods.

You can learn more about the traffic flagger program in this addendum to the City Manager’s budget plan.

Have a great weekend, and stay safe.

Bobby Lopez is President of the San Jose Police Officers’ Association.

Your Budget Solutions

2009-06-25T08:05:00.000-07:00

EDITOR’S NOTE: As promised, here are some reader suggestions for solving San Jose’s chronic budget deficits, taken from comments posted in response to a blog by Bobby Lopez on Friday, June 19th. Selections have been edited for readability and length but remain true to the words and intent of the authors.

We’ve also received several interesting ideas through anonymous tips on our Contact page. We’ll examine some of those as we continue to dissect this troubling (and popular) issue. Keep ‘em coming...

Anonymous
How about cutting all the money that gets directed to "new plants" along the Coleman/880 interchange, or the money spent on a mural for the new high-rise parking garage at the SJ Airport? Or perhaps the Saigon business, err, Little Saigon banners should go. Is all that crap really necessary?

Dan Steeley
I read Herhold religiously and on most things he has the pulse of the community right on. But when he defends a Mariachi festival, there's no way he's going to win an argument in my Rose Garden neighborhood. Nothing wrong with festivals, but there is something wrong with wasting money.

Kathleen
Yeah, we need a festival over Neighborhood Watch Programs, Gang and ID Theft Prevention, Child Safety, and Business Watch Programs... NOT! It must be nice to live in a world where public safety isn't a priority but fun is! Welcome To Figone Fantasy Land where crime and mayhem doesn’t exist... I don’t think people realize how much wasteful spending goes on in all government agencies. $50K is one full time position for a GA service worker, two Council Aide positions, one EA position; I think you get the point. The sad fact is that the City Manager, and the Council seem to lack the concept of prioritizing things that money should be allocated to and fall victim to sentiment instead of focusing on necessities.

C.S.
You gotta watch out for the city manager. She has a bad habit of misleading the Mayor and Council about the budget. She protects her own employees and sells citizens and police down the river... Figone put every public safety program and department on the chopping block but passed out big cash prizes to pet projects. Good thing Mayor Reed knew better and listened to the public or we'd be in deeper poo than we are now... Some of these non-profits are a joke but they keep getting millions. Many offer the exact same services, so we don’t need ‘em. And don’t even get me started on the overpaid consultants the City hires to tell them how to do things that these overpaid supervisors should already know how to do. If private companies ran their businesses like this they’d be long gone by now. Not to mention throwing millions into downtown. Give it a break already. We could have hired 25 police officers for the money they’ve wasted on that dumb effort.

Crimefighter
Scott, the problem is not just the $50,000 for this festival... If we added up all the small amounts, it soon becomes real money... Real people are losing their jobs, and you want cultural festivals? Talk about being out of touch.

Councilman Pete Constant
What was not mentioned in Scott's column is the fact that the Mariachi Festival already receives over $1,000,000 in donated advertising and marketing each year. This figure was provided to me directly by Marcela Davison Aviles who is president and CEO of the Mexican Heritage Corp., which produces the San Jose Mariachi and Mexican Heritage Festival. She also references this figure in her June 3, 2009, opinion piece in the Mercury News. Give me $1M, and I bet I could make any business or event successful without additional money from the city!

Anonymous
What about the money the SJPD spends on having a helicopter waste gas watching people with clipboards and video cameras who are watching police? Is that a good way to spend our money? I am sure the gas for a helicopter to go around in circles for 20 minutes is quite expensive. Oh, and don’t let me forget about the outside firms hired to scrutinize SJPD's questionable tactics. More waste with much haste. And how about the officers hitting on the girls at the nightclubs every weekend? I am glad we are paying for SJPD's social time as well.

Anonymous
Lets not forget how we were conned into believing that the new (and UGLY) city hall which we just "had to have!" cost triple what we, the public, were told... Oh yeah, they left out the cost of the marble floors and new artwork for the walls (as if anybody would care if it wasn’t there) and all of the millions of dollars in interest payments, too.

No Such Thing as Victimless Crime

2009-06-24T08:23:00.000-07:00

By Kathleen Flynn

Part of my job as a mediator is to work with both adult and youth offenders to ensure restitution is paid to their victims. Much of the difficulty comes in getting offenders to recognize the victims behind their crimes. Some offenders think that they haven’t hurt anyone, so their crime is no big deal.

Some examples of crimes that offenders view as victimless are shoplifting, vandalism, graffiti, theft from large companies, and robbing people of means. There is a misconception that the victims in these cases can absorb the loss because they’re rich or insured. The reality is that there is no such thing as a victimless crime.

Theft from any business requires the company to compensate for losses by raising consumer prices, lowering wages to employees, or limiting work hours to cut down on expenses for employee health insurance. Companies will also purchase added inventory insurance and pay for security guards, cameras, and other theft prevention devices, further shrinking employee wages and raising consumer cost.

Graffiti and vandalism often times create an even greater hardship for small businesses and homeowners. An owner has to pay someone to clean or repaint their vandalized property so its value doesn’t drop and customers keep coming back. Depending on how badly the property is damaged, vandalism also raises an owner’s insurance rates. These victims also experience a great sense of emotional outrage because many have worked all their lives to attain their business or home.

Financial hardship, outrage, and fear are some of the byproducts that go unseen by an offender while in commission of a crime. When companies or homeowners file insurance claims due to crime, the insurance company raises rates on the rest of us to compensate for their loss. When one home is robbed, neighbors become fearful that they will be next.

As my supervisor, Brohne Lawhorne, says, “When someone commits a crime, it is like dropping a pebble in a pond. It has consequences that are far-reaching to many unseen people.”

Working Together for Safety

2009-06-23T09:01:00.000-07:00

By Ed Rast

Do you know what constitutes “Community Policing“ and how it reduces crime in San Jose?

The basic principal is to bring our many diverse neighborhoods, residents, and businesses together with their local beat officers to achieve a common goal. Community policing takes the view that police and citizens are co-producers of public safety services, jointly responsible for reducing crime and improving the quality of life in their neighborhoods. To get a better idea, have a look at this.

San Jose is known nationwide for our highly effective community policing programs like: Neighborhood Watch; Personal, Workplace, and Senior Safety; our many Crime Prevention programs; and National Night Out. You can visit the SJPD website to find out more.

Community attitudes toward police and fire officers can significantly affect the quality of public safety, especially in dense downtown, high-crime, and gang-heavy neighborhoods.

Our understaffed police depend heavily on neighbors to report criminal activity and help identify suspicious behavior. Cooperation like this is what gives San Jose a lower crime rate than almost every other large city in America.

Getting to know your local police officers face to face helps you understand their concerns and workload and helps them to understand the diverse people, issues, and concerns of the neighborhood they’re protecting. Misunderstandings occur when people do not reach out or communicate frequently.

Here are some examples of what you, your family, and your neighbors can do to help improve public safety in San Jose while growing the quality of life in your neighborhood:

• Let your neighborhood police officers know you appreciate their hard work keeping your neighborhood safe.

• Participate in community policing, including Neighborhood Watch and crime prevention programs.

• Attend your neighborhood association meeting, where time is often scheduled for residents and neighborhood police to discuss local crime issues and what can be done.

• Attend National Night Activities on Tuesday, August 4, 2009 (in most neighborhoods) Visit the SJPD website for more information.

Crime Stoppers Report

2009-06-22T08:27:00.000-07:00

By Jim Cogan

This is the first in a monthly series detailing the work of Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers.

Dozens of presentations explaining Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers have taught me that people are most interested in the cases our program has helped to solve. In that vein, I asked Protect San Jose if I could write a monthly blog about our work.

This month, I want to highlight three cases:

In the first case, there was a report of a drug dealer peddling at a San Jose high school. The tip came in thanks to our Campus Crime Stoppers program that provides students with the opportunity to call or email us with information. San Jose police officers went to the school and found the suspect. They found a stolen police badge and arrested him for theft. Additional charges are forthcoming.

In the second case, a tip came in about drugs being sold out of a house in South San Jose. Our Officer Liaison passed the tip along to San Jose Police Department Metro unit. Metro officers investigated the tip and gathered enough evidence to get a search warrant. They searched the home and seized $3,500 dollars worth of drugs and five guns.

The last case is ongoing. The suspect was working as a janitor at a San Jose high school when it was discovered that he possessed a large quantity of child pornography. Young victims who had been molested by the suspect came forward, and the suspect fled.

Police had no idea where he was, and so, in January, we aired a radio spot about the case. After the story aired, we received a tip that the suspect was hiding out in Mexico. The information was passed along to the United States Marshals, who set up a sting with Mexican authorities. The suspect was arrested and is currently fighting extradition.

All three of these cases illustrate how valuable good information is to arresting criminals and how effective the Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers program is at getting that information in the hands of police. The community provides the information, and the police build the cases. Together, we protect San Jose.

Jim Cogan is President of Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers. You can visit their website to find out more about the program.

What’s in your budget?

2009-06-19T08:04:00.000-07:00

By Bobby Lopez

As Scott Herhold points out in yesterday’s Mercury News, I don’t have a problem speaking my mind. I’ll share my honest opinions, and if I make a mistake, I’ll admit it.

But I know that some people are afraid to say what they really mean. They won’t call out the mistakes of elected leaders or even reckless activists. They shy away from giving their honest opinion because they don’t want to ruffle anybody’s feathers.

But contrary to what Mr. Herhold says in his column yesterday, I did not intend to “pick on” the Mariachi Festival. I only used it as an example of spending that could — and should — be directed toward more vital services in times of crisis such as we face today.

I hate it when folks at City Hall cut checks left and right for non-essential services, then cry poor every time they sit down to negotiate new contracts with their employees or decide how many officers we can have to patrol our neighborhoods.

Yes, I could have mentioned the San Jose Jazz Festival, Christmas in the Park, the Rock 'n' Roll Half-Marathon, or the San Jose Rep — all events that the community enjoys which draw attention to our city. (Thanks for the tips, Scott!) But if our public safety budget were cut even more than it already is to pay for these events, what kind of city would we be drawing attention to?

This isn’t a debate about the merits of the Mariachi Festival or any other cultural event. It’s about choices. In difficult times, tough choices have to be made. That’s what we do with our budgets at home. During tough times, we all have to focus on the essentials and cut out luxuries like vacations (or festivals).

Pete Constant made that point well in his blog on this site yesterday morning. Is anyone willing to spend $50,000 to advertise the Mariachi Festival this year while eliminating $55,000 for community CPR classes? (Scott?) This is one choice that doesn’t reflect the priorities of our residents.

With that in mind, I’d like to open this debate to suggestions from you, our readers. What are some things you think the city spends money on that are wasteful or unnecessary?

We’ll check the comments for the best suggestions and include them in a future blog. Or, if you want anonymity, you can use our contact form on this site.

Have a great weekend, and stay safe out there.

Bobby Lopez is President of the San Jose Police Officers' Association.

San Jose’s Budget: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

2009-06-18T07:58:00.000-07:00

By Pete Constant

The City of San Jose’s budget has been the center of conversation for quite some time now. Worry and frustration has turned to happiness and accomplishment. But before we break our arms patting ourselves on the back, I think we ought to evaluate the good in the context of the bad — and the ugly.

The Good

We have a balanced budget, on time.

This represents a significant accomplishment given that the San Jose, like most governments, faces some serious financial issues.

Most importantly, this budget preserves critical public safety services by restoring the Park Rangers, the Horse Mounted Unit, a Traffic Enforcement Team, police patrol staffing, the Crime Prevention Unit, and staffing for two fire stations that were slated for closure. These are all essential city services that the public relies on and deserves.

The Bad

This year’s $85 million deficit comes on the heels of seven years of deficits, bringing the cumulative shortfall to $425 million. Deferred infrastructure repairs and improvements have an estimated value of over $800 million – not counting the needs of our city and regional parks. Then there are the other long-term liabilities like City Hall debt service, unfunded retirement, and health care liabilities.

Unfortunately, there seems to be no end to the bad news. Sales tax revenues have fallen far below estimates. Property tax revenues continue to fall. The state is looking to take and borrow money from cities in an attempt to balance their budget. There is no way to predict if all of this will wreak havoc our newly-balanced budget. Surely, we will be back to the balancing act in just a few short months.

The Ugly

We have a budget system that is "broke" — and there doesn’t seem to be a will to fix it.

San Jose’s budget process is clearly in conflict with the needs of the general public. Time after time, survey after survey, email after email, the residents of San Jose have made it clear: Public safety is their number one priority. Yet our process brought a proposed budget to the council that contained draconian cuts to public safety.

CPR classes were slated for elimination, saving $55,000, while marketing for the Mariachi Festival was added, at a cost of $50,000. This is just one example of bureaucratic priorities out of sync with the priorities of our residents.

In San Jose, it seems, all budget dollars are equal. A dollar for advertising is equal to a dollar for training that can save someone’s life. A dollar for buying refreshments at a community meeting is equal to a dollar for crime prevention.

I think this is wrong! I hope you do, too.

As the council voted to pass the budget, I pleaded with my colleagues to change the process. I urged that we categorize spending into four simple categories: things we must do, things we should do, things we would like to do, and, of course, things we should not do.

Once we do that, we must prioritize spending. Fully fund the things we must do, then fund the things we should do, and then — if the money’s available — start to fund the things we would like to do. And by all means, we need to shy away from things that have nothing to do with the responsibilities of local government.

Only then will we give our residents the essential public safety services they deserve, provide the infrastructure we need, and meet our obligations to our employees.

Pete Constant is in his first term on the San Jose City Council representing District 1 (West San Jose).

Dispute Resolution Offers Relief

2009-06-17T09:03:00.000-07:00

By Christian Hemingway

Are you having problems with your teenager or another family member? Are you involved in a dispute with your landlord, employer, or employee? Have you called the police about a habitually noisy neighbor or filed a grievance with the Small Claims Court? Are you going through a divorce and need help dividing property or reaching a visitation agreement?

You’re not alone. Conflict is a normal part of life for each of us. Avoiding it only makes a bad situation worse and, in some cases, can lead to horrific consequences. When it reaches a point of destructive behavior or causes emotional harm, then it is time to reach out and get help before things get out of hand. But where can you turn?

The County’s Dispute Resolution Program (DRPS) offers assistance to all members of the community free of charge. Anyone can seek the assistance of a certified mediator in resolving just about any conflict they may be experiencing.

The only thing required for a successful mediation is two or more people voluntarily participating in a collaborative effort to find their own solution to a problem with the guidance of an expert mediator. More often than not, a mediated solution is more amenable to both sides than what could have been decided in a courtroom.

DRPS is home to three divisions: Juvenile Justice, Small Claims Court, and Community. The program also offers training for individuals or groups interested in learning the principles of conflict resolution and communication.

The Dispute Resolution Program is located in the Office of Human Relations at the County of Santa Clara Buidling, 70 West Hedding Street in San Jose. For more information, contact Program Coordinator Brohne Lawhorne at (408) 792-2330 or go to the DRPS website.

San Jose: Budgeting for Disaster

2009-06-16T09:10:00.000-07:00

By Ed Rast

San Jose‘s Operating Budget will mark its eighth consecutive year of budget deficits — in both good and bad economic times — when the 2009-10 version is approved today by the City Council.

A ongoing national recession stands to reduce sales taxes and other revenues, making our operating deficit even worse than the $73 million shortfall we already face. But we would be facing deficits without the current malaise because San Jose does not generate sufficient revenue to fund the services necessitated by its growing population, which just last month crested one million.

California cities receive very low percentages of property taxes and sales taxes, which get funneled up to Sacramento. They depend instead on local sales taxes, fees, fines, assessments, and assorted other revenue to pay for city services.

So, where exactly does San Jose get its money? To get an idea, have a look at this document, available on the City website. While you have that open, have a glance at this to see where our money is directed.

In recent years, a wide variety of numbers have been thrown around when it comes to San Jose’s public safety budget. When reading the city budget documents, one begins to understand the confusion:

Public safety (police, fire, and emergency services) accounts for $445,256,362 or 64% of our proposed $698,020,948 General Fund Budget but only 38% or $446,068,053 of the proposed $1,160,988,879 All Funds Operating Budget.

An average American city our size spends half of its operating budget on public safety. Looking only at the general fund budget, you’d think we were over-funding public safety. But seen in the greater context of the all funds budget, public safety is drastically under-funded in San Jose.

We need more revenue from sources outside the general fund to fully support essential city services like public safety. In other words, our City Administration needs to start thinking outside the box.

Public safety is said to be he highest budget priority of our residents and city leaders, but we will continue to see year after year of staff and budget reductions until the City Council clearly defines “essential city services” and funds those services to meet national standards of performance.

Crime Stoppers Builds Collateral

2009-06-15T08:35:00.000-07:00

By Jim Cogan

In many cities, community policing begins and ends with Neighborhood Watch. That is not the case in San Jose. Whether it’s ego or staffing limitations, there are few departments that offer the same level of commitment as the San Jose Police Department.

As President of Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers, I can tell you we enjoy support from command staff in almost every jurisdiction in the county. But the SJPD has fully embraced our cause — all the way through to the beat officers.

I have had an opportunity to witness the dedication and professionalism of the San Jose Police Department in ways that very few people have. I have seen our Liaison Officer hop on a plane and fly to Missouri to detain and transport a bail-jumping child molester or jump on a tip to arrest drug dealers. Just this spring, San Jose police apprehended a top lieutenant in the Mexican mafia by acting quickly on a simple parole violation tip they received from Crime Stoppers.

The SJPD has worked diligently to develop credibility with the community. This credibility helps the department solve and prevent crimes. Their support of Crime Stoppers has built on that collateral.

Two years ago, we assisted in solving three homicides. One was a brutal rape and stabbing. SJPD officers encouraged potential witnesses at the scene to call Crime Stoppers with tips in order to remain anonymous. The tips came in, and the murderers were caught.

Last month, we received a tip that a juvenile gang member had brought a knife to school in order to seek retribution from rival gang members who had assaulted him the day before. Our Liaison Officer wasted no time in going to the school. The juvenile admitted to the officer that he had a knife on him, saying “I’m not going to lie to you...” That kind of rapport is invaluable, and in this case, the combination of a Crime Stopper tip and SJPD credibility probably saved lives.

Our police department may not be perfect. There is always room for improvement. But improvement can only come through open and honest dialogue. The San Jose Police Department has endured an assault of criticism in the past year. Unfortunately, the few constructive recommendations to emerge from the controversy have been lost in what can only be categorized as a witch hunt.

It is time we recognize that we have a professional and dedicated police department that works hard to serve our community. Eroding their credibility will not make us safer. It will only make it harder for the police to protect our great city and may compromise the continued success of programs like Crime Stoppers.

We like to say, “Crime Stoppers works because of you!” It is with all confidence that I say Crime Stoppers would not work without the San Jose Police Department.

ACLU Weighs In On Our Video

2009-06-12T08:05:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week, Skyler Porras of the Northern California ACLU sent a letter to Mayor Reed and the entire San Jose City Council saying that, while the ACLU objects to the tone of the SJPOA's recent YouTube video, they defend our right to make it.

We're including the letter here so you can read it for yourself. (Click on the arrow in the upper right corner to go to full-screen mode.)

Have a wonderful weekend, and stay safe out there.

My Father, Our City

2009-06-11T08:20:00.000-07:00

By Casandra Hosseini

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who attended the vigil for victims of violent crime Tuesday night in the San Jose City Hall plaza.

Words can’t describe what I saw there: police officers, fire fighters, and city officials standing together with the families and friends of violent crime victims. I only hope that events like this will lead to a fuller understanding of the personal connection that exists between our public safety officers and the communities they serve.

On May 23, 2008, my father, Vahid Hosseini, went to Bank of the West on First Street to make a withdrawal for our family check cashing business. As he exited the bank, three cowards drove up in a silver SUV. One of them got out of the car, put a gun to my father’s head, and pulled the trigger.

After 11 days of fighting for his life, Vahid Hosseini passed away from his injuries at the young age of 47. My father’s death has completely devastated our family. Not a day goes by that I do not think of him.

Last month, almost one year later, five suspects were arrested for their alleged involvement in my father’s murder. Despite these arrests, there is still a $90,000 reward for information in his case.

Our family is grateful to members of the community, Mayor Chuck Reed, Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers, and most importantly Chief Rob Davis, Detectives Paul Kelly, Mike Brown, and Rikki Goede, and the entire San Jose Police Department for the hard work, sacrifice, and dedication they committed to this case. I strongly believe that if my father had been murdered in any other city, we would still be looking for a suspect.

Unfortunately, there are ongoing cases that might never be solved if our city leaders continue making cuts to public safety. At a time when our city is plagued with violent crime and gang violence, we cannot afford to lose more police officers and crime prevention programs. If anything, we are in desperate need of more public safety funding.

My father’s life was priceless, and no price should be placed on our safety.

It seems we only hear bad news when it comes to the SJPD. We never hear stories of officers working non-stop on their cases, sometimes going weeks without a day off. These men and women risk their lives every day. They’ve taken an oath to protect our community, and they would take a bullet for you and your families.

It takes a very special person to become a police officer, to wake up every morning not knowing if you will make it home to your family that night. I think we owe them a little more respect. Don’t you?

Fixing a Broken System

2009-06-10T08:04:00.000-07:00

By Alberto Torrico

On June 3, the state Assembly acted to protect police officers from those who would scapegoat public safety employees for the financial woes faced by cities and counties statewide.

The Assembly passed Assemblymember Tony Mendoza’s AB 155 by a 47-25 vote. I am the principal co-author of this bill, which would stop union foes and their attorneys from wielding the threat of bankruptcy – or an actual bankruptcy declaration itself – as a hammer to break hard-won labor contracts.

Vallejo’s bankruptcy filing last year set off a chain reaction that will see no winners, except perhaps a number of high-priced attorneys. Our recession left Vallejo with sagging sales and property tax revenues. But the city’s problems were compounded by years of financial mismanagement and an anemic economic development plan.

Vallejo’s firefighters and police officers did what you would expect dedicated employees to do: they conceded benefits and salaries in an attempt to ease the city away from the financial brink.

But rather than work with the unions and accept their concessions, Vallejo’s city council, in the words of the local paper, “seemed hell-bent on finding some way – any way” – to break the contracts. Unfortunately, leaders are risking the city’s fiscal stability with their pre-ordained conclusion that bankruptcy is the sole answer to this crisis.

Now other cities may be tempted to use the threat of bankruptcies as a quick way to gain savings without dealing effectively with their own budget shortages.

This is why I support AB 155. It’s a reasonable, measured response to what’s happening in Vallejo and what may occur elsewhere. It says a local public entity may only file under federal bankruptcy law with the approval of the California Debt and Investment Advisory Commission.

The goal is to allow an independent set of financial experts to explore all options to avoid bankruptcy. While bankruptcy could provide short-term relief, the long-term negative effects will harm both cities and the state. Interest rates will increase, hurting taxpayers and the services they demand. The effects on Vallejo provide just one example. Employees are leaving, morale is low and the community is badly divided.

AB 155 will prohibit cities from filing for bankruptcy without first working with the CDIAC to research all alternatives. It ensures bankruptcy will only be used as an absolute last resort. Twenty-two states don’t even allow bankruptcy as an option. This bill will put California on a middle course with the 16 other states who allow bankruptcies but only after a thorough review with state oversight.

Our public safety employees, and the people who rely on them, will benefit from this smart public policy.

Alberto Torrico is the Majority Leader of the California State Assembly.

The State of Public Safety in San Jose

2009-06-09T08:17:00.000-07:00

By Ed Rast

These are the facts:

San Jose residents, businesses and neighborhood leaders have consistently ranked public safety as the highest city service budget priority.

Our police and fire officers are widely recognized as hard working, motivated professionals and have developed innovative and highly effective public safety programs to offset over a decade of understaffing and budget shortages.

SJPD programs like community policing, gang prevention, and neighborhood action are proven to reduce or prevent crime. License plate readers identify stolen vehicles, and Public Computer Aided Dispatch educates the public about crime in their neighborhoods and citywide.

The fire department is implementing expanded Community Emergency Response training like Heart Safe City to keep people alive until emergency personnel arrive.

San Jose has a very low ratio of police and fire officers to residents. Our public safety departments have faced numerous budget reductions. The failure to maintain officer numbers in proportion to our population and geographical area has resulted in severe under-staffing. Each officer’s workload has dramatically increased as ranks are stretched across an ever-expanding city -— reducing overall public safety.

The results have been slower police, fire and emergency medical response rates than other local cities and many more unreported, un-investigated, and unsolved crimes than we’ve seen in past years.

Even with staff and budget shortages, San Jose has only declined from 1st to 4th Safest Large City in America (over 500,000 population) according to FBI crime data. This shows how effective our police department is compared to other large cities.

In my opinion, San Jose needs a facts-based, less-emotional community conversation about community policing and emergency response; about community expectations, crime rates and how staffing and funding affect outcomes; about how we compare to other local cities, what are acceptable and unacceptable performance measures, and solutions that will deliver the public safety results our community desires.

I’ll share my thoughts about these issues and the data to back them up on this blog. I hope we can have a substantive, productive discussion.

Check back tomorrow for a special guest blog from Assembly Majority Leader Alberto Torrico.

Neighborhood Safety Vigil

2009-06-08T10:23:00.000-07:00

By Kathleen Flynn

On May 23, 2008, I lost a friend of 23 years to a senseless crime. My friend, Vahid Hosseini, was only 47 years old when he died. Vahid was a son, a brother, a husband, a father of two beautiful daughters, a small business owner, and a beloved member of the community.

Vahid owned the Willow Market in San Jose, a few blocks from Bank of the West, on First Street. One day, Vahid went to the bank to withdraw money for his check cashing business. As he was leaving the bank, three men came up from behind, robbed him in broad daylight, shot him execution style, and left him to die in the parking lot. To my deep sadness, Vahid passed away from his gunshot wound on June 3, 2008.

I’m very proud to say that, thanks to the hard work and dedication of the San Jose Police Department, Crime Stoppers, and members of the community, police recently arrested five suspects involved in Vahid’s murder. The investigation of is still ongoing.

In an effort to honor the memories of my friend Vahid, Officer Jeffrey Fontana, victims of violent crime, their families, and the SJPD, I have organized a neighborhood safety vigil.

Please join us outside City Hall on Tuesday, June 9th, from 7 to 9 p.m. as we gather to support the silent majority of San Jose residents and our wonderful police department.

Speakers and honored guests will include:

Dolores Carr, District Attorney of Santa Cara County
Hon. Pete Constant, San Jose City Council
Bobby Lopez, President, San Jose Police Officers’ Association
Randy Sekany, President, International Association of Fire Fighters Local 230
Jim Cogan, President, Crime Stoppers
Sandy Fontana, mother of slain San Jose police officer Jeffrey Fontana
Cassandra and LeeAnn Hosseini, Vahid's daughter and widow

There will also be a blessing delivered by Dr. Bonita Carter-Cox, President of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Association of Santa Clara Valley, and Police Chaplin Bridgen.

Why ProtectSanJose.com?

2009-06-04T15:11:00.000-07:00

By Bobby Lopez

This past week, I’ve been a pretty popular guy.

I’m getting a lot of calls about a video we put together for this website.

I was in the city council chambers a few weeks ago when a vocal police critic made some really outrageous comments. The Mayor and most Councilmembers just sat on their hands. As you can imagine, I was a little upset. I wanted others to see what I saw... and thought.

Sure enough, supporters of the critic responded to our video with one of their own. In the interest of fairness, I’m including it here. Watch both, judge for yourself, and comment if you want to.

Attacks like this are nothing new to the men and women of the San Jose Police Officers’ Association. We’re used to handling criticism and difficult people. It’s what we do every day as part of our jobs.

But in the past, we haven’t had a forum to defend ourselves from half-truths and misrepresentations made by people who know very little about police work. The Mercury News won’t print some letters and opinion pieces we submit to them. While I understand it’s their paper and their right, I can’t say I understand their decisions. Our own Vanguard newsletter appears only once a month. It does a good job of serving our members and their union concerns, but we can’t use it to quickly respond to breaking news or fresh criticism.

That’s why we’re launching ProtectSanJose.com to create an open forum for our members, neighborhood leaders, and all residents who care deeply about public safety in our great city.

We’ll use this site to respond quickly and honestly to any and all attacks on our integrity. This site will also be a forum for neighborhood leaders and community members who will blog regularly. Hell, we’ll even give our critics an opportunity to exercise their freedom of speech.

The video that’s received so much attention is just one part of this exciting project. Visitors will also find up-to-date news and information about their neighborhoods, including recent crimes on an easy-to-use map.

Have a look around ProtectSanJose.com, and keep coming back for regular updates from all the voices in our diverse community.

Most importantly, stay safe.