More Police, Less Problems? More than 2 dozen police officers leaving their posts
SACRAMENTO -- The plan to beef up patrols for Sacramento police means moving 25 officers from hospitals and regional transit to the streets in an effort to improve response times and quality of life.
Gina, a Sacramento resident, said, "I'm not sure how I'd even fix that."
People of Sacramento answered our question: would they feel safer if 25 officers moved from region transit, Kaiser, and Sutter hospital contracts to patrol.
Sacramento resident Rodney Thomas said, "If there was a higher crime rate, then yeah, I think it's needed."
This is the solution laid out by Sacramento's Chief of Police Kathy Lester. In her words, the department is "woefully understaffed".
In a city council meeting, Lester said, "We go out, typically, below minimum staffing every day, on every shift, unless we call in officers on overtime."
That impacts every person in the city through response times.
A business owner in Del Paso Boulevard, John Blair, said, "Which one do you call? Well, I'm going to call my guys that are going to show up in 15 minutes. Not police who take forever."
The average response time for 911 citywide averages 10 and a half minutes.
For non-emergencies, that increases to 22 minutes, and about 43 minutes for reports.
This 25 officers boost would, in theory, cut down wait times for people like Rodney.
He said, "If it's going to decrease, I'd say put them on the street."
Those contract positions would be voluntarily given up by Sacramento Police Department to boost their patrols. However, the officers will be fully back on patrols by the end of the year.
