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Half Moon Bay shuts down police department

April 2, 2011

Half Moon Bay has closed down its 12-member police department and will begin outsourcing the work to neighboring towns or the county sheriff. [San Francisco Chronicle]

Officials say that the coastal town of 13,000 had little choice given dire budget conditions. The $3.5 million police budget is 40 percent of the town’s general-fund spending

The decision by Half Moon Bay comes six months after the city of San Carlos dissolved its police department, also in favor of the sheriff.

“We’re not alone in this, and this is definitely happening throughout the state, if not the country,” said Councilwoman Marina Fraser. “People are looking to regionalize and outsource so many different services.”

Last November, Half Moon Bay voters rejected a sales-tax measure that would have helped to fund the police department.

 

 

 

 


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Again, all the Cop bashers come out in droves. CalCoast is no better as they only told half of the story. The City is not outsourcing the Police because the Police are simply too expensive. In 2009 the City lost a lawsuit over development rights and had to pay $18million-twice its annual budget. So they lost two years worth of budget, then the economy crashed. How does that lead to pointing the fingers at the Police Department as being too expensive? Why are all of you so quick to blame Police and Fire when the BANKERS and REAL ESTATE are the ones who got all of us into this mess in the first place? Blame ourselves too for getting into mortgages that you could not afford or that had insane balloon payments or interest only loans, etc.


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The $3.5 million police budget is “40 percent” of the town’s general-fund spending


I think this was caused by binding arbitration with a no lay-off clause

I DO NOT believe the City Management failed to see it coming

Thus, this is the resultant.


I believe safety personnel should be paid reasonable salaries and benefits but what is reasonable to them? To us? To the general fund spending leger?

We all need to come to terms with that now or it will go from bad to worst (for sure)!


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Its all relative

For example, lets say the SLOPD shut down, then the Sheriff Department headed by former SLOPD Ian Parkinson will take jurisdiction. Its all relative, just one big chumy family of good old boys.

Bottomline will shutting down any PD actually cut cost or is it just same old shifty stradegy of moving figures to “S” us once again.


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Outsourcing police services is something that is being talked about in Paso, not by the Mayor and City Manager, but by the citizenry. In spite of the shenanigans and incompentency of the Police Chief, they have met a brick wall in trying to get a new Police Chief. They see that the Atascadero Police Department apprehends our criminals, and they see the city still using the police as their hand maidens to control festivals and AMGEN, and they think that maybe we would be better off with a police department, more independent, and not beholden to city officials.


This is backwards. We should be getting a new City Manager and new councilmen. Then, they could hire a competent police chief. Our officers are great, but they are operating with one hand behind their back because of local practices.


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I wonder how the city that has to take up Half Moon Bays slack feels about this.


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Contracting has it’s down sides as well. Most Sheriff’s departments have higher salaries, better benefits, and larger pensions. Than your typical small town police departments. The money is saved by reducing support and administration staff. In many cases after the city service has been contracted out, the long tern cost of contracting has in many cases exceeded what the city would have spent if they kept their own service.


I have lived in cities where service is contracted out to the sheriff. The service borders on being adequate at best. The biggest loss is city officers who spend their careers in one location. Vs the deputies who usually work a area for 2 years and move on. There is a huge difference in a cop who has spent 15 years working the same streets VS a typical deputy who moves around the county from assignment to assignment every 2 years. Most city cops know who lives and belongs in the neighborhood, the history of the neighborhood and is trouble spots. Deputies are usually not around long enough to obtain the same level of local knowledge that often makes the big difference in preventing and solving crimes and neighborhood issues.


I am not totally against contracting in some cases it may be the most effective way to go. However, in my experiences living in a small town with our home town police has proven to be the most effective and economical way to go. At times our city has struggled to attract officers with it’s lower pay and benefits. What they have found is the officers they do hire turn out to be very loyal to the job and very courteous with the community. I am very proud of our local officers, they do a great job by responding quickly and handling the situations effectively.


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This is how it begins, town by town. No more bloated pensions, retirements, benefits. Law enforcement and Fire Depts everywhere should rethink their positions. Change is here…


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Well put.


Relatedly, I am trying to get my head around the state foisting off its governmental obligations on local jurisdictions.


On the one hand, we hate to pay locally what we can have paid for by Sacramento.


On another hand, if we want to decide what to fund, we HAVE to cut Sac out of the loop. You and me can’t effect much change in Sac, but we can sure raise a stink at our local BOS.


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You get what you pay for. Would you risk your life protecting others for low pay and no benefits? I wouldn’t.


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Lets hope Morro Bay is looking on. Morro is smaller than Moon and should benchmark from this action.


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You have no idea what you are talking about Danika. You consider what you read as the entire truth without doing your own research. Bash the Cops because that is what the trend is now and has always been. If you would have done some research, you would have found that the City Council is at fault, not the Police Dept.. The City was sued by a developer and lost, now has to pay $18 million (it was 440 million). That sum is twice the budget for the City. So the City spent two years of budget, and then the economy hit. I don’t think many people could survive on ZERO income for two years. Could you?


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Well, there seems to be many things at work here. The biggest issue is the city bureaucrats giving a one finger salute to the citizens of Morro Bay… there is another way.


Eliminating unnecessary or unused services (planners?) Combining departments and services is a good first step. I don’t think Morro Bay has thought this through…. they didn’t HAVE TO take the department to zero.


On a practical level, we are in many ways returning to a period in which we will have to become more responsible for our own lives … educating our children and , yes, protecting ourselves.


good luck,


Roger


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I empathize with the sentiment, but are we talking about the same issues? This article seems to be dealing with Half Moon Bay, not Morro Bay.


Perhaps the conundrum is language based:


Moon is one letter away from mo(r)on.


Morro sounds a lot like “moron.”


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I agree with racket. What in the hell does Morro Bay have to do with the subject at hand????


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ummm excuse me Roger, the article is about ‘HALF MOON BAY’ not Morro Bay.


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Certainly wouldn’t be the first time someone got it wrong here. Yeah, I’m talking about YOU.


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I agree, rogerfrebert. People are going to have to look out for themselves more. Keep your powder dry.


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“educating our children and , yes, protecting ourselves”


Don’t forget to add helping out the elders/ seniors!


As more people retire, the next necessitate area to cut will be the increasing unstainable pensions of the retired!


It ain’t over!


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Maybe Morro Bay will contract with Half Moon Bay’s county sheriff’;s department. Can you imagine the response time. They would have to lay over for a fish & chips lunch on the waterfront.


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Here is why cities and counties are going broke. 12 officers. O.k. so if you paid them all 100k a year that is still 2.3 mill a year left. I find it hard to believe with the gas, main. build rent etc. that, that eats up the rest of the 2.3. Where in the HELL does all the money go???


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Goes to the firemen so that they will have comfortable quarters to watch tv, have dinner and sleep at night.. Personally I would have switched and saved the PD and outsourced the FD. The PD actually functions during a 24 hr. period and protects the citizens while the FD is watching tv and sleeping. I think the PD would have been a better investment.


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