Keep Bailing

The San Diego Police Department has been plagued recently with a rash of misconduct accusations. Two months ago, during a news conference, Police Chief Lansdowne acknowledged the rise in officer misconduct and stated a plan for action.

Chief Lansdowne summarized these key steps when he spoke with the San Diego Union Tribune:

•  ”We started with Read more »

The new captain of the San Diego Police Department’s Northern Division, 23-year veteran Albert Guaderrama, looks forward to the challenge of protecting his citizens who populate an area covering 41 square miles. Within the dozen or so neighborhoods in the Northern Division live nearly 200,000 residents.

“My mission, every captain’s mission, is to keep crime down,” said Guadarrama, pointing out that the Northern Division is “completely committed to making people’s lives better, and their communities a better place to live.”

Northern Division encompasses the areas of Bay Ho, Bay Park, Clairemont Mesa East and West, La Jolla, La Jolla Village, Mission Bay Park, Pacific Beach, Mission Beach, North Clairemont, Torrey Pines and University City. Guadarrama commands a staff of 145 officers, including detectives, with a coastal patrol that covers beach areas that are full of residents and visitors during the summer season.

“I would say it’s double in terms of the people actually visiting our beaches (in summer),” said Guadarrama, noting that beach staff is Read more »

In a recent interview by Kyle Keegan, San Diego Police Sergeant Bike Patrol Supervisor Nick Borrelli constructed some very interesting insights on the North Park Bike Patrol.

It was reported that since 2009, there has been a 57 percent increase in aggravated assault in North Park. That is more than the usual high crime rates of Pacific Beach and East Village. However, there has been an instant decrease since the bike patrol has been put on duty.

According to Borrelli, the reason bikes are working far better than patrol cars is because criminals can recognize the cars but with the bikes, the police are able to sneak up on criminals undetected.

Criminals just don’t expect to see officers on bicycles.

A couple factors go into the rising crime rate of the area including Read more »

Recently, the San Diego Police Department released statistical data showing the worst violent crime-ridden neighborhoods in the area. The SDPD’s data revealed that the worst neighborhood was in the North Park area, followed by an unordered list of East Village, Gaslamp District, Logan Heights and Pacific Beach. The report suggests that the increase is due to the homeless population’s sprawl and an increase in nightclub traffic.

According to a 10News report, SDPD Assistant Chief, Boyd Long said police stations are to remain open at all hours. Changes that may occur are the staffing and how the stations operate, with some flexibility installed. He also said, “If there’s a problem in any one area, we Read more »

It’s reported that San Diego Chargers wide receiver, Legedu Naanee, was arrested Saturday for resisting arrest and public intoxication in Indianapolis.  Around 3:20 a.m., Naanee was reported to have come across a live crime scene and, when asked, he had refused to leave.

According to San Diego Police officers, they arrested Naanee because they could smell a “strong odor of an alcoholic beverage on or about his breath or person.” After several attempts to get Naanee to take another route, officers attempted to arrest him and Naanee resisted. Police proceeded by using pepper Read more »

According to the San Diego Union Tribune, San Diego’s murder rate decreased to only 29 cases in the last year — the lowest in four decades.

The decrease in murder related crimes is not only apparent in San Diego County, but all across the nation with respects to police efforts on focusing on policing, their crackdown on gangs and better trauma care.

In 2010, San Diego County was able to tail 29 homicides, which was the lowest they’d seen in 30 years, thankfully to their innovations in a countywide system that accounts of all murders in the area.

Mayor Jerry Sanders, who also served as Police Chief from ’93 to ’99 stated, “I’m absolutely astounded at 29 total homicides for a city with a 1.3 million population. That’s just unbelievable to me.”

In 1968, there were a total of Read more »

According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, three times over a couple years span, the San Diego Police Officers Association has sued the city. The City of San Diego has spent $8.6 million in fighting these cases.

One of the cases against the city brought on by the San Diego Police Association (POA) was an attempt to make the city pay for the time the officer’s spent on dressing in their uniforms, and putting on protective gear as well as answering emails related to work. To no surprise, the officers lost this case, but the cost to the city was $6 million!

The other two suits were related to the city’s underfunding and one of the cases went as far as accusing the city attorney at the time, Michael Aguirre, of extortion and bribery. However, both suits were dismissed before going to trial. These two only totalled $2.6 million.

A new lawyer has assumed the responsibility of the police union and Read more »

Both Concord Police Deparment and Martinez Police Department have issued statements revealing that they’ve hired new Chiefs.

New Martinez Police Chief

These new additions have brought Commander Gary Peterson of the Martinez Police Department as the new Chief beginning next month. Peterson has served since 1989 and has performed a number of duties including detective, patrol officer and he was a S.W.A.T. team member. Peterson held the position of sergeant and was promoted to commander and has served under that title since 2008.

Peterson will be filling in for retiring Chief of Police, Tom Simonetti.

New Concord Chief from San Diego PD

The Concord Police Department named their new Chief of Police as Read more »

Unfortunately for the City of San Diego and its leaders, the Proposition D ballot was rejected. Proposition D would have raised the current sales tax after reductions were made to the cost of city operations and pensions.

Supporters, including Mayor Jerry Sanders, of Proposition D made the public aware, that if it were rejected, the city would have to cut down on public safety. Currently, San Diego operates on a $1.1 billion dollar budget but has a $70 million dollar deficit. The San Diego Police Deparment and Fire Department use over half of the budget, so according to spectators, there is no way to erase the deficit without cutting back on public safety, unless they raise the sales tax.

According to City Councilman Read more »

According to KPBS, San Diego reports again that crime rates are currently falling. The San Diego Association of Government (SANDAG) is reporting that both violent crime and property crime are at a ten-year low for the first six months of this year.  Compared to this time last year, San Diego’s violent crime was down eight percent while property crime was down two percent.

While we commented on crime rates, bail bonds and the economy in April 2009, for many skeptics and believers alike, one question remains…Why?

One interesting answer is given by San Diego Police Chief William Lansdowne who indicated that the crime rates had gone down due to good police enforcement.

Lansdowne further stated, “The concept of Read more »