Eric M Prado

LEPS 560
Final Case Study

Operational Organization Final Case Study

Understaffing in The San Jose Police Department

The San Jose Police Department is one of the major police departments in the state of

California. San Jose, CA is one of the largest metropolitan cities in California, behind Los

Angeles and San Diego. The numbers are astonishing in regards to a major city. San Jose was

once a city with a population of approximately one million people. With a large population,

comes a large area of diversity. Such a large melting pot also brings a diversity of crime to this

major metropolitan city. A diversity in specialized units for this police department is necessary to

combat certain issues in this community. The problem with the San Jose Police Department is

the elimination of certain specialized units or major downsizing. With downsizing, comes

increase work load on those officers who are left in the specialized unit.

According to the San Jose Police Department, they have deployed approximately 879

street ready police officers in order to serve and a protect a city with a population of over one

million people (San Jose Police Department, 2016.) The department is currently understaffed as

it is supposed to have a force of over 1,400 sworn officers to protect a city of almost one million

citizens. The issue of employee retention in the department rose in 2012, when Measure B was

approved on the ballots. This was the pension reform act.

 According to Woolfolk (2012) of the San Jose Mercury News, According to a 2010

audit by the city, the amount that the city paid every year for the retirement plans of its retired

workers had risen from $73 million in 2001 to $245 million in 2011. Over the previous two

decades, the amount paid by the city in total pension benefit payments had grown sevenfold. The

amount that was paid out of the account every year had been exceeding the amount paid in for

over 10 years. The city's 2010 audit also said that the city was about $2 billion short of the

amount that should have been in the account to pay for future benefits.
 This pension reform was the root of all downsizing in units and the low rate of retention

in officers in the department. Officers no longer wanted to stick to a department and city that

would no longer offer a satisfying pension, one in which a retiree could live comfortably after

25-30 years of service. Officers had issues lingering above their heads which consisted worrying

about the future of their retirement, pension, and life after being a police officer.

FACT:

The San Jose Police Department is extremely short staffed. The problem started with the pension

reform act of 2012. The department has a difficult time retaining officers. With the low staffing,

the city faces a higher rate of unsolved crimes. The bottom line is that San Jose needs more

police officers. The safety of the citizens of San Jose are compromised. The second law

enforcement agency in Santa Clara County is the Sheriffs Office. This agency does not have

enough man power or jurisdiction to cover areas that San Jose Police need assistance with.

Another issue with short staffing of a police department is the need for officers to work

mandatory overtime. Mandatory overtime is when officers are told to work overtime. This causes

concerns due to the issue of lack of rest between work periods. Less rest equals less alertness.

Then officer safety is compromised.

ISSUES:
The main issue that the pension reform act has caused in the need for more officers. The low

staffing causes a higher rate of crime. The issue is widely advertised causing criminals to take

advantage of this. The San Jose Police Department is not functioning like a well-oiled machine at

this point. Seeing organizations as machines has positive advantages. Organizations function

well when it has a reliable backbone, a firm structure in which the department follows. An

organization functioning as a machine has structure and guidelines in which employees follow. If

an employee goes out of scope of work it will be noticed and corrected. The San Jose Police

Department has a strict and rigid type of policing. It is a firm police department with a para-

military type chain of command. The machine at this point was influenced by outside factors.

The outside factor in this case was the city mayor and citys decision to cut their pension. When

this occurred, the machine faced some issues. The issue in this case is the exodus of police

officers in the department. If the mayor and police chief cannot resolve these issues, the machine

will not function at one hundred percent. Its components are missing. When the

department(machine) is not functioning at one hundred percent, the machine poses a safety

hazard and concern to those who are making use of the machine.

If the department cannot replace its missing or broken pieces to the machine, the machine

will eventually wear down and fail. This is a scary fact to consider when thinking about a police

department as big as this one in such a big area that it serves. In order to fix the machine, the

department needs funding and resources to fix it. In order to fix it, there will need to be a larger

scale of hiring and training. This is possible through assistance from other agencies.
 The political aspect of this organization helped with its downfall. More politics, more

community policing, equals more support. The more support gathered, the more funding the

department receives for much needed and updated equipment. The problem was that the mayor

targeted the department when it was time for him to decide the fate of his budget. After that time,

the department was not able to pick itself up and keep itself up to date with a better pension. The

politics of this department was impacted when the mayor decided to put the pension reform act

on the ballot for the citizens of the city to decide where the funding would go. Through the

mayors persuasion and highly political influence he had on the city, the reform act won. The

first people impacted by this decision were the first responders for the city of San Jose.

According to Morgan (2006), The brain has been conceived as a control system similar

to a complex computer or telephone switchboard, transmitting information through electronic

impulses.(pg.72) This ties into the previous ideals that I had mentioned. Without a control

center or brain function, the organization would be nonfunctional. A computer is also a machine

and has brains. It has set ideals and guidelines to follow in order to function properly. The

department is getting dangerously close to malfunctioning as a whole. The better brains needs to

come from the citys mayor. If this can happen, then the main brain which is the mayor can

connect with the brain of the department, the Chief.

SOLUTION:

There are many ways in which the department can combat its problem of employee retention.

First, the budget needs to be readjusted in order to offer a more attractive benefits plan to current

and future employees. A way in which this occur is through a more political approach to the
community. The command staff of the department needs to really portray the need for police

services to the people of San Jose. This can be felt when the Chief of Police makes his

appearance in each and every public event. The more there is presence, the more the city feels

the need for police officers.

As for replacing missing parts to the machine, this needs to be done through mass hiring.

The department cannot keep up with those who leave the department and those who are up for

retirement. This is not impossible, but there must be sacrifices made. Less specialized units may

hurt the department right now, but can help it in the future. There are staff in specialized units

that have positive qualities in which they can use to help train new officers. Currently the

department runs its own in house training academy. It is now time to outsource to other

academies in northern California. This will help in ways such as training more recruit officers

because of more space available in other academies.

JUDGEMENT:

Through assistance from other agencies, the department can focus on its problems during

increments of time. The political aspect of this department and city as a whole dictates where

funding comes from. If the department received more funding, they could hire more police

officers to help with its problem of understaffing. More funding for the officers pensions will

also help with retention of officers. When the department is at its full force, then it can function

at its full capacity as does a machine. This is one major and important machine that has the

potential to run at one hundred percent. When not running at one hundred percent, this can cause
a dangerous environment for both the officers and the citizens of San Jose. This machine is

currently outdated, but not obsolete.

 REFERENCES:

Morgan, G. (2006). Images of organization. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Woolfolk, J. (March 3, 2012). Making sense of San Joses pension mess. San Jose Mercury

News. Retrieved from http://www.mercurynews.com/2012/03/03/making-sense-of-san-joses-

pension-mess/

Salonga, R. (2015, January 14). San Jose police to redeploy dozens of niche officers to fill gaps

in struggling patrol force. San Jose Mercury News.