State Of Emergency Declared Over Police Staffing In San Jose
SAN JOSE (KPIX 5) -- San Jose's city council voted 10-1 to declare a state of emergency over a police staffing shortage Tuesday evening.
The emergency declaration would allow Chief Eddie Garcia to bypass union rules dictating how he can reassign officers from duties such as investigations to patrol.
"We're not robbing Peter to pay Paul. But right now, Paul is more important. The most important thing is to answer 911 calls for service," Garcia said.
One resident, Bob Sippel told the city council about his recent experience.
"I called the police 5 times. I have relatives on the force, they wanted to come, but they couldn't get here. It is an emergency," he said.
Mayor Sam Liccardo downplayed the use of the term "emergency."
"There is no call for the National Guard, there is no declaration of emergency, we just want to allow the chief to do what he must do, which is reassigning 47 officers to patrol," he said.
Chief Garcia says assigning mandatory overtime is no longer working.
The declaration would allow him to fill patrol positions and ease issues with officer fatigue.