American canyon - Their Own Police Department?

[Guest]

I thought I would start a new topic, one that interests a majority of people and even has become a topic of the election.
Do we want our own Police? Is there funding for our own department? Do we have enough tax base to have competitive salaries compared with other departments in this area like Vallejo, Fairfield, Napa police and sheriff? What happens when we have our own police and there is like 2 officers on the streets and a major collision happens blocking the highway? Where would we get extra help, from the cops who are trying to enjoy their day off????

Now we get up to three or four deputies down here as soon as they can make it through the traffic for alarms, crashes, or whatever.....

What the records and police reports. You would need at least three extra clerks just do do the paperwork that is done by the sheriff clerks.... And how about the radio support people? Who would pay to have all the calls rsent to the new ACPD and would we have our own 9-1-1 system so you wouldnt have to talk to a deputy's radio person? There is about another 10 bodies just to put people on the radio.

Yeah it all seems like a good thing to say "let's have our own Police", but to tell you the truth, I think we have it pretty good right now using the sheriff deputies. Those guys and girls come down here by request, doing at least 3 or 4 years in our community, do you think a new officer would put in that amount of time if we were our own police.
No ! !
They would get in, get some training behind them and then off to a better department with more opportunities and assignments to work. You may have bad experiences with one or two deputies, but there is a way to deal with those officers, call their boss and complain.

Anyway, post your reply, lets see what you think...... [/i]

[Guest]

We SHOULD have our own police department. Perhaps not today, but soon. The council should direct staff to research and find out how much it will cost and then make it happen. How can we grow as a city if we are reliant upon another city's police force to protect our new residents as well as cover the coming retail stores and centers? And Good God, with Wal-Mart possibly coming, we NEED our own police force. In fact, if council had been thinking outside of their own greased palms, they would have REQUIRED Wal-Mart to cover some of the added costs that their crime-infested stores bring to town!!!

I SUPPORT CANDIDATES WHO CAN BE FORWARD THINKING ENOUGH TO NOT JUST SEE IMPOSSIBILITIES BUT INSTEAD SEE OPPORTUNITY FOR OUR CITY!!!

Lots of towns have their own police force, WHY NOT OUR'S? [/b]

[Guest]

I agree. If all of these other smaller, less prosperous cities can have their own police force, why not us?

All of the author's nay-saying has just made me glad or at least hopeful that they aren't going to be on council. We have a nice city, why would anyone think that we can't dare to do at least as well as other cities and hopefully better?

I want our own police department.

[Guest]

We do have our own department. It's our department. We just contract out for the service, but its OUR. And with the sheriffs department we do get added help. Lots of smaller cities contract with Sheriffs Departments all over California. Contra Costa County has several contract cities, as well as Sonoma County. Did you see the article in the paper about Suisun City. They have the Solano County Sheriffs Department patrol their city from 2am until 6am because they couldnt afford to have their own officers around the clock. And they are a bigger city then us. Even the City of Sonoma recently contracted out with their countys sheriffs department. Have you noticed the beautiful new sheriffs department being built on Airport Road. How nice to have a state of the art facility so close to our city for OUR use. I think what we have is wonderful and practical.

[Guest]

Your right. Smaller departments are just training grounds for new officers so after a couple of years they can go on to bigger departments with better pay and opportunities. Sounds to me like another brilliant idea by a particular council candidate. One of only a few Im sure were going to hear about.

[Guest]

Ross, San Anselmo, and Fairfax all have their own police departments. I know several of the police officers and they have been on their force for years. Policemen in general like to stay fixed. Currently the Napa Sheriffs dept. uses AMCAM as a training ground for their officers. Are we getting any kickbacks????

[Guest - who started topic]

Well I am glad to start such and interested topic !!!

Some of the replies have been very insightful, but I wonder if it is a matter of pride or financial responsibility that so many people are interested in a seporate department?

You say that the ACPD is just a training ground for the Napa Sheriff's....

Have you taken the time to talk to any of the officers, like I did, about how long they have been a cop? Most of them have over 3, some up to 10 years on and still they work in the contract p.d. because they like it.... Huh.... Fairfax and the others you listed.... Wonder how their budgets are looking with the constant cut backs the state has been handing out....

Even calistoga has felt the waters of contracting, as Sonaoma, Susuin and Rohnert Park (which is bigger and has a Wal Mart) contracts. Some others in this list would be: Dublin, Danville, Lathrop, Citrus heights... I could go on but I wont.

The thing these cities see is that they are paying for a service that can be received at a lower cost from a Sheriff's Dept. The contracted officers volunteer for the contract agreeing to do a set number of years there. I think with American Canyon it's 2 or 3 yrs..... Anyway, by contracting the people get cops with experience and have a pool of bodies to draw from and resources to use. One could be detectives, why pay for full time detectives when you only need them for major crimes when they occur. Also those crimes require some very special training that the sheriff department pays for and we benefit from....

And how about crime labs, who are we going to use, the Sheriff or go to Vallejo PD, (like they would have time with their crime rate to work our crimes).... Oh well, a study probably has been done to see how much it would cost, maybe we should ask the city manager what the out come was if they did one and if they haven't, maybe they should so the record could be set straight on how much we are overpaying for what we get or how much we get over without paying for......

[Guest]

Actually I have asked Mark Joseph and a study has not been done. Also Lori Luporini totally discounted saying she had other more meaningful things to work on. What's the problem with exploring this area anyways?

If the city council can approve $29,000 to pay someone to update the employee manual than why not have a commission to explore if it would be in our best interested to have our own police department. Besides with the oodles of money the City Council swears we will be making off Walmart each year than their should be more than enough money to pay for this.

[Yardley]

I don't object to doing a study and evaluating the feasibility and pro's/cons of having our own police force.

However, I do not view it as a priority in the near future.

It may be more cost effective and productive to negotiate a contract that better serves our needs even if we pay the Napa Sheriff's Dept. a larger dollar amount for an improved level of service. If contract renewal is a ways off, perhaps we could approach the sheriff's dept. to discuss amending the existing contract.

My overall personal experience with the Sheriff's Dept. has been good. I think they usually do an adequate or better job, given the small number of officers that are scheduled for duty through-out the day. An easy fix might be budgeting for a larger number of officers to be assigned, especially now that we have a much larger population, increased traffic etc.

[Guest]

I have lived here for over 8 years now. Our officers our on a 2 year contract. I've been told by officers they must rotate out for a period of time at the end of 2 years. However Warrington I believe has been here longer then 2 years, Brownlee is back after another department and Montoya is also back after I think court call.
My problem is we do get alot of trainies some with one of ours sometimes not. Week-ends and holidays it's a draw.
I like it when officers know the kids by sight, and know me. I like to know them before God, forbid I need one of them. It makes for a better community.
Try to reach our chief, he is never available or your referred to a Sargent.
If I'm asking for the chief it's because he is suppose to be our final word.
Try to get a report/case number from them is impossible.
Most of the time they have attitudes. Bottom line is they wear the badge. They are the law but what law County or City? That's the problem. They should not decide only a judge should do that.
We need to look at all possibilities here. We pay alot of money for there service and should all be happy with whatever level of services we need. If not then something is wrong with our system.

[guest]

The Police Chief appeared to be caught off guard at the city council meeting last week. Actually, he most likely did not have enough information available, on the spot, to respond to a citizen's complaint.

Possibly, this "Online Forum" could arrange with the Chief to respond "on line" to citizens questions and complaints as to incidents in American Canyon.

Maybe if people knew what type of calls are being handled by the Sheriff's Dept. they would be alittle more understanding that the dog barking next door or the missing Wal-mart sign in their front yard are eating up our resources. Last night was the perfect example of the priorities of the Sheriff's Dept. Within a 2 hour timeframe the police had a major accident on Hwy 29, the suspect left the scene on foot. All resources of the Sheriff's Dept were utilized. (helicopter, dogs, officers from Napa were called in for support.) They had a medical call in the Rancho area, a side show behind Safeway and a complaint from a citizen that his daughter threw a remote controller at him and wanted an officer to respond.

Years ago we use to have Vallejo police in American Canyon. People complained then. Now, it's the Napa Sheriffs that people seem to feel
are not prioritizing their calls. Read in the archives of the Napa Register to find out the estimated cost to have our own police department. Then you may have a better understanding of what operating our own police department will entail.