About 150 Carmel Valley area residents took to the streets for a rally on May 4, marching from Torrey Pines High School to the Northwestern Division station on El Camino Real. Their calls to “Save our Station” were repeated during the week at city budget review committee hearings as the council considers a projected $258 million deficit.
Carmel Valley Community Planning Board Chair Michelle Strauss, on the front line at the rally and in downtown hearings, said she was representing thousands of residents who were in strong opposition to the mayor’s proposed cuts to public safety.
Among the many cuts in the mayor’s draft budget proposal is the “repurposing” of the Northwestern Division station in Carmel Valley, relocating officers to the Northeastern Division station in Rancho Penasquitos. Six full time leadership positions cut from Northwestern Division, including the captain, lieutenant, detective and three sergeants, save the police department $1.7 million.
According to San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl, the department’s commitment to response times, public safety and crime prevention in northwestern communities will continue uninterrupted, just under a different operational model. The same amount of officers will be in the field and the cuts are meant to minimize and reduce overhead and management-level positions. The front counter at the station will also remain open.
“While I appreciate the attempts to assure us that everything will be fine because we will still have the same number of patrol officers assigned to our area that really isn’t being up front about what the true impact of this decision will be,” Strauss said. “The number of patrol officers today is three to four for 40 square miles, which we all know is woefully inadequate. It’s why our response times are some of the slowest in the city today.”
Strauss said that removing the entire leadership command will pose an additional risk to the community with the Northeastern Division nine miles and 15 minutes away, if the SR-56 is not congested.
“By taking them away you are leaving our communities isolated, and worse, you are putting us at great risk should something large-scale happen that needs a full and rapid response,” Strauss said. “You are telling us that when we call 911 in our darkest moment, that we might just be on our own.”
During the budget review committee meetings on May 5 and May 6, the council heard input from many Carmel Valley residents opposed to the station closure. In particular, there were several representatives from the 22 schools in Carmel Valley.
Stephen Dickinson, associate superintendent of business services for the San Dieguito Union High School District (SDUHSD), spoke about the “proactive and positive” role the police department plays with their two large high schools and two middle schools. A local police presence helps with e-bike challenges and traffic and can offer assistance on calls related to problems like vandalism, drugs and weapons. As SDUHSD board Vice President Jane Lea Smith said, concerns can arise on campus such as medical emergencies, suspicious activity in the neighborhood or more serious threats that require a quick response.
“Minutes matter and those minutes become longer when command staff are further away,” said Smith. “As an elected official, I understand the difficult choices that come with budget season…But this is not the right place to cut.”
“Student safety should be our top priority,” she continued. “This proposal may look like a line item on a spreadsheet, but in real life it puts students, staff and families at greater risk.”
Solana Beach School District Superintendent Jennifer Burks also advocated for the continued presence of community and youth officers at the district’s four elementary schools in Carmel Valley. Burks said those officers help intervene in conflicts, connect with families and are present in the classrooms and campuses, building trusting relationships with students as young as kindergartners.
The officers are not just there for emergencies, but for events such as Read Across America too.
Like Smith, she shared concerns about the response times as in critical situations, “having an officer nearby can mean the difference between a swift resolution and tragedy.”
“To reduce funding or relocate these vital roles is to undermine years of relationship building, community trust and proactive safety effort. The partnerships we’ve built between schools and law enforcement are intentional and essential,” Burks said. “This is not a moment to step back from school safety. This is a moment to invest further in the people and the partnerships that keep our schools protected, connected and ed.”
In a statement last week, Council President Joe LaCava rejected the proposed elimination of the Northwestern Station in the draft budget.
“The mayor’s top four priorities for this budget include preserving public safety and I completely agree,” LaCava said. “Keeping Northwestern open and engaged with the community is how we deliver public safety to our residents, businesses, students and faith communities.”
LaCava said he was shocked when he heard about the proposed closure, and that $1.7 million in savings in an over $2 billion budget could not justify the direct and indirect impacts of closing the station. He said before the budget is finalized in June, he believes he can work to “right-size and deliver a balanced budget that works for District 1 and across all neighborhoods.”
Overall, the San Diego Police Department’s budget proposal at $702.3 million is an increase of 4% over the past year. In an ittedly tough budget season, Chief Wahl said the reductions proposed are “far less than originally projected and, most importantly, they protect the core services our community counts on every day” in a city news release.
Other police department cuts include a $3 million reduction in overtime and the elimination of some vacant detective positions and Patrol Operations Division positions that will be absorbed by other divisions.
