![\"Police](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/zimmerman1.jpg\")
<\/a>The force was with Hillcrest April 28, as San Diego Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman and her staff descended on the LGBT Center en masse for a town-hall style meeting. With upwards of two-dozen police officers on hand to listen and support their new police chief, Zimmerman addressed a full auditorium.<\/p>\n
Self-professed workaholic Todd Gloria, City Council president and District Three\u2019s representative, introduced San Diego\u2019s new police chief \u2014 the 34th in the City\u2019s history and its first woman \u2014 noting Zimmerman was even more dedicated than he, since she was spending her birthday holding the town hall.<\/p>\n
Not a sports fan himself, Gloria said that Zimmerman, a Cleveland, Ohio native, is \u201cthe world\u2019s biggest Ohio State fan,\u201d her alma mater.
\nZimmerman thanked the packed auditorium for the \u201cfantastic turnout,\u201d noting it \u201creaffirms how committed all of us are and shows all of us care as one community wanting to make things better.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are going to embark on a journey together to make San Diego the safest large city in the nation,\u201d Zimmerman said.<\/p>\n
The new police chief said City law enforcement under her direction is committed to spending \u201cevery single second of every single day\u201d honoring the words written on patrol cars which say, \u201cAmerica\u2019s finest.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThose are not just words, they are our core values,\u201d Zimmerman said, adding that one of her top priorities is to ensure people feel safe wherever they live in San Diego.
\nThe police skipper also pledged openness and transparency and promised to listen as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to hear the community\u2019s concerns about our department either positive or negative,\u201d she said. \u201cWe want to improve our relationship with all our communities.\u201d
\nZimmerman spent more than\u00a0 half an hour fielding audience questions about a plethora of topics, everything from homelessness and racial and gender profiling to texting and distracted driving, bicycle safety and alleged sexual abuses committed recently by police officers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s all about reassuring our public that we are committed to transparency,\u201d Zimmerman answered.
\n\u201cRetention and recruitment of officers,\u201d was Zimmerman\u2019s answer when asked what the biggest challenge was confronting today\u2019s San Diego\u2019s police force, which she noted is going through a huge transition.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlmost half of our officers will be eligible to retire in the next four years,\u201d the police chief said. \u201cHalf of our working patrol officers also have six or fewer years on our department \u2026 in some commands it\u2019s 70 percent.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though she said patrolling the city\u2019s 350-square-mile jurisdiction with approximately 1.23 million people in 130-plus neighborhoods is a monumental task, Zimmerman promised it can be done if \u201cwe all work together as a team.\u201d<\/p>\n
One local resident queried Zimmerman as to why curfew sweeps were only being done in City Heights.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s not true,\u201d she replied. \u201cWe do sweeps in all communities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zimmerman said curfew sweeps are done primarily to \u201cprotect children,\u201d many of whom she said are victims of little or no parental supervision.<\/p>\n
Someone else asked why more wasn\u2019t being done citywide to combat homelessness and drug addiction, noting the two are \u201cintertwined.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe work with a lot of different agencies to provide wrap-around services,\u201d Zimmerman said. \u201cIt\u2019s not a crime to be homeless.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHomelessness is more about being poor than being criminal,\u201d Gloria added, noting a \u201chousing-first approach\u201d is being adopted now by the City toward its homeless population.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou first have to get people stable, and they can\u2019t get stable if they don\u2019t have a place to live, so you have to get them housed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Promoted following former police chief Bill Lansdowne\u2019s resignation in the wake of multiple allegations of sexual misconduct within the department, Zimmerman, a 32-year police veteran, reiterated at the Hillcrest town hall her stance on the recent problems.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose very few who\u2019ve discredited this badge \u2014 we\u2019re not going to tolerate,\u201d she said, adding that a police badge is not merely a piece of polished metal, but a \u201csymbol of service\u201d standing for \u201cintegrity, honesty and professionalism.\u201d<\/p>\n
San Diego\u2019s 34th police chief said she was \u201call for\u201d the use of cameras worn by officers to record police procedures in the interests of maintaining transparency. She also said such cameras not only hold police more accountable for their actions but the public as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve found the demeanor of people toward officers is greatly improved when they know the cameras are on them,\u201d she said. \u201cWe welcome those cameras.\u201d
\nZimmerman then asked the citizens in attendance to \u201cdream big.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cImagine the possibility of all of us, the mayor, the City Council, the city attorney, the police department and our wonderful communities working together to make San Diego the most beautiful city in the world and a place where people can raise their families and play in harmony and safety,\u201d Zimmerman said.<\/p>\n
Following the police chief\u2019s Q&A session, the auditorium crowd stood in unison and sang happy birthday to her.<\/p>\n
Afterwards, Gloria presented the new police chief with cupcakes from Babycakes to celebrate the occasion.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dave Schwab | Uptown News SDPD Chief Shelley Zimmerman holds forum for District Three residents<\/p>","protected":false},"author":840,"featured_media":247289,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"The Center welcomes new police chief","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-247288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/840"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247288\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}