The city is taking steps to secure its police officers at a time when hundreds are leaving due to low salaries, Mayor Jerry Sanders said Thursday, Feb. 15, at a La Jolla public safety forum held in response to the recent Rady home invasion.
Residents filled the La Jolla Recreation Center to voice concerns to Sanders, as well as City Council President Scott Peters and Capt. Boyd Long of the San Diego Police Department’s Northern Division, about an understaffed police department and an increase in speeding and other crimes such as gang robberies and vandalism in the community.
“I’m here to tell you how safe La Jolla is and how safe San Diego is,” Sanders reassured the audience. “But when you have a crime like this one ” your house or your car broken into ” all of a sudden it doesn’t feel like that.”
Sanders, who was referring to the Feb. 6 incident when the Prestwick Drive home of billionaire Ernest Rady was taken over for more than five hours by a man who claimed to be a delivery person, said the city is engaged in salary negotiations with police officers.
San Diego is the furthest behind in the region when it comes to police officers’ net pay and has seen a decline in candidates for public safety positions, which may mean officers are applying to other regions that offer more competitive pay, Sanders said.
“We will do whatever we can to keep officers here,” the mayor said. “It’s a market issue ” when you have a short supply of something you need to pay more, and we want to retain this public safety staff.”
But in light of the Rady invasion ” in which the suspect barged inside the couple’s home, immobilized Mrs. Rady and the house maid with duct tape and later used a stun, or Taser, gun against Mr. Rady ” several residents said they feared a shortage of officers in La Jolla could result in decreased response times and unattended incidents.
One resident confirmed with Long that approximately two officers per day are assigned to patrol La Jolla “” a number some residents said they think is too low.
The Northern Division has 39 officers and distributes them equally throughout a large number of communities, including Mission Beach, Pacific Beach, University City and Carmel Valley, Long said.
He added that all of the 39 officers are always on hand to respond to another community for back-up in case of emergency.
Peters said he tried to obtain additional law enforcement for La Jolla in the past but was unsuccessful, partly because the community has a lower crime rate than others in the region.
Joe Dicks, a resident who lives along Mount Soledad Road, complained of speeding in his neighborhood and asked if additional officers could be implemented to monitor the situation until a traffic-calming project could be established.
The police department does not have enough staff to provide officers whose main job is to monitor speed along roadways, both Long and Peters said. It is important for every motorist to be mindful of his or her speed and remind neighbors to do the same, according to Peters.
Several residents spoke to the lack of lighting along certain streets in La Jolla, which Peters explained is because some homeowners request less lighting to give their neighborhood a country feel.
Alaleh Miremadi, a resident in the Montoro gated housing community on Calle del Oro, told audience members that many houses inside the development, including her own, have been experiencing excessive vandalism due to inadequate lighting.
When Miremadi’s garage was broken into and property was stolen from her car, police from the Northern Division responded promptly and ultimately caught the suspects, who left the scene in a vehicle headed down Highway 52.
Residents in Miremadi’s development, and others that have poor lighting, should request installation of more lighting devices from their homeowners association or from the city.
Long, joined by Capt. Mary Cornicelli of the robbery division, also provided tips for people to protect themselves from being a victim of a crime such as the Rady home invasion.
Keeping windows and doors locked, even while residents are at home, as well as being wary of door-to-door solicitors and installing peepholes and chain protectors on doors, are ways to increase safety, according to Long and Cornicelli.
Home invasion crimes are rare in San Diego, with fewer than 100 per year that occur within the city, Cornicelli said. Fifty percent of crimes in the La Jolla area are car burglaries, followed closely by car thefts, according to Long.
People should make sure they are not an easy target by always locking their vehicle’s doors, keeping windows up and not leaving any valuables in open sight within the vehicle, Long said, adding that a group of retired senior volunteer police (RSVPs) in each community were randomly filling out report cards on vehicles parked within the neighborhood to inform motorists on whether they are easy or hard targets for robbery.
RSVPs are also being mobilized in many communities to monitor speeding on neighborhood streets by using a radar gun and listing license plate numbers of motorists using excessive speed. The list is then turned over to the police station so that it can issue a warning letter to offenders, Long said.
“We do not ever want you to think that the cops are too busy to respond,” the captain said, encouraging people to report any unusual vehicles or people in their neighborhood. “You need to hold my feet to the fire. If we aren’t doing something, you need to let me know. We want to make the community a safer place, but we need your help.”
For more information, visit www.sandiego.gov/police.