Emeryville police chief reports falling crime, expanded camera and grant use; staffing and tech needs flagged

Chief Jennings presented the Emeryville Police Department's 2024 annual report to the City Council on April 15, saying overall crime has fallen and most incidents are property-related.

The report matters because it frames enforcement priorities, budget and staffing decisions and planned technology investments that could affect residents, businesses and development projects in the city.

Jennings told the council the department's work focuses on reducing crime and the fear of crime through increased staffing, strategic enforcement, grant-funded operations and community engagement. "I appreciate the fact that I have a council that has given us the tools and the support to do what we've done," Jennings said. She said 85% of the city's reported crime is property crime and that violent crime rates remain low compared with regional partners.

Jennings said the department has used automated license-plate readers (ALPRs, described in the presentation as "flock cameras") to target vehicles linked to crimes. She said the system scanned 2,000,000 license plates in a recent period and that the department received alerts tied to hundreds of vehicles, including about 20 associated with felony-level offenses. Those figures, Jennings said, covered the months after the cameras reached full automation in October and were provided to illustrate early effects of the system.

On use-of-force and accountability, Jennings said that less than 0.4% of calls for service involve force and described the department's internal affairs and policy-review processes. "Every time that we do an internal affairs complaint, we look at it from top to bottom," she said, adding sustained findings are most often for policy violations that are not related to violence or malice.

The chief highlighted staffing gains and attrition: the department reached full staffing in October but later saw losses through retirements, injuries and some departures. She said the department increased training by roughly 5,000 hours since she took office and has expanded recruitment to increase diversity; Jennings said female sworn representation has risen to 19% and she intends to pursue the National Chiefs of Police' 30 on 30 initiative to reach 30%.

Jennings outlined other operational numbers presented to council: about 38,000 calls for service, roughly 4,000 reports generated, a large property-and-evidence booking workload handled largely by one staff member, and notable increases in traffic enforcement (a 27% increase in stops and a 70% increase in moving-violation citations, per the report). She said one parking-enforcement officer position remains vacant.

On grants and equipment, Jennings said the department had pursued multiple grants and had obtained about $452,000 in grant funding over the past four years for equipment and programs, and she said staff is seeking additional grant support to offset the cost of ALPRs. Asked by council members whether there were grants available to fund radio encryption required by August, Jennings said she had asked state legislators but had not identified a grant for encryption; she said staff are pursuing grant funding for additional cameras.

Council members praised community outreach cited in the report, including National Night Out, holiday drives and other in-person engagement events. During questioning members asked about making ALPR and other statistics available; Jennings said the department intends to include data in the Public Safety Committee materials and the city's transparency portal once it is live.

Jennings also said a staffing and organizational assessment will be delivered in the fall to examine BEAT structure, a new CAD (computer-aided dispatch) system and calls-for-service trends, and the council will consider a staff report on a proposed drone program limited initially to reconstruction and emergency operations rather than drone first-responder deployment.

The council did not take action on the report; discussion was for review and questions.

Ending: The council thanked Jennings and directed staff to continue providing monthly public safety committee updates; the department will return with staff reports on drones, the organizational assessment in the fall and continued transparency-portal data updates.