Sonoma Police report: calls and enforcement down from 2019; 2024 had 6,705 calls for service

Sonoma's police chief presented the department's 2024 public-safety numbers at the April 20 council meeting, reporting 6,705 calls for service last year, 137 adult arrests, four juvenile arrests booked, and an average Priority 1 (emergency) response time of about 5 minutes, 29 seconds.

Chief Cutting told the council that calls for service have declined from a pre-pandemic peak: 2019 recorded 9,965 calls for service, the chief said, when the department also had higher staffing levels including a K-9 officer, a full-time traffic-safety position and a school-resource officer. Deputy-initiated activity also declined, he reported; officer-initiated calls were about 36% of the total in 2024 compared with roughly 42% in 2019.

Traffic enforcement in 2024 included 823 traffic stops, 108 citations and 541 warnings; there were 32 DUI arrests. The chief said the department wrote fewer parking citations downtown in 2024 than in 2023 because staff had shifted emphasis away from single-visit tourist parking enforcement toward repeat and higher-priority violations, and instead issued more warnings downtown. Animal-control calls handled by the department remained roughly steady, he said.

On arrests, Cutting said 137 adults were booked in 2024 (27 were cited in lieu of booking), four juveniles were booked and juveniles were more often cited than arrested for lower-level offenses. He explained some juvenile arrests are mandated by law (for example, certain weapons or domestic incidents at school). "A majority of the arrests that are being made on juveniles are mandated by law," Cutting said. He also described school-based coordination by the department's community-resource officer.

Council members questioned the chief about the effects of reduced community-service staffing (the city moved from two to one community-service officer) and the department's partnership with the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office for mutual aid; Cutting said affiliations with the county reduce gaps when city deputies are on calls.

The chief said, based on the data, he did not recommend staffing changes for the coming fiscal year and described the department as "sufficiently staffed" to meet current needs, given the sheriff's office mutual-aid relationship.

Ending: Council thanked the chief for the briefing and asked for the missing 2021 traffic enforcement figures to be provided; the chief said he would supply additional detail on request.