Baldwin Park police propose two Community Service Officer positions, vehicles and training funding

Baldwin Park Police presented a request to the Stakeholders Oversight Committee on April 8 to fund two full-time Community Service Officer positions and related equipment, including marked midsize pickup trucks, training, radios and in-car and body cameras.

The proposal, explained by the Police Chief during the committee’s new-business presentation, seeks two CSO positions intended primarily to provide visible presence and quality‑of‑life enforcement in city parks, plazas and shopping-center areas while freeing sworn patrol officers to handle emergency calls. The chief said CSOs would take non‑immediate crime reports, perform parking enforcement, assist the homeless outreach/core team and handle some evidence collection; they would be unarmed but equipped with a taser and pepper spray and receive post‑certified arrest training so they can make detentions and some misdemeanor arrests.

The committee’s chair and members pressed staff for details on deployment, training, vehicle choice and budget timing. Committee members asked how…