Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Safety topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Cotati police chief presents 2024 annual report showing higher arrests, DUI enforcement and low complaint rate
Summary
Police Chief Simmons told the Cotati City Council the department handled 12,610 events in 2024 and saw increases in arrests and DUI enforcement while citizen complaints remained low; councilors asked for more granular SAFE and ALPR data during questions.
Cotati Police Chief Simmons presented the department's 2024 annual report to the Cotati City Council, telling the council the department handled 12,610 events in 2024 — an increase from 11,217 in 2023 — and recorded 557 arrests compared with 382 the year before.
The report, which Simmons said had been presented previously to the newly formed Community Police Advisory Committee on Feb. 27, emphasized a substantial increase in DUI enforcement: the department reported 224 DUI arrests in 2024, including 48 by Officer Cunningham. Simmons said that focus on traffic safety explains much of the rise in arrests and officer-initiated contacts.
The data also showed staffing constraints: with 13 sworn positions and eight civilian staff, the department reported two sworn vacancies and two dispatcher vacancies. Simmons said recruitment continues and that one new officer began training in April.
Why it matters: Council members used the report and follow-up questions to probe resources, civil‑liberty protections and whether new tools are delivering value. The conversation touched on the Police Department’s use of automated license‑plate readers (ALPR), RIPA (Racial and Identity Profiling Act) reporting, the South County SAFE outreach partnership and the department’s low rate of sustained citizen complaints.
Simmons provided additional detail on community collaboration and oversight. He said the department logged 3,269 RIPA stops in 2024 and described how that figure largely reflects traffic stops; roughly 90% of RIPA-recorded stops were traffic stops, Simmons said. On complaints, he said the department handled five complaints in 2024 (three conduct, two procedural), four of which were found unfounded and one sustained for use of unprofessional language; that sustained complaint resulted in counseling.
About police tools and oversight, Simmons said the department deployed four Axon ALPR units in July 2024 and, from that launch through year end, recorded one direct recovery of a stolen vehicle tied to an ALPR alert. He told the council the department does not currently participate in broader data‑sharing networks that provide real‑time cross‑jurisdictional alerts, and that limits the system’s local effectiveness. “We don’t have a ticket to the party,” he said, describing missed opportunities when neighboring agencies share plate data that Cotati cannot access.
Simmons outlined use‑of‑force reporting practices and numbers: the department records any display or deployment of force and reported 35 use‑of‑force incidents (45 total times force was recorded), a figure Simmons said includes display incidents and multiple officers or techniques used in single events. He also noted there were no incidents meeting the California DOJ database threshold (fatality or serious bodily injury) in 2024.
On alternatives to policing, Simmons described the South County SAFE team’s role in responding to unhoused people and behavioral‑health calls, reporting SAFE had 326 activities in 2024 with police assistance requested in 58 instances; in the majority of SAFE responses the team handled matters without police involvement, he said.
Council and public follow-up: Council members pressed for more granular SAFE data and trend charts rather than single‑year snapshots. Councilmember Sparks asked whether the records system could report whether officers issue verbal warnings or citations by perceived race; Simmons said that query may require case‑by‑case review of incident entries and flagged the need to examine patterns alongside complaints and use‑of‑force data to detect problematic trends. Vice Mayor Lemus and others asked for additional detail on how police coordinate with bars and businesses on preventing impaired driving.
Public comment raised safety and traffic concerns in specific neighborhoods and urged continued community outreach. Multiple council members asked staff to return with more multi‑year trend lines and deeper SAFE breakdowns if the council wants an annual joint SAFE‑police briefing.
Ending: Simmons asked for continued community engagement and noted department priorities for 2025 include recruitment and retention, enhanced supervision training, emergency operations preparedness and continued SAFE partnership work.
