Sweetwater honors officers, mayor warns city must expand police as housing grows
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Summary
City Hall recognized multiple officers for life‑saving actions and training leadership while commissioners were urged to plan for rising public‑safety needs as several large developments come online; mayor also announced a $320,000 Safe Streets planning grant.
The City of Sweetwater on Dec. 23 honored multiple police officers for lifesaving actions and training work while commissioners discussed the need to increase police staffing to match anticipated population growth.
Deputy Chief Noel Gill introduced Officer Eduardo Demerius as officer of the month for November, noting his more than 20 years of service and work in specialized units. Assistant Chief Frank Fernandez described a Dec. 23 pre‑dawn incident at 400 Southwest 107th Avenue in which officers Rueda, Becker, Staffell and Ogre breached a locked door and pulled a woman away from a balcony, preventing a suicide. "Their willingness to act decisively under pressure and place themselves in harm's way directly prevented the loss of a life," Fernandez said.
The commission later recognized Dennis Colon as officer of the year, citing his work as the department's training coordinator and his leadership on active‑assailant training, certification courses and equipment recertifications.
The awards came as commissioners and the mayor returned to a recurring issue: public‑safety capacity. One commissioner outlined the scale of recent and planned housing development and urged the city to begin budgeting for more officers and support staff now. "Upland has 1,700 units…that is equivalent to about 5,300 residents," the commissioner said. He added, "The national standard for a municipality is having 3.5 police officers for every thousand residents," and urged early budget workshops to address hiring and administrative support needs.
Mayor Sergio Diaz highlighted the department's improvements and told the commission the city is working to negotiate pending contracts and staffing matters with the police association. Diaz also announced the city had been awarded a $320,000 Safe Streets planning grant; he said the planning phase could lead to much larger construction funding in the future and that the city will match a portion of the grant using local transportation funds.
The meeting closed with commissioners and staff agreeing to continue working on contracts and budget timing to align policing capacity with projected population increases.