Get AI Briefings, Transcripts & Alerts on Local & National Government Meetings — Forever.
Police report cites reforms after 2025 assessment, lingering vacancies and Prop P funding shifts
Summary
Chief Brinkley and deputies summarized a 2025 operational assessment and reforms (pursuit policy tightening, early warning for use-of-force, evidence-room upgrades), reported clearance rates above national average, and discussed staffing: the department is budgeted for 231 sworn positions and reported roughly 24–29 vacancies; oversight committees described how Prop P/Prop PD revenues are being applied to wages, equipment and hires.
Chief Brinkley presented the results of a 2025 operational assessment by the Legal and Liability Risk Management Institute and outlined department changes aimed at accountability, transparency and legal defensibility. "We convene a working group to review and revise our pursuit policy, and we really emphasize on restricting pursuits for low level offense," Brinkley said, describing updated supervisor oversight and automatic termination of pursuits if supervisory contact is not made.
Brinkley described a new early warning trigger for use-of-force reviews: "If one single officer has four or more uses of force in one quarter, we'll get alert on that," he said, and said after-action reviews now require more-detailed narrative about why force was used.
Deputy Chief Michelle Somstead highlighted operational statistics and staffing: investigations handled nearly 4,000 assigned cases with a roughly 61% clearance rate, above a cited national average of 40%. She said the department was budgeted for 231 sworn officers and was currently short "somewhere between 24 and 29" vacancies across sworn roles, with about 25 civilian vacancies as well. On drug enforcement, Somstead reported, "203 grams of fentanyl that was seized," noting that figure applied to investigations only.
Members of the Public Safety Tax Oversight Committee described how Prop P and related funds are being used. Bruce Frakes said staff and the committee continue to monitor revenue and expenditures and cited fund balances and pending transfers for capital projects and staffing. City staff explained that Prop PD and the sales tax generate roughly $6 million a year and that early salary increases consumed a substantial portion of initial revenues.
Council members asked for further breakdowns of which positions are funded by Prop P and which remain general-fund responsibilities; staff offered to provide more detailed budget and staffing tables at follow-up budget briefings. No formal actions were taken during the study session.
