Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Safety topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Menlo Park chief outlines crime trends, requests staffing assessment as council backs data-driven approach
Summary
Police Chief Dave Norris told council that violent crime is down about 20% and property crime about 14% since 2022 but response times have lengthened as patrol capacity tightened. He asked the council to support a formal staffing and deployment assessment, stronger recruitment and sustained tech investments; council members expressed unanimous support for further study.
Police Chief Dave Norris briefed the Menlo Park City Council on May 12 about recent crime trends, response times and technology, asking the council for direction on staffing, recruitment and targeted technology investments.
Norris said violent crime is down roughly 20% and property crime down about 14% since 2022. He said total burglaries have fallen over several years and vehicle burglaries are down about 74% since 2023, but that residential burglaries remain a highly visible and traumatic concern: “Residential burglaries are personal—57 in 2024 and 59 in 2025, with a January–February spike we continue to monitor,” Chief Norris said.
The chief acknowledged overall response times have increased about 45% since 2022 but noted Priority 1 emergency response times have remained relatively flat. He told the council that the department is authorized for 47 sworn positions but currently staffs about 41, with recruits in training. He recommended a formal staffing and deployment assessment to determine whether current shift patterns and staffing levels meet community expectations.
Norris described technology and program advances the department has deployed, including body-worn cameras, in-car dash cameras, upgraded radios, mobile CCTV trailers and automated license-plate readers (ALPRs). He said ALPR audits show 99.97% compliance in more than 14,000 internal searches and noted independent audits by neighboring agencies to bolster transparency. “From a 15-case sample, we saw stolen vehicles recovered, wanted persons arrested and a missing juvenile located safely,” he said, citing examples of investigative value.
Public commenters expressed support and caution. Maya Sewald of Sharon Heights praised the department’s visible saturation patrols and urged more officers on patrol. Pam D. Jones said new technologies can be helpful but urged care on drones, AI and privacy protections and asked for periodic community reassurance about the use of military equipment and surveillance tools.
Council members pressed for operational detail and agreed on several next steps: provide a schedule and scope for a staffing and deployment assessment, report back on SEPTED home-safety assessment availability for residents, catalog ALPR audit cadence and data-sharing practices, and track impacts and funding for the mental-health clinician embedded in patrol responses. Vice Mayor Jennifer Wise and other councilmembers supported strengthening recruitment, selection and field training to improve the hiring-to-retention pipeline.
Chief Norris said many responses will be administrative or study items and that the department will return with proposed scopes, potential costs and regular data updates. “Public safety is a partnership between this council, our staff and the community,” he said. The council did not take formal action tonight; members signaled unanimous support to move forward with detailed assessments and return with more precise recommendations.
