SJ Mayoral Debate Highlights Understaffed Police Force After Incident Puts Strain on Department

SJPD officials say one 911 call came at an inopportune time

Some San Jose Police Department officers are making a worried plea after one small emergency put a strain on an overworked department.

It was a 911 call that sent SJPD officers scrambling: a man barricaded inside a home. As this was happening Tuesday, other 911 calls got a delayed response.

The department has fewer than 900 active officers, so when a suspect barricaded himself inside an apartment complex, officers called it the “perfect storm” because it came at the same time as a shift change and required units from all over the city to help. Some police officers told NBC Bay Area numerous other emergency calls, including six downtown, got a delayed response.

“A major incident like this, that essentially wipes out our entire police force, will back up calls for hours and hours and sometimes all day,” said Officer James Gonzales, board member of the San Jose Police Officers' Association.

SJPD officials dispute that assertion and say it did not "wipe out" the force and point out about 33 calls came in during a two-hour period, but no high-priority calls were put off. Officials also said no calls were ignored, but acknowledge the incident put a strain on the force.

“There were 20 officers that were dedicated to this one incident,” SJPD spokesman Albert Morales said. “That’s a significant amount of officers for one situation. It leaves certain parts of the city without police services or limited police services."

The two candidates for mayor of San Jose, speaking to NBC Bay Area ahead of a debate scheduled for Wednesday night, said they know situations like Tuesday’s put staffing right at the top of the debate.

“When you have a major incident in this city, the real question is whether or not there’s enough police officers to cover the neighborhoods and the immediate crisis incident,” candidate Dave Cortese said. “And we think not.”

"I think we all recognize there’s a lot of fear in this city,” candidate Sam Liccardo said. “Residents want solutions, and that’s why I’ve been focused on solutions that can really keep us safer. But it’s important that we focus on the solutions and not the fear-mongering.”

The number of San Jose police officers has dropped by several hundred over the past five years, mainly after a bitter pension fight with the city.

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