A San Jose pilot program aimed at improving police safety is creating issues for a department already stretched thin, the police union said.
The city said the program, which calls for two officers to be a single unit in one patrol car, is intended to reduce delays and improve efficiency. The pilot launched last month and is in its third week.
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WATCH HERE"It's a recipe for disaster as we head into the summer months," said Steve Slack, a San Jose police sergeant and president of the San Jose Police Officers Association.
The union said with the pilot program up and running, there are fewer patrol cars on the street and 911 calls are backing up.
Slack said an example of less police units on the streets is a neighborhood may have eight officers assigned, but only four patrol cars in service. Calls for police service are now piling up and sometimes carry over into the next shift, according to the union.
"When they log on there's at least a handful of calls per district that the last shift wasn't able to get to due to the call volume," Slack said.
Residents who spoke to NBC Bay Area on Monday had mixed reaction to the program and the problem.
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"There's less patrol cars for us, but more safety for them, which just means more longevity for our cops, but also potentially less eyes on the street," said Laura Silva, a Willow Glen resident. "So it's just a balance for both."
The San Jose Police Department said it welcomes any data to support a thorough evaluation of the pilot program's impact.
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SIGN UP It issued the following statement: “Change naturally brings questions, but this six-month pilot is focused on exploring ways to improve response times by pairing officers who are already required to respond together to most calls. Placing them in the same unit from the outset is intended to reduce delays and improve efficiency. As we continue through the early stages of the pilot, SJPD actively welcomes any available statistical data to support a thorough evaluation of its impact.”
But the police union points to a 360-page report paid for by the city last August, which noted the department does not have enough officers to double up.
There are roughly 80 officers across the city on every shift in San Jose, which has a population of nearly a million people.
The union also said it does not believe the plan allows officers the time to do community policing.
"You go out on the front end of crimes before they happen, meeting with residents, meeting with business owners in the district, and schools," Slack said. "It prevents some of those calls that do come in if you can be out there proactively in the neighborhood."
