New SJPD Chief To Face Daunting Budget Issues
SAN JOSE (KCBS)- Budget cuts and layoffs are just two of the challenges facing San Jose's next chief of police, who could be named by the beginning of next month.
It's down to Oakland Police Chief Anthony Batts and Acting San Jose Police Chief Chris Moore, who has been part of the San Jose Police Department for 26 years.
Moore said that the next top cop will likely face severe staffing cuts.
KCBS' Mike Colgan Reports:
"Today we're still around the 1,250 level with some retirements in the upcoming weeks," said Moore. "But by the end of the fiscal year, June 30th, we'll be down to roughly just below 1,200 employees. Then, with the potential $30 million in cuts in the next fiscal year, that could bring us down below 1,100, almost down to 1,000."
Moore said that $30 million budget cut will likely mean a high number of layoffs.
"We were hoping not to have to make any layoffs, and accomplish that through attrition, but we just won't have that many people retire to cover all of those cuts," said Moore.
Meanwhile, word that Oakland Police Chief Anthony Batts is considering leaving Oakland for San Jose's top cop job does not come as a surprise to at least one former Bay Area police chief.
Tony Ribera served as San Francisco's chief of police under Mayor Frank Jordan from 1992 to 1996, and is now the Director of the International Institute of Criminal Justice Leadership at the University of San Francisco. He tells KCBS that Batts has had a tough time in Oakland, mostly because of all of the cuts to his department over the past year. Ribera says it seems as if the city of Oakland doesn't support the work Batts is doing there.
"One of the important things to function effectively as leader of any organization is support from your superiors," said Ribera. "And in this case, public service, your superiors are the political leaders."
In Ribera's opinion, should Oakland find itself in need of replacing Batts, they should look within the police department instead of launching a nationwide search. And, he says San Francisco should consider the same strategy as it hunts for a replacement for former Chief George Gascon, who recently became the city's district attorney.
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