Seven Manteca citizens weighed in Wednesday on what’s right — and what’s wrong — with Manteca when it comes to law enforcement.

It’s part of an effort to determine what level of service the city should work toward when it comes to the Manteca Police Department.
As such, the overall look at the department by an outside consulting firm — that included the “community focus group” input — could be used to determine the best use of police funding.

One example is whether it may make more sense to strengthen the  ranks of community service officers that could, in turn free up existing sworn positions as well as police officers added in the future to devote more time to community policing.

It could mean if there is funding for $750,000 on a reoccurring basis available, committing it to two police officer positions and two community service officer positions instead of  three police officers that the end result could be more effective policing aligned to what the community wants and needs.

Input from seven participants indicated Manteca Police:

*have become more transparent through social media postings and sharing updates on major incidents such as the officer involved shooting earlier this year at In-n-Out Burger.

*generally do an effective job at addressing crime overall.

*interact fairly well with the community but even more is needed.

*need to step up traffic enforcement.

*up until lately, have had insufficient patrol vehicles due to breakdowns forcing officers to double up in one car during a shift therefore reducing coverage.

*need to have more sworn officers that are dedicated to no more than two tasks such as the detective dedicated to handling retail crime efforts.

*need to have more officers on patrol and assigned to specific beats that would allow to build relationships with community members, including teens.

*are, like other law enforcement agencies, dealing with what seems to be a large number of people who have disregard for others whether they are driving or how they conduct themselves.

*are working in an era when there is less consequences for committing crimes with the group noting the closure of California Youth Authority facilities and state prisons.

*have done a good job addressing homeless issues despite being handicapped by the loss of state mental hospitals.
*need to step up the use of police volunteers through groups such as Seniors Helping Area Residents and Police.

At the same time several of the attendees noted they:

*feel generally safe in their homes.

*see substance abuse and the homeless as big concerns.

*feel suspectable to misdemeanor property crimes such as thefts from yards.

*want more resources committed to addressing traffic violations.

*don’t feel safe at night on city streets with the notation they do if they are in their cars except for the concern they might hit someone on a bicycle that has no light and the rider is wearing black while darting in and out of traffic.

The Meliora consulting firm will also spend time on ride-a-longs as well as pour over data from 2023 and 2024.

The data will allow them to make conclusions about response time and how much time officers have available for community policing as compared to responding to calls for service.

It was noted there is “hidden” time consumed such as the “paperwork” load increase now required by the State of California whenever an officer initiates a traffic stop,

The data collected is used by the state to determine if officers are “profiling” those they stop.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com