At the end of the day, the City of Lathrop believes it will save millions of dollars over the course of the next 10 years by starting its own police department.
And those savings will only grow as time goes on.
According to a statement that the city released last week on its website, Lathrop is projecting that the pension costs for the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office Sheriff’s pension costs could rise up to 176 percent of salary over the next 10 years – something that the city feels adds to the decision to move in a new direction after 31 years of partnering with the agency to provide policing services to the community.
And a tense exchange at the lectern at a Lathrop City Council meeting last month notwithstanding, the city is grateful for the service that the staff at the sheriff’s office have provided over the years.
“For over three decades, the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Department has provided very good police services to Lathrop. We will always remain grateful for their service to our community and continue to value our relationship with the Department,” the city said in a release posted to its website. “Contracting for police services through the Sheriff’s Department made sense when our city was smaller. However, after 31 years, the world has changed.
“Lathrop is one of the fastest-growing cities in San Joaquin County. We are also the only incorporated city without a police department – cities like Escalon, under one-third the size of Lathrop – already have their own police department.”
One of the ongoing sticking points for the City of Lathrop has been the “start up” costs for hiring a new officer that will be added to the existing roster of sworn personnel assigned to the city.
Those costs, according to the City of Lathrop, are around $355,000 per officer that they add – which comes before any salary and benefits that Lathrop is responsible to pay for. By factoring out the growth that the city projects, and the cost needed to add additional personnel, the city believes that it will save money exponentially over time – even if the startup costs to recruit, hire, and train an entire staff and build the framework for a new department from scratch seems daunting at first.
According to the release, Lathrop is expected to pay $9.1 million for its contracted police services. Under the city’s proposal for next year after the transition occurs, Lathrop expects to have the same number of officers that they have now plus an additional five, two community service officers to support them, and six more non-sworn personnel – adding an additional 13 positions to the existing roster and paying less than they are right now to do so.
“There are many reasons why Lathrop is on sound footing while other cities are faltering,” the release said. “One of the most substantial reasons is our commitment to take bold action when it is in the long-term best interest of our citizens. Now is another one of those times.
“Today, when the City of Lathrop requests an additional sworn officer from the Sheriff’s Department, you – the taxpayer – have to pay $355,000 just to put him or her in a uniform. That is before that officer ever spends a minute patrolling the streets of Lathrop.”
The City of Lathrop is currently recruiting for a Chief of Police that will head up the new department, and the person hired from that search is expected to promptly start filling out the command staff of the new department and begin the hiring process for other sworn personnel.
Lathrop and the consultants they have hired to aid in the transition believe that they will be able to have the department fully operational with no lag in service by the time the city’s contract expires at the end of June in 2022.
To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.
