Charlie Halford’s philosophy toward public safety is being reflected in Manteca’s municipal policy decisions.

And if you are a taxpayer that wants maximum bang for the dollar, that’s a good thing.

Halford is in his fifth year as a Manteca City Council member.

He ran for office in 2020 after ending 32-year career with the Manteca Police Department where he rose through the ranks to end up as police chief.

Halford made it clear when he was running — and after he was elected — that despite the rhetoric and posturing over the years among elected officials and municipal management alike, public safety was never as big of a priority as claimed.

He can back that up from the fact in 1976 when he was hired Manteca Police Department’s “new” patrol vehicles where used CHP vehicles that arrived with excess of 90,000 miles on them to the fact for 22 years councils repeatedly asserted a modern police station that wasn’t sticking detectives into office space in converted closets was a priority.

Now, he believes Manteca is headed in the right direction.

*Manteca is moving forward to break ground on a new police station on South Main Street.

*Design work is underway for a sixth fire station.

*Three sorely needed replacement frontline fire engines are in the process of being prepared for delivery to the city.

*Nearly two dozen new police vehicles — marked patrol units, traffic enforcement motorcycles, and other support vehicles — have been ordered.

*Manteca has 80 police officers with three more on the way this fiscal year.

*Voter passage of both Measure M in 2006 and Measure Q in 2024 are helping address public safety personnel and equipment needs.

Halford indicated the goal of 1 officer per 1000 residents — a concept that is not etched in official recommended policing standards — is not necessarily something Manteca should aim to obtain.

Do not misunderstand Halford.

“We still need more officers to respond to violent crime,” the councilman said.

But as a councilman who delves into the weeds when it comes to how dollars are spent to get the best outcome just as he did when he was police chief, Halford wants effective policing first and foremost.

Simply adding 13 officers, assuming Manteca could afford an additional annual outlay in excess of $3.5 million, might not get the maximum return for each dollar spent.

If the city, as an example, were to hire “x” community service officers at a lower cost to perform duties that did not require highly trained and higher paid police officers it would free up officers in the field.

It is no different when, he was in police administration he rolled out new initiatives such as in-patrol laptops to reduce report writing time. The less time writing reports, the more time officers gave to patrol.

Halford gets that since it takes money to pay for new officers and such and that there are competing interests for what dollars the city has.

It is why over his tenure as a council member he has made an effort to explain the dollars and sense when it comes to funding city services.

In the lead up to the decision to place Measure Q on the ballot, he gathered data on general fund per capita spending nearby cities pay for day-to-day services.

Manteca was at $550 per capita, almost $200 less than Lathrop. Tracy and Lodi, comparable cities to Manteca, were both at nearly $850.

 “You get what you pay for,” Halford said at the time.

Passage of Measure Q is significantly changing Manteca’s ability to finance the city’s basic needs.

It is reflected in the council’s commitment to use the initial inflow of Measure Q funds to bring frontline public safety response vehicles up to par.

Halford understands the consequences that could happen without adequate manpower and safety equipment.

As a police officer who was first on the scene when the Waukeen Hotel on the northwest corner of Sycamore and Yosemite avenues caught on fire in the early 1980s, he wasted no time in commandeering a ladder to rescue a child and then a woman from a burning second-floor unit.

One person died in the fire.

Halford, by chance, had served as a firefighter with what was then the Manteca Lathrop Rural Fire District before being hired as a Manteca Police officer.

Halford led the council charge to use leftover COVID federal pass through funds once pandemic expenses and revenue losses the city incurred, to acquire license plate readers at multiple intersections.

They have been instrumental in helping police solve felony crimes, apprehend those driving stolen vehicles, and addressing other crimes.

Halford noted that investing tax dollars in retrofitting streets to reduce dangerous driving habits and reduce accidents is no different than reducing crime by environmental design measures.

Posting a police officer day and night in an accident prone stretch such as North Main between Alameda Street and Northgate Drive is not only cost prohibitive but it also wouldn’t reduce the accident rate as effectively as changes now underway such as the median with pedestrian fencing and turn lanes.

Halford’s comments at Tuesday’s council meeting regarding improvements to the municipal golf course driving range underscores his emphasis on public safety.

When he was told it would take up to six months to make the changes to reduce errant golf balls raining down on the nearby homes at a rate in excess of a hundred a month including one that was a direct hit on a woman that sent her to the emergency room, Halford asked why.

He was told there was other pressing golf course projects ahead of it.

Halford, inferring safety should always be the top priority, was able to get his colleagues to agree it would be the city’s priority project at the golf course.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com