The City of Ripon will be providing more than just dispatch services for the City of Lathrop when it takes over law enforcement services on July 1.

According to a presentation given to the Lathrop City Council last week, an agreement between the two cities – which already reached an agreement for contract dispatch services – for evidence storage and management is currently in place and staff is being recruited to fill those positions.

The city currently has a total of 24 prospective sworn officers undergoing the background check process – 18 of the 24 needed police officer positions plus all six sergeants, and two commanders. The city has already hired its first ever independent police chief – Raymond Bechler, who served previously a lieutenant at the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office until he was hired by Lathrop – and plans to have all of the non-sworn positions at least posted by the end of January or beginning of February.

The city has already conducted the interviews for a records supervisor and plans on carrying out the interviews for both records assistant positions by the end of this month. Both the management analyst and property and evidence technician positions will be posted by the end of this month as well.

An application is also currently in for the city to be able to participate in the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System – which the presentation said will provide the city with the ability to obtain information from computerized information files held by federal, state, and local agencies.

The city is currently in the process of a minor remodel of the newly-constructed police department in River Islands – which was originally going to be occupied by Lathrop Police Services but has been vacant since it was completed – to “facilitate effective staff utilitzation,” according to the city’s presentation.

Lathrop believes that the move to its own independent police department will save them tens of millions of dollars over the coming decades while at the same time adding more staff than they currently receive under the contract with the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office.

The City of Ripon currently provides dispatch services to the City of Escalon – San Joaquin County’s smallest incorporated city – and is actively working with Lathrop to hire and train the additional personnel necessary to execute the contract.

Communications equipment necessary for the undertaking has already been ordered and is expected to be installed and operational in time to begin training the new personnel before the switch takes place.

To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.