Manteca could have four more police officers in the form of a dedicated gang unit on the streets within months.
And - in a little more than a year - Manteca could have a fourth fire station up and running complete with staffing.
It is part of a far-reaching public safety initiative being presented by City Manager Karen McLaughlin to the City Council when they meet today at 2 p.m. for budget workshop in chambers at the Civic Center, 1001 W. Center St.
McLaughlin is proposing accessing the $8.1 million Public Safety Endowment Fund to:
• hire three new gang detectives and a supervising sergeant at an initial annual cost of $591,000.
• loan the fire facilities account $1.3 million to provide the balance of the funding need to build a fourth fire station on Lathrop Road west of Union Road and to get it operating in the 2013-14 fiscal year.
• complete the 12-man staffing needed to man the fourth station 24/7 at an annual cost of $125,000.
If the council opts for the complete package, the endowment account would be down to $2.6 million by June 30, 2016. At that time the funding of the gang unit and additional firefighters would be re-evaluated. Staff said property and sales tax may rebound enough by then to take over funding of the positions.
The endowment fund currently pays for two of the 55 Manteca police officers using primarily earned intereston the $8.1 million. An additional 11 officers are funded with Measure M sales tax. The number of Manteca’s 55 officers paid with Measure M sales tax receipts will go up to 15 when a federal grant expires next year. Forty-two officers have their salaries and benefits paid out of the general fund.
Council members , alarmed by an upswing in gang violence including a six-day period earlier this month when seven people were shot including two critical in four separate shootings, instructed McLaughlin to scour the budget for funds that could possibly be harnessed to hire more police. Due to the budget crisis the Manteca Police force was slashed from 72 to 55 officers in 2009 resulting in the gang unit being merged with the narcotics unit into one streets crime unit. It was done in a bid to keep the number of patrol officers on the street in marked vehicles unchanged.
How the endowment fund came into being
The Public Safety Endowment Fund was created in mutual agreement with Pulte Homes - developers of Del Webb at Woodbridge - Atherton Homes, and the City of Manteca. Pulte Homes doesn’t pay any growth-related fees or taxes for schools since they are age-restricted. At the same time Atherton Homes sweetened their development agreement to get several of their projects moving. The only restriction was that the money had to be used exclusively for public safety purposes.
Pulte Homes and Atherton Homes are the only developers that paid the public safety endowment fees that averaged $8,000 per house built.
The council at the time opted only to hire personnel from the interest. Currently, two police officers have most of their salary and benefits covered from interest on the original $8.4 million. That interest, though, peaked at $430,788 in 2009-09 and dropped off to $126,215 in 2010-11 due to lower rates.
What dedicated gang unit would do
Police Chief Nick Obligacion has indicated a reconstituted gang unit would be committed to a number of short- and long-term goals including:
• Identifying and prosecuting offenders.
• Introduction of the gang unit to area gangs.
• Identify new gang members and update current files.
• Develop a working relationship with outside agencies.
• Provide ongoing gang training for unit members.
• Development of informants.
• Establish a Top 10 list of the most active and dangerous gang members.
• Speaking in schools, teaching children about the danger sofa gangs.
• Utilizing community programs to help curb gang violence. Such groups include but aren’t limited to Neighborhood Watch groups, church groups, PTAs, and service clubs.
The documentation of new gang members and updating current files is a critical element in getting gang members once they are arrested off the streets for long periods of time. Documented gang members face automatic enhanced sentencing once they are convicted under California law.
A prime example was a 20-something gang member back five years ago who flagged down a taxi cab and did a drive-by shooting where no one was hit.
After he was convicted, he received a 20-year prison sentence despite it being his first offense and no one being hurt. If he had not been documented, the most he could have received was several years in prison - if that.
Move would improve fire, medical response
Pulte Homes has already provided the city with land to build a fourth fire station across the street from Raley’s Superstore on Lathrop Road.
The city is currently negotiating the sale of the old Carpenter’s Hall at Union Road and Louise Avenue they bought a few years back for possible conversion to a fire station. With the proceeds from that sale plus what fire facility fees have been collected from growth there would be a $1.3 million shortfall of the $3.57 million needed to build the station.
McLaughlin is proposing that the $1.3 million be loaned from the Public Safety Endowment Fund and paid back as fire fees are collected on new homes that are built.
The city a few years ago added partial staffing for a second engine company housed at the Union Road station - the 100-foot aerial platform company.
That company was cannibalized to keep staffing at a minimum of three firefighters per engine per shift at the city’s three fire stations when cutbacks through retirements cost the city firefighter positions.
Fire Chief Kirk Waters has indicated an additional $125,000 a year coupled with existing staffing would allow a fourth station to be staffed by effectively resurrecting the fourth engine company. It takes 12 freighters to staff an engine company 24/7 over the course of the year.
In addition, the city would incur $40,000 in additional annual operating costs for a fourth station.
The Lathrop Road fire station assures Manteca will be putting resources where they are needed.
When built, the Lathrop Road station will bring thousands of homes in northwest Manteca under the targeted five-minute response time umbrella for emergency fire and medical services plus provide coverage for the Center Point business park going in east of the Union Pacific intermodal yard.
The five-minute response time is a mantra for those who make a living putting out fires and responding to heart attacks.
Having firefighters and equipment on the scene of a fire or medical emergency within five minutes is essential for two reasons:
• The chance of surviving a heart attack or major trauma starts dropping off rapidly after five minutes.
• “Flash over” when fires literally erupt occur within five minutes of the first visible flame.
It sounds like a lot of time, but it really isn’t. The first two and a half minutes are consumed by a call being placed, equipment dispatching and the engine actually rolling out of a fire station.
That leaves 180 seconds for firefighters to reach a structure fire or a major medical emergency.
