Fewer cops on the street means slower response – been there, seen that – today and in the ‘60s.

Following the Manteca Police Department since 1961, I have seen the results of short staffing caused by economic downswings.  For the average citizen it doesn’t seem to matter a whole lot until they desperately need an officer.

We all expect them now – not an hour from now.

It’s not just the citizen who is at risk, but the officers who might find themselves without a backup officer when they are faced with a threatening situation.

Before any potential cuts ordered locally have taken place, one CHP officer found himself in what could have been a bad scene after following a drunken driver off the freeway Sunday night.  The suspected DUI motorist made the officer follow him off the southbound lanes of Highway 99 and into a dark court off of Northwoods and Lovell avenues.   It was something of a tight situation for him.

Alone and without a fellow CHP officer to back him up in the stop,  he called for Manteca PD to send a unit for support although it appeared to be OK to be “code 4”.  Then he said he saw the driver making contact with someone on his cell phone and noticed a small crowd of men coming out of a dark two-story home across the street.  

The officer asked Manteca to up their response to code 3 – red lights and siren.  Problem was it was Sunday night and the department was unexpectedly short-handed and on other calls.  The officer successfully cuffed and placed the suspect in his patrol car as three Manteca officers coming from around the city arrived on the scene.  

It could have been a different outcome – always an actual threat for officers riding along and hoping there will be a backup officer to watch their back .  

Such was the case with CHP officer Earl Scott who made the fatal mistake of stopping a suspect in the northbound lanes around 4 a.m. some three years ago on Highway 99 near Ripon.  He was riding alone and the nearest backup was Ripon Police Department – within minutes.

But the time separation didn’t matter as the suspect shot the officer in the face killing him instantly. He didn’t have time to put out an “officer needs help” radio call. He was by himself without any support except that from a motorist who stopped to investigate.  

CHP today has less than 50 percent of the officers on the road now than they did in 1960 when I first began covering the police beat here at the Bulletin.

Another prime example of the dangers of low police staffing in my memory goes back to 1962 when Manteca Sgt. Leonard Taylor was the only patrolman on the street that fateful Sunday morning.  His only backup was a dispatcher at the police department at the old city hall on Sycamore Avenue.

We lived on Fir Street at the time, and I was alerted to something going on by the shrill scream of a lone siren speeding  down North Street headed west for a frame house in the 100 block of West Stockton Street where Sgt. Taylor had been violently pistol whipped as he entered the home to investigate a domestic violence call.  The female victim had slipped out the back door and called police from a neighbor’s home.  Two burly railroad workers were waiting for the officer when he walked through the front door – he was literally ambushed.

That lone siren came from the unmarked car driven by police Chief Les Howard who was putting out his own “1199” call to other departments that an officer was down.  His response from home was too little, too late as Taylor, who was in critical condition, would spend weeks in the hospital recovering.

When I heard the call I had phoned  dispatch and was told there was an officer in trouble at that residence.  My brother-in-law was visiting from San Diego – a Chula Vista Police officer –and was changing a soiled diaper on his infant son at the time I asked him to go with me.  He said, no, at the moment until I said, “Pete, it’s an officer down, officer needs help call.”   Within moments we were on our way as were other police units in the south county from CHP to Sheriff’s units.  Although we got stopped by a train on Main Street, Pete was one of the first officers on the scene jumping over a hedge with gun in one hand and badge in the other yelling, “police officer.”

Manteca had two police dogs at the time—one canine officer was also quick to respond with the two men being taken into custody with hands and feet bound and placed face down in two Sheriff’s cars.  It was a day that is marked indelibly in my memory – one that I will never forget – one where there was no immediate backup.  

Taylor recovered for the most part and went on to become one of Manteca’s police chiefs.  The beating resulted in partial loss of hearing and eyesight.

Leonard Taylor could have
been killed that morning
It’s something that low staffing promotes when the community sticks its proverbial heads in the sand, thinking we have enough officers to protect the citizenry, and their fellow officers as well.  Wrong! Taylor could easily have been killed that Sunday morning – the CHP officer Sunday night could also have come out the loser not knowing he was being drawn into a potential trap.  
Whether you like cops or not – their theme, their philosophy is to protect and to serve – that’s serving and protecting you and me.  We as a community need to come together and protect our officers – seeing there are enough on the streets not only to protect the citizenry but to protect themselves as well.
In a nutshell I don’t want to see any more officers hurt or killed and I don’t want to see them dying in their 50s because they chose to give of themselves.  It’s obvious to me they actually give of their lives whether it’s a violent death or one caused by constant stress.  All too often I have heard the public remark:  “But, it’s their job – they chose to be a cop.”
In contrast we never hear it said about a soldier’s death or injury that they chose to be in combat.
The average life span of too many police officers ends in their mid-50s.  The reason for this is stress, and stress is born out of not knowing whether your back-up is coming in time or not.  It is also born in the lack of sleep often arresting and booking a drunken driver at the end of shift, having to be in court during their normal sleep period and then going back on the street with only three to five hours of rest.