Arrests down due to lack of officers

The number of arrests, traffic stops and citations in Petaluma have plummeted recently, but that may not be as great as it sounds. It's due, at least in part, to the cash-strapped city having fewer police officers on the street.

Arrests decreased by a little over 40 percent in the last five years, dwindling from a high of 4,328 in 2007 to a low of 2,548 in 2011, according to police department statistics.

"Arrests are absolutely down due to a lack of officers," said Interim Police Chief Dan Fish, noting that the police department has lost 27 positions, 13 of them police officers, over the last three years. With a reduced police force, officers must spend more time responding to emergency calls, so they have less time to actively look for lawbreakers.

"Instead of being in a proactive mode, we're in a defensive, reactionary mode," Fish said, adding that the department has had to reduce positions that help prevent crime, like targeted gang enforcement and school resource officers.

David Swim, a retired police captain who teaches police administration at California State University Sacramento, noted that this is happening in many California cities with shrinking budgets.

"Lots of cities are struggling with this - how do we best use the public money and how do we best allocate police resources to meet the needs of the community," he said.

"When you don't have resources, police chiefs have to decide, &‘what do I have to do, and what do I want to do.'

But just because fewer arrests are being made doesn't mean there's less crime occurring, Swim said, adding that having fewer officers on the street can lead to more crime as lawbreakers feel less vulnerable.

But Fish denied that this is the case so far in Petaluma, saying that the department has managed to maintain a strong police presence on the streets despite its diminished manpower.

"We're doing a good job of allocating our resources," he said, but pointed to the fact that he might lose more police officers next year as the City seeks to balance its budget. "If (staff) cuts continue to happen, crime will flourish more in the community."

Traffic stops and citations also decreased dramatically last year: In 2007, officers made a total of 20,405 traffic stops, according to police traffic statistics. Last year, the department made just 13,131, or about 36 percent less. Citations have decreased too. In 2007, the department issued 9,031 citations, which shrank about 30 percent to 6,253 in 2011.

But Fish was quick to say that the decline in traffic citations is also a function of the traffic team's heightened efforts to prevent drunk driving and other traffic violations from happening in the first place.

"I look at the loss of officers as a very negative thing, but there's also a positive element to these numbers," he said. "Over the last several years, our traffic division has done some remarkable work with grants and enforcement (targeting) high collision areas," he said. "I think Petaluma is becoming known as an area where you have to obey the law."

(Contact Jamie Hansen at jamie.hansen@argus courier.com)