To free up patrol officers’ time, the report recommended the department send non-sworn, civilian police staff to respond to more calls — like parking complaints, theft reports, missing person reports and burglaries that are not in progress. 

An analysis of call types found that about 8% of all calls for service could go to civilian staff, and to cover those calls the department would need to hire two non-sworn staff. 

Santa Cruz police and other agencies have automated theft reports and have non-sworn staff perform other duties. 

Watsonville police spent about 32% of total employee hours not responding to calls, and the report suggested about 45% of police officers’ time should be spent proactively.

Hiring recommendations

Several hiring recommendations were made by the report’s authors to improve the proactivity level:

• Traffic: Add four sworn traffic officers, one crash investigator and one civilian supervisor.

• Patrol: Add one patrol officer and two non-sworn civilian responders.

• Professional Standards: Add one training officer.

• Special Operations: Add one detective.

• Management: Reduce captains from four to two, add four lieutenants and one mid-management position.

The consultants also recommended that Watsonville police add 10 officers and 4.5 civilian positions by 2034 to keep up with city development. There are about 75 sworn and 30 non-sworn staff at Watsonville police now.

“Some of the recommendations were already implemented during the study,” said Watsonville Police Capt. Michael McKinley. He said there were 13 officers in training to fill vacancies throughout the department. Police are not asking for more city money, he added. 

“We’ve made great strides in hiring. We only have two vacancies right now,” said McKinley.

A consultant’s report shows that when not responding to calls, Watsonville police often conduct traffic stops and follow-ups. (Matrix Consulting Group)

Except for Wednesday on which all officers work, Watsonville police officers are typically responding to calls and have little time to be proactive. (Matrix Consulting Group)

Most calls for service in Watsonville are for “quality of life” issues such as disturbing the peace, medical response and suspicious activity, said Brady. (Matrix Consulting Group)

“We’ve had an issue with having vacant positions, and a lot of them,” said Watsonvile CIty Councilmember Jimmy Dutra, at Tuesday’s meeting. More overtime is required when there are vacancies, which costs money. 

“When the study began, we had one officer dedicated to traffic,” said Watsonville City Manager Tamara Vides. “Today, as we sit in this chamber, we have one sergeant, two officers and two more coming to our traffic unit.”

The consultant’s report was commissioned to fulfill a Measure Y oversight requirement that the City of Watsonville obtain a third party assessment of police needs every 10 years. Measure Y was a half-cent sales tax adopted in March 2020 to help fund police, fire and community services.

Calls for police transparency

In 2021, a Watsonville Ad-Hoc Committee on Policing and Social Equity report called for increased oversight and transparency of Watsonville police, as well as more training for mental health crisis response. In 2022, Watsonville Police created a Multi-Disciplinary Team to support residents with crime-related trauma. 

McKinley said the staffing assessment fulfilled one of the recommendations by the 2021 committee to gauge whether current funding levels meet community needs. The committee  suggested that some police funds could be “restructured either within the department itself or to other programs in the city budget.”

Watsonville police have operated a Crisis Assessment Response and Engagement (CARE) program in partnership with the county since 2016. It has paired officers with a county mental health clinician to respond to calls involving mental health crises, but the position is unstaffed, the report stated.

“Programs like CARE are essential for police operations and community outreach,” according to the report. “Therefore, this position should be filled as soon as staffing permits.” Once staffed, it should be evaluated for effectiveness.

Nearly 70% of officers surveyed in the report said they disagreed with the statement “we have adequate mental health resources to deal with the needs of the community.”

Separately, a recent Santa Cruz County Civil Grand Jury report found Watsonville police overuse handcuffs and detentions for minor crimes. A response from the police department is expected in the coming months.

A group of Watsonville police listen to a consultant’s report at Tuesday’s Watsonville City Council meeting. (Tyler Maldonado — Santa Cruz Local)

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