Chula Vista City Councilman Steve Padilla and the Chula Vista Police Department held a public safety forum Aug. 10 at Veterans Parks Recreation Center as a way to answer Chula Vista residents’ concerns about public safety.
Among the community members’ biggest concerns voiced at the forum was the department’s delayed response times to calls for service, especially non-emergency ones.
Lieutenant Eric Thunberg said slow response times are largely due to a shortage of officers available to go to each call within an adequate amount of time.
“We are trying to get better at response times [and] we try to get there within 12 minutes,” Thunberg said. “[However], there may be 60 calls for 10 to 12 officers, [so] they’re rushing from call to call.”
Thunberg said that oftentimes when officers arrive at a non-emergency scene, such as responding to a call about a homeless individual hanging around a store, there is not much police can do as there is no crime being committed.
“It’s not illegal to be homeless,” Thunberg said. “We can [only] offer resources.”
Although the understaffing, delayed response times and handling of situations are out of the officers’ hands, Thunberg said there are steps Chula Vista residents can take to get their non-emergency calls handled the way they want.
Namely, it requires community involvement in the form of a formal complaint in order for an arrest or disciplinary action to take place, he said.
“Without a [formal complaint], we have no recourse,” Thunberg said. “There’s not a whole lot we can do.”
One community member mentioned the 2018 passage of Chula Vista’s Measure A, in which a half-cent sales tax was implemented to provide faster responses to 9-1-1 emergency calls and increase neighborhood police patrols, among other things.
The community member questioned why slow response times and a shortage of officers in Chula Vista was still an issue with the implementation of Measure A.
Although Thunberg acknowledged Measure A’s passage, he says it takes time to implement such changes.
However, Thunberg assured the public that action is being taken, as there are currently about 20 people in training in the hopes of joining the police force.
Councilman Padilla also looked to the history of Chula Vista as a reason why more things haven’t been done in the community to fit the needs of residents, especially in regards to public safety.
“The people in power before had a [small town] mentality [and] didn’t anticipate population growth,” Padilla said. “We have to start bringing profitable jobs with good money [so that people] can spend money on our [businesses].”
Padilla believes bringing more jobs to Chula Vista can help stimulate the economy and generate revenue in order to implement more policies that can accommodate the city’s growing population.
This is why Padilla says Chula Vista residents should not look to Measure A as the answer to all of the city’s public safety problems.
“Measure A is not the savior,” Padilla said. “The savior is thinking of how we can grow [as a city].”
Other issues brought up during the forum included the increase of marijuana use in the city and a rise of crime among teenagers.
For Chula Vista resident Jessica Garcia, who recently had her own issue with police when they never showed up to her call after she was almost hit by a high school student who was driving, is concerned there is not enough consequences for teens who engage in reckless behavior.
Although Garcia found the forum to be informative, she worries not enough is going to be done to solve Chula Vista’s safety issues.
“With[out] time, money and the appropriate resources, the problems are not going to get fixed right away,” Garcia said.
