SDPD Budget

[Taylor815]

I am in the process for SDPD and was scheduled o finish my testing the first week of November. Today I recieved an e-mail stating my out of state testing has been temporary suspended due to budget reallocations if there are any current SDPD officers or academy recruits on here can you please let me know any information you have about this and how long its expected to last?

[xdrcx]

I am sure it is only because they have hit their 50 per class they have allocated for the 10/20/08 class. You will probably be reset for the January class. I highly doubt they have stopped hiring, just a couple days ago we went out three under staffing in my division alone.

[Taylor815]

see thats what im worried about I was told I was in the Jan class pending my out of state testing that was to be conducted during the first week if November

[xdrcx]

Call down and ask recruiting and get an answer from them. That will eliminate guessing.

[///M3Dave]

I'm in Las Vegas and was planning on taking the test Nov 18. I guess I need to contact the recruiter.

[BigBird]

Unfortunately I was also contacted by my BI and told similar information. From what I was told, SDPD is putting a hold on Lt.s interviews and the final stages of the hiring process for the time being. I was scheduled to interview the first week of November as well.

After talking to my BI it just sounds like the budget has not been finalized and they need to slow things down until they get that figured out. Even he didn't know when that would be but he was hoping for a few weeks. We'll see, I was also hoping to start the next academy on Jan. 20.

[Chesterrtm]

I'm one of the lucky ones to start the academy on Monday and just got through with orientation. From what I'm seeing, they are still in desperate need for more officers, so I wouldn't worry too much. Good luck!

[jato]

From what I'm seeing, they are still in desperate need for more officers

... and more money!

[SDrecruitee]

I Just passed the test on Friday and the PAT yesterday. They said nothing about cutting back. However, the Mayor did speak out on the need for budget cuts, but I don't know how that will be effecting SDPD.

Sorry I can't be of more help.

[SDPDApplicant]

SDPD isn't worth it anymore to be honest, after talking to my BI they still have a lot of issues to work out as far the budget goes. Good luck to you all though.

[nobodyjr]

It sounds like we will be hiring continuously, but it might start getting competitive here, with a few less slots, and more candidates. Who knows how things will go with the economy being the way it is

[xdrcx]

Taylor...it looks like you were one of three. I would call down and get an idea if your application is back on track.

From the "Voice of San Diego"

Friday, Oct. 24, 2008 | A San Diego Police Department detective e-mailed three potential recruits this week and told them that, because of the city's budget crisis, the department was putting all out-of-state hiring on hold.

"I have been instructed to cancel all Out of State (OOS) background processing until we receive official notification from the Command staff on possible budget reallocations. This will subsequently affect the number of Police Officer Recruit positions that our agency will submit for the next police academy," wrote Detective Mary Alvarez Sandoval, who said in an interview she was told by a superior that the department had stopped interviewing out-of-state applicants.

But according to Executive Assistant Chief of Police David Ramirez, the e-mail, which he said was only sent to three people, was completely inaccurate. The mayor has asked the police department to come up with a proposal for cutting its budget, but nothing's been finalized and, when it comes to hiring, it's business at usual at the SDPD, he said.


"She did it on her own," Ramirez said. "Nothing's changed. We're still hiring, we're still processing both out-of-state and in-state applications."

The police department has spent the last two years trying to stem what was, until fairly recently, a steady flow of police officers away from the SDPD to other local police departments and public safety agencies. The department's also been on a year-long drive to recruit new officers from San Diego and around the country.

The department's had a measure of success. It's managed to fully stock police academies and two successive pay raises for city cops have helped to keep attrition numbers at the department low. But the city's latest financial uppercut -- the mayor announced a $43 million deficit for city finances last week -- could pose a new challenge to staffing at the police department.


Related Links

SDPD Loses 25 Officers in One Month (March 27, 2007)

Police Cut Test in Half During Recruitment Pinch (April 4, 2007)

Police Accept Pay Boost in Midst of Budget Crunch (April 11, 2007)

Police Officer Attrition Slows in Wake of Pay Hike (Aug. 24, 2007)

Police Recruitment Climbs (June 12, 2008)



The department is currently budgeted for 2,127 employees. According to the Police Officers Association, the union that represents city police officers, there are currently 1,996 employees working for the department. But that number includes 282 people who are inactive employees because they are on administrative or military leave. That leaves 1,713 employees.

Like every other city department, the SDPD has been asked to find 10 percent of its budget that could be cut to help bring the city's spending in line with its income. Mayoral spokesman Darren Pudgil said cutting the budgets of the police and fire-rescue departments are a last resort, but that the mayor still wants to see proposals from those two agencies.

Ramirez would not discuss details of the police department's proposal for cutting its budget. The plan is only in its very early phases, and details of it will not be shared with the media until the Mayor's Office has seen it, he said.

But, last year, 83 percent of the police department's budget was spent on personnel expenses. A 10-percent cut, if implemented, would almost certainly impact the department's staffing.

Pudgil acknowledged that budget cuts from public safety departments, though unlikely at the moment, might cut into the city's drive to hire police officers.

"It's too early to tell, but that's something that would be considered," he said.

Bill Nemec, president of the San Diego Police Officers' Association, said any budget cuts at the police department would certainly affect spending on personnel. Such cuts would most likely be felt first in the department's hiring efforts, Nemec said.

Nemec said he's troubled by the specter of budget cuts. He said the department has only just started to pull itself back into shape after years of hemorrhaging police officers to other local departments, and that recruitment has been looking up for months.

But Nemec also pointed out that the worsening local economy could have the ironic effect of keeping police officers in San Diego, because officers are less likely to take a chance on new departments if they have a guaranteed job in San Diego.


And Nemec said the union will nevertheless ask the city for a pay raise for police officers next year.

"There's been a repeated call from City Hall to explore new revenue sources, but I haven't seen that. Until I do, I think it's more than fair for us to go in there and say 'yes, police officers deserve a raise,' " he said.

The police department isn't the only city public safety agency that could see recruitment stifled by the budget cuts. Frank DeClercq, president of Local 145, the union that represents city firefighters, said he was told that, among other proposals, the fire department will be proposing suspending its academy for new recruits until the beginning of the new fiscal year in July.

Fire Department Spokesman Maurice Luque said he couldn't comment about any possible budget cuts at the department. The department currently has an academy scheduled for April 2009, Luque said.

Ramirez said the applicants to the police department who were emailed this week will be contacted and told that their applications will be processed as normal. He said some out-of-state applicants may have their interviews rescheduled because the lieutenant who interviews new recruits is on vacation, but that all pending applications will be processed

He said the mix-up was unfortunate and that even if the department is forced to cut recruitment, it won't just focus on out-of-state recruits.

"We don't discriminate against people because they're from out of state," he said. "We want to hire the best recruits, no matter where they came from."

Please contact Will Carless directly at will.carless@voiceofsandiego.org with your thoughts, ideas, personal stories or tips. Or set the tone of the debate with a letter to the editor.

[Taylor815]

this is becoming way to much for me I thought from what I was told I was led to belive I had no shot now this news story happened and whats weird is I did recieve a phone call today stating that testing was back on schedule if I wished to continue but there was no gurantee to make the January academy like I was told before I dont know what to do I submitted applications to CHP and a couple departments back home in Illinois so we will see what happens.

[GB0610]

Amazing how one lady/Det. can take it upon herself to make a hiring decision.

[Chesterrtm]

Amazing how one lady/Det. can take it upon herself to make a hiring decision.

I can't tell if your comment was positive, negative, or sarcastic. All I know is Detective Sandoval is an AWESOME person and I'm sure her reasoning was justified.

[Taylor815]

yes she is its just a shame the newspaper (if thats what you want to call it) put here under the bus like that she has been nothing but helpful to me in trying to push me through the process regardless of the current budget issues

[BigBird]

Thanks for the article xdrcx. That gives me a little bit more hope than i had previously. However i didn't receive a call saying my interview was back on like Taylor815 did, but i didn't receive an email either, mine was a call from my BI, who was not the Det. mentioned in the article. Maybe i'll hear something early next week.

[Looker]

I'm more concerned with being laid off if I get hired as a lateral than if I get hired in the first place. I'd like to switch, but I'm just not sure if the job security will be there like it is where I'm at now.

[avalon42]

Someone just told me that SDPD have trimmed down their ambitious hiring goals. So the number of 50 per academy went down to 14, and they were working oldest qualified applications first.

[marrujo]

just turn in my bi packet last week. we'll see what happens......

[xdrcx]

The new budget numbers that were submitted to the mayor by the department came out today on e-mail. It shows the next two academies in Jan and April will be cut from 50 to 25 recruits. I think the wholerevised budget was also posted on the city's website showing this change.

[marrujo]

i'll call my bi and see where I stand have not heard anything yet................

[nobodyjr]

25 is still a good amount. That's larger than most academies (SDPD showing) were in the past four years before the push.

[BigBird]

Here's the recent article about the budget cuts the Mayor released yesterday.....

http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/articles/2008/11/07/government/434budgetcuts110608.txt