Is Clovis Police Department short-staffed or spending poorly? Some leaders disagree

As the city of Clovis continues to study the police department’s staffing challenges, council members are clashing over a critical question: Is the city’s police shortage due to a lack of money or poor spending?

The Clovis Police Department is funded for 109 cops — following a unanimous vote to add three spots on Monday — but the city of about 120,000 needs at least 138, according to an analysis from Etico Solutions Inc., a consultation company that specializes in law enforcement agencies.

Department leaders have said they can’t fund enough patrol units to meet the city’s needs. But during Monday’s council meeting, Councilmember Bob Whalen said he’s not ready to throw money at the problem without a deeper look at department spending.

“For whatever reason, not enough has gone to patrol and I want to know why that is,” he said. “Because we have certainly given enough to increase patrol.”

The city’s public safety spending has increased by 78% to $62 million in the past decade, Whalen noted. That number includes spending on police and the Clovis Fire Department.

The City Council decided on Nov. 15 to assign a 25-member citizens advisory committee to study the problem. The council did not cast any vote Monday related to the committee, but did continue to refine its scope.

Department numbers show little change in the number of police on the force compared to an assessment from 15 years ago, which was before the Great Recession caused many cities to slash public jobs including police and firefighters.

During the meeting, members of the City Council split over whether the current department should be compared to how it looked pre-recession — in 2006 — or how it looked after the recession. The pre-recession tally of officers came from the assessment by the law enforcement consultant, while the post-recession count came from an annual financial report that local municipalities commonly use.

Whalen said using the pre-recession numbers could bias the committee, which could be considering a new public safety tax. He argued that cities typically make comparisons over a decade, which makes the post-recession assessment better. The numbers from after the recession paint a clearer picture that the city has increased funding to the department, he said.

“If we can increase our fund for 10 years by 70% or 80% and we’re still not adding patrol officers, that’s not a revenue problem. That is a spending problem,” he said. “It baffles my mind.”

He said being able to add patrol officers would benefit the city, but he wants the committee to first get to the bottom of where the spending has gone in the past 10 years.

Mayor Jose Flores countered Whalen’s assessment, saying the pre-recession 2006 numbers show historical facts.

“The recession didn’t happen in a vacuum,” he said. “They’re numbers. Numbers aren’t biased.”

Police Chief Curt Fleming said he used the pre-recession numbers because that was the last time the department had an assessment by the law enforcement consultant. He said using just the post-recession 2011 numbers gives a false sense of a healthier department, because the current department has gained 14 positions in the time since. The change in jobs from 2006 to 2021 is nearly flat.

“I think we’re losing perspective in what we’re looking at,” he said.

Officials said previously the costs for retirement, health benefits and other department expenses have grown since 2006. That year, about 57% of the department’s budget went to salaries, but this year the salary spending is closer to 40%, meaning less money goes to pay for officers despite the increase in the department’s budget. The 2021 police budget stands at about $39 million.

If the city decided to forego hiring more officers, Fleming has said, leaders would need to reduce the workload for the patrol units. Responding to alarms and animal complaints are the top two most common calls, according to Clovis police. Officers could also stop responding to non-injury accidents, minor calls from retail stores or other less serious crimes.

Councilmember Drew Bessinger, who was an employee of the police department in 2006, said many employees took a hit post-recession by taking pay cuts or not asking for raises as a way to help the city budget.

Clovis previously sought public safety sales tax Measure A in March of 2009, but it lost handily with just 32% support. It needed a simple majority to pass.

The council vocally disagreeing could muddy the discussion if the committee ends up recommending a public safety tax, Bessinger said.

“I think we could be our own worst enemy,” he said.