Costa Mesa police running well short of staffing target

Despite a projection last year from Costa Mesa’s top executive that the city’s Police Department could return to full strength this summer, the chief of police said Tuesday that the organization is still far from refilling its ranks.

Costa Mesa Chief Executive Tom Hatch said in March that the department, which has long been short of its staffing target, could be fully replenished by July 2016.

However, Chief Rob Sharpnack says that attrition at the department has so far essentially matched recruitment efforts, leaving the city with 108 sworn officers — the same number it had 10 months ago.

Fully staffed, the Police Department would have 136 officers, according to city documents.

“We haven’t really grown very much in the last year because we keep losing [officers],” Sharpnack said. “We can’t replace as fast as we lose.”

Hatch cautioned in March that the July 2016 replenishment target was based on best-case assumptions such as the department hiring the maximum number of recruits from each upcoming police academy.

That scenario hasn’t come to pass, but Sharpnack said Costa Mesa has hired 39 officers in the past two years. At that hiring pace, Sharpnack said, the department has turned a corner, and he believes it will eventually return to full strength. He declined to specify when that might happen.

Sharpnack said a recent hire from another department and three new recruits graduating from the police academy will bring the number of sworn personnel to 112 next week.

The chief’s statements come in the wake of reports of an increase in serious crimes in Costa Mesa. During the first half of 2015, violent crimes including rape, robbery, homicide and assault likely to cause great injury rose by 47%, statistics show. Some community members have linked those numbers to a shortage of police officers.

Vacancies have been a nagging issue.

In 2011, City Council members voted to cut staffing at the Police Department through attrition. Officials also delayed hiring to fill anticipated vacancies as some council members pushed to reduce pension benefits for new recruits.

At the end of 2012, the department brought in its first new sworn personnel since 2008. Still, at one point in June 2014, only 86 sworn personnel were available to work because of vacancies, injuries and other factors.

In recent years, human resources and police officials ramped up hiring efforts by expediting the testing process for recruits, increasing the number of staff members assigned to recruiting efforts and boosting advertising for applicants, among other measures.

Sharpnack said that even with the recent lack of growth in the number of new sworn personnel, there are more boots on the ground. The number of officers unable to work because of injuries has dropped to seven, down from 15 to 18 more than a year ago, according to Sharpnack’s estimate.

“Our net of officers who are ready, willing and able to work in the field has increased,” Sharpnack said.

Hatch said during a Finance Committee meeting this week that the Police Department has focused its recruiting efforts on newly trained officers who haven’t worked or haven’t achieved rank at another department.

That means the department has to wait for recruits to go through the academy and other training necessary to become a sworn officer, which takes longer, Hatch said. The department does not typically recruit externally for sergeants, lieutenants and captains, he said.

Sharpnack said he isn’t against hiring officers making lateral moves, but there haven’t been many available lately.

Still, city officials say the recruits the department has been able to attract are some of the best going through the academy.

“The Police Department is focused on hiring the best and brightest, whether they are new recruits, lateral hires or reserve officers,” said city spokesman Tony Dodero. “As for laterals, we take them on a case-by-case basis, and our Police Department has extremely high standards when it comes to hiring. We are not going to take any lateral we can find at the expense of lowering our standards.”