Paso Robles police see rise in calls for service, but short on officers
Paso Robles Police Chief Ty Lewis
–Last week, Paso Robles Police Chief Ty Lewis gave the Paso Robles City Council an update on his department and expressed concern for a shortage of police officers in the face of rising calls for service.
Calls for service have increased by over 40-percent in the last five years without a proportional increase in staffing. In 2014, calls for service numbered 31,000, by 2019 that statistic was 44,000.
The city currently has less than half the national average of police officers for a community of its size. As a result, last year there were more than 2,600 times when all police officers were on a call; if other calls came in at those times, officers had to be diverted and response times were delayed, the chief said.
In the last five years, there has been an 89-percent increase in response time for Priority 1 Emergency Calls, which involve threats to life, with a current average response time of about 9.5 minutes. Violent crimes are lower than state and national averages; property crimes, however, are higher than both state and national averages. Priority 2 Calls for immediate threats to property had a response time of 14 minutes.
“Priority 1 Calls are the number one concern for our city,” Lewis said.
Paso Robles Police statistics*
- Officers responded to 4,000 calls per month
- There is a 40% increase in calls for service
- Dispatchers answer approximately 75,000 calls per year
- Officers make approximately 1700 arrests per year
- Officers issue approximately 3200 traffic citations per year
*Based on a five-year average.
Top calls for Paso Robles Police Department
- Peace disturbances
- Transient related
- Reckless Drivers
- DUI
- Collisions
- Burglaries
- Stolen cars
- Assaults
Current staffing at the department
- 34 Officers, 2 on long-term disability, 1 recent resignation
- 1 Dispatch and records supervisor
- 7 Dispatchers, one position vacant
- 3.5 Community service officers
- 3,5 Records clerks
–Anthony Reed contributed to this report
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