A potential consolidation of Morgan Hill’s police services with
another agency is a long way off, and local authorities say the
idea deserves thorough study before it should be implemented.
A potential consolidation of Morgan Hill’s police services with another agency is a long way off, and local authorities say the idea deserves thorough study before it should be implemented.
Officials from the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office say the office’s three contract cities are able to keep their per-capita cost of police services lower than other communities by sharing resources that the larger law enforcement agency offers. At the same time, the cities in the western part of the county receive a blanket of police coverage that serves every need identified by their elected officials and city managers.
But even if Morgan Hill can save money by giving up its police department, it’s such an important decision that the community itself, rather than just the city council, should be allowed to determine what to do, police Chief Bruce Cumming said.
Having an autonomous police department preserves the city’s control of law enforcement within its boundaries, and ensures local officers work with residents and business owners to prevent and solve crime, Cumming said.
“People need to put more than a dollar figure on this issue,” he said. “I can’t imagine the city would want to give up control of its police department to save a few bucks.”
Significant differences between Morgan Hill and the county’s three western Santa Clara Valley cities, and the historical desire for higher levels of service in Morgan Hill indicate the savings of a contract with the sheriff’s office would not be as high as some expected.
When the Morgan Hill Police Officers Association presented the idea of consolidating with the county in April, its members noted the city could save between $2 million and $3 million annually on police expenses, based largely on a comparison of the per-person cost of law enforcement in the different cities. The city of Cupertino, which has contracted with the county for police since it was incorporated, budgeted about $8.5 million for its police contract this year. The city of Morgan Hill, with a population of about 39,000, projects its police department this year will have cost about $10.5 million – about $9.7 million of which is funded by tax dollars.
The POA presented the idea as a way to help the city save money, while preserving or even increasing the number of officers dedicated to the city limits – a number which is lower now than it was 20 years ago.
Applying Cupertino’s per capita law enforcement cost to Morgan Hill to illustrate the financial benefit of contracting with the sheriff’s office is a “wrong-headed analysis,” according to Morgan Hill City Manager Ed Tewes. Cupertino, a city of about 55,000, contracted for about 53,000 hours of general patrol, traffic enforcement and detective work this year.
The city of Morgan Hill, by contrast, will get about 70,000 hours of similar “frontline” services this year, Tewes said.
The Sheriff’s office administrative staff say there is little difference between the quality and level of police services, and the city would retain sufficient control.
The numbers might not tell the whole story, and that’s why a careful study of Morgan Hill’s expenses should be done before the city enters into a contract. For example, the sheriff’s office would consider if there is any waste or “idle time” within those 70,000 hours, according to sheriff’s Cmdr. Edward Perry.
Plus, Cupertino has five deputies on patrol throughout the city at all times (not including a sergeant or watch commander), plus four traffic units. Morgan Hill, on the other hand, routinely has three to five officers on patrol, depending on the shift.
The city of Cupertino pays for police services only as they are needed, explained Undersheriff John Hirokawa. The contract is based on an hourly rate for police services, which came out to about $150 per hour this year. The sheriff’s hourly rate for contract cities includes personnel and overhead costs, including training, all employee retirement and health benefits, dispatch services, clerical support, records keeping and equipment. This system benefits the contract cities because they are able to share resources, and they don’t have to pay for full-time experts, such as a homicide detective, who can be called in from elsewhere in the county as needed. Other county resources such as the SWAT team and search-and-rescue helicopter are available when the cities need them.
“(The contract cities) share those resources, and that reduces those costs on a day to day basis,” he said. There are sheriff’s resources in South County that could possibly be shared in a Morgan Hill contract, including a substation in San Martin, deputies assigned to the unincorporated areas, and equipment and personnel assigned to county parks, Hirokawa said.
In late April, the Morgan Hill city council voted to begin the process of requesting proposals for police services. The request includes not only the sheriff’s office, but also the city of Gilroy and the city of San Jose, and Tewes has sent each jurisdiction a letter notifying them that the city may soon ask for a proposal.
The city still hasn’t completed the first step of the 10-step request process, which is a renegotiation of the city’s contract with the POA.
If the city requests a proposal from the sheriff, it will be presented with a “menu” listing all the possible services offered by county law enforcement, and the city council could check which services it wants, Hirokawa said.
While Morgan Hill has a “good police department” which the community might not be ready to give up, Hirokawa said the contract cities appear to have more control. “If you have a contract with us, we have to perform or we lose that contract,” he said.
