STAFF REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL
DATE: March 28, 2023
TO: Mayor and Members of the City Council
VIA: Dante Hall, City Manager
SUBMITTED BY: Joseph Vasquez, Chief of Police
SUBJECT: Update on the Hercules Police Department
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Receive an update on the Hercules Police Department BACKGROUND:
The Hercules Police Department is a professional, full-service, high-quality department which provides law enforcement with fairness and equality to all. Services include public safety, crime prevention, traffic enforcement, response to medical emergencies, keeping the peace, and participating in a variety of community engagement programs.
Our department is committed to being fully inclusive and strives to recruit and retain personnel with high morals and good character. The department currently has 26 full-time sworn personnel, four full-time administrative support staff, one part-time administrative support member, two part-time Parking Enforcement Officers, and one Reserve Police Officer. We are currently in the process of hiring one more Police Officer and hope to have another testing process soon to fill our final vacancy, which will bring our total number of Police Officers to 27. Our staff is also supported by six volunteers who are critical to maintaining our fleet amongst other miscellaneous duties, and four Police Chaplains who provide services during highly emotional and sensitive circumstances.
The organizational structure of the department includes a Chief of Police, two Police Commanders, five Police Sergeants, four Police Corporals, two Detectives, eleven Police Officers and one Traffic Enforcement Officer. One Commander is assigned to the Patrol Division, which includes parking enforcement, property and evidence, and fleet maintenance. The other Commander oversees the Administrative Division, which includes the investigations unit and Records personnel. This Commander is also responsible for hiring, training, policies, and public records act requests. Both Commanders also assist with internal affairs investigations/complaints and keeping members of the public informed on social media.
ANALYSIS:
This year began with the implementation of our new report management system, RIMS. This was a project that involved three different law enforcement agencies from three different cities, which spanned over three years before we were prepared to incorporate these services. Prior to going live with this system, an extensive and highly coordinated effort to provide comprehensive training at every level for all three agencies was conducted. On April 7, 2022, we finally went live with RIMS, which also allowed us to be in compliance with new legislation, including the Racial Identifying Profiling Act, and the California Incident Based Reporting System. These were two critical areas we have been preparing to comply with for years.
A ripple effect was caused with the unanticipated retirement of Chief William Imboden. A sense of uncertainty surfaced before the City Manager first decided to keep the recruitment for a replacement internal, and ultimately selected Commander Joseph Vasquez as the next Chief of Police. A retired Hercules Police Sergeant was brought back as an Interim Police Commander to assist with a selection process for the vacant Administrative Police Commander position. He was also responsible for training the new Commander, which was determined to be Sergeant Chris Kim.
As a result of this examination, a Sergeant’s Exam was facilitated to replace the vacancy left by the newly appointed Commander Kim, and to possibly fill the anticipated vacancy left by Sergeant Dan Barazoto, who announced he will he retiring in June 2023. Corporal Chris Costa tested, was selected as Patrol Sergeant, and was appointed in February of this year. Corporal Jose Moreno also tested, and will be appointed to Patrol Sergeant in May.
A Corporal’s Examination was conducted, and three Officers were selected to fill three positions, which had been vacant for over two years. These Officers will also serve as Field Training Officers and will be responsible for training all new Officers, while monitoring the progress of probationary Officers.
This year, we also hired two Police Officers, one of whom was recruited by our first Recruit Training Officer assigned to the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Academy in almost thirteen years. We also hired an additional full-time Police Support Specialist to assist with the growing demands in the records unit.
The Police Department remains committed to being proactive as we handled almost 23,000 calls for service, investigated 1,445 part 1 & 2 crimes, made 528 arrests, and issued over 900 traffic related citations. Despite the volume of arrests, only 13 use of force incidents were reported during this annual report. This is a testament to the patience, professionalism, and de-escalation tactics used by our Officers to resolve issues at a lower level.
There were many significant cases investigated by our officers this year, which include the arrest of two subjects with ATM skimming devices at Bank of America. These subjects were found to be in possession of $18,000 in cash, and 55 stolen EBT debit cards. They were also wanted by several other California Law Enforcement Agencies and were suspected of stealing over $1,000,000 of EBT funds.
Another significant case included the apprehension of a commercial burglary suspect responsible for committing three commercial burglaries in the City of Hercules, and multiple commercial burglaries in the City of San Pablo. The suspect was apprehended after an observant officer saw a person who was wearing clothing, had a physical description like a suspect in two previous commercial burglaries, walking afterhours in a shopping center on Willow Ave. It was determined the subject had just committed a third burglary in this shopping center but was apprehended before he could take anything.
The Hercules Police Department assisted and facilitated many public events including the 4th of July fireworks, National Night Out, Halloween Trunk or Treat, multiple Coffee with a Cop events including a first ever weekend edition. We also held our first ever Breakfast with a Badge, where we served a free breakfast to the senior community on Valentine’s Day. The year was also highlighted by bringing back our first Citizen’s Academy in three years with over 20 citizens participating.
During this year, we have worked hard at establishing continuity and consistency. Regular monthly staff meetings and weekly command staff meetings were implemented. With the assistance of all staff members and members of the Hercules community, we adopted a new mission and vision statement, as well as new core values. We are continuing to create fresh and authentic events to engage our community as we move forward in a new era of policing.
Our focus on the incoming year, will be to create a viable and sustainable short and long- term succession plan. Building a robust Officer Wellness Program will be a major priority, as well as re-establishing our Special Response Team to handle high-risk critical incidents. We will work on providing our staff with the resources and training needed to be in compliance with new legislative mandates while providing or citizens with the highest level of service. We look forward to having another highly successful year, building on the progress, and serving our community with honor.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no fiscal impact associated with receiving this report.
ATTACHMENTS:
Presentation – 2022 Hercules Police Department Review