PALO ALTO POLICE DEPARTMENT
Staffing Update
Assembly Bill 2561 (AB 2561)
City Council Presentation | 2026
TRAFFIC TEAM & DETECTIVES
• Planned for June 2026 - 1 Sgt and 3 Officers
• Losing a Traffic Officer on May 9th - for another agency. • Traffic Team has been assigned to Patrol for nearly the past 2 years to help cover the minimum staffing.
• When assigned to Patrol – Traffic Officers are not focusing on Traffic as they have the same responsibilities as a
Patrol Officer.
• In June 2026 – The Department will have a Traffic Sergeant and Two Traffic Officers (assigned to patrol).
• Detective Division is half staffed as compared to 2018. • Cases take longer due to the digital evidence era and the District Attorney has a higher threshold – which we have adapted to.
Hiring & Retention
• Since January 2024 - Hired 18, 8 failed, 2 currently in the program (44% failure rate). • This only counts those who reach FTO. Does not count our Academy new hires. • Retirements since 2024 - 13 (4 service retirements, 6 medical retirements, 3 left for other agencies
• Current employees who can retire today - 10
Overtime
• 2024 Actual: $3,467,691
• 2025 Actual: $4,294,643
• 2026 Adopted Budget:
$1,173,110 - Staffing will not
improve until 2027 (which does
not account for the 10 pending
retirements)
• 2026 Adopted Budget is far from
Actual Expectations
Mental Health and Burnout Concerns
• Since 2021 we have a trend of losing
Officers to Mental Health.
• Had 6 injured with probability of 4
never returning to police work.
• Our Department has been running
short for years.
Budget Concerns
Special Operations Sgt
• Currently handles special events, permitting, scheduling, managing our CSO’s, and dignitary visits.
• The projection is this job will be designated to the following:
• Officer handles special events (another worker taken from patrol) • Future hire of an Administrative Assistant to handle scheduling and permits • Newly appointed Traffic Sgt will handle CSO’s
• Designated Sergeant given additional duties to handle dignitary visits • This future alignment will cause immediate overtime for patrol (as we are short) and the potential for overtime for dignitary visits.
Reduction in Police Training - With the pending arrival of 7 new officers – training classes are imperative to help our young officers develop in their new careers.
We Still Make it Work
We still make it work. I can report
though – when we have major incidents
or crimes you read about in the news, I
can attest that the men and women of
this agency get the job done.