PISMO BEACH CITY COUNCIL STAFF REPORT
Agenda Item #12.C
Meeting Date: October 7, 2025
TITLE:
Police Department Semi-Annual Update
RECOMMENDATION:
Receive Police Department Semi-Annual Update.
DISCUSSION:
The Pismo Beach Police Department provides semi-annual updates to the City Council to maintain transparency, share important public safety data, and report on progress toward departmental goals. This report summarizes activities and statistics covering the period of January 2025 through August 2025, highlighting crime trends, traffic enforcement, training, and community outreach.
Semi-Annual Department Update
Between January and August 2025, the Department monitored crime activity and compared data against the same period in 2024. Overall, the data reveals several notable shifts in both person and property crime categories. Person crimes, which include aggravated and simple assaults, kidnappings, murders, rapes, and other sex offenses, showed a 2% decrease compared to the previous year. Property crimes, which encompass arson, auto theft, burglary, embezzlement, forgery, fraud, larceny, robbery, stolen property, and vandalism, experienced an 18% decrease year-over-year shift.
Society crimes, which include drug and narcotics offenses, and prostitution reflected a 33% decrease compared to 2024. Misdemeanor society crimes, which include court order violations, disorderly conduct, DUI, liquor laws and trespassing, showed a 2% increase compared to 2024. The largest increase was observed in non-criminal and traffic reports, which experienced a 41% increase from 2024. This increase is primarily attributed to traffic related incidents/citations, property reports and municipal code violations.
From January through August 2025, traffic statistics in Pismo Beach reflect several notable changes compared to the same period in 2024. Overall traffic collisions rose from 96 to 115, marking a 20% increase, driven primarily by a 31% rise in vehicle collisions, which went from 61 to 80. Collisions involving pedestrians and bicycles declined, with pedestrian-related incidents dropping by 50% and bicycle collisions decreasing by 13%.
DUI-related collisions saw a significant reduction, falling by 56% from 18 to 8. On the enforcement side, traffic stops increased by 31%, climbing from 2,885 to 3,780, while traffic citations rose by 11% from 1,135 to 1,263. Traffic warnings experienced the most significant jump, increasing 68% from 179 to 301. These trends reflect both heightened enforcement activity and shifting collision patterns across the city.
The Department also prioritized officer readiness and professional development. State Commission on Police Officer Standards and Training (POST) standards require a minimum of twenty-four hours of training every 2 years, which includes perishable skills such as CPR, emergency vehicle operations, arrest and control, firearms, and bias-based Council Agenda 10-7-2025 12.C-1
policing. From January through August 2025, the Department sent officers and professional staff to twenty-one courses totaling over 850 hours of instruction. Specialized training was also provided in areas such as supervisor development, criminal investigations, advanced DUI enforcement, active shooter response, bicycle patrol operations, records management, and communications training for dispatch personnel.
Virtual reality training was further incorporated into daily briefings, giving officers enhanced opportunities to develop decision-making skills in simulated environments.
Community engagement remained a focus for the Police Department operations in 2025.
Officers and staff participated in events such as Walk and Bike to School Days, Junior Lifeguard Jump, Coffee with a Cop, Pizza on the Pier, COPS and Kids Day, and the Special Olympics Torch Run. Annual traditions, including the Police Officers Association (POA) Thansgiving Dinner, Trunk or Treat, Pumpkins in the Park, and the Battle of the Badges Blood Drive, continued to strengthen trust between the Department and the community. These efforts remain central to building meaningful partnerships and reinforcing the Department’s role in supporting both public safety and community engagement.
Conclusion and Recommendation
Receive update and ask staff questions.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no direct fiscal impact from this report.
ATTACHMENTS:
None.
Submitted by: Jeff Smith, Police Chief
City Manager Approval:
Council Agenda 10-7-2025 12.C-2