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Please see attached a letter from the REAL Coalition's Community Safety Workgroup regarding Item 3.3, Police Staffing, Expenditures, and Workload Audit Report.
Best,
Gianella Ordoñez | Policy + Advocacy Associate
Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits
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April 27, 2026
San José City Council
San José City Hall
200 E. Santa Clara St.
San José, CA 95113
Sent via electronic mail
RE: City Council Agenda Item 3.3, Police Staffing, Expenditures, and Workload Audit Report
Dear Mayor Mahan, Vice Mayor Foley, and Councilmembers, On behalf of the Race Equity Action Leadership (REAL) Coalition, a network of over 50 nonprofit organizations and community leaders advancing racial equity in local public policy, we write regarding the Police Staffing, Expenditures, and Workload Audit Report and the accompanying memorandum.
The findings in this report reinforce the importance of continuing to invest in and scale community-based and non-police crisis response models. As the City seeks to manage overtime costs, address staffing challenges, and maintain effective public safety services, alternative response strategies – such as the TRUST program – offer a cost-effective approach to reducing demand on sworn officers while improving outcomes for residents.
We appreciate the City Auditor’s work to strengthen transparency, improve oversight, and identify opportunities to better manage overtime expenditures within the San José Police Department. The recommendations to enhance reporting, monitor outcomes, and evaluate the impacts of changes to overtime practices are important steps toward more effective and accountable use of public resources.
The report highlights that a meaningful portion of overtime is driven by specific categories of work that are not core policing functions, like report-writing. At the same time, the majority of overtime expenditures remain tied to policing activities shaped by broader workload demands and structural staffing challenges. While operational improvements may yield efficiencies, these findings point to the importance of evaluating how overall demand is managed and whether certain responsibilities can be handled differently to reduce long-term cost pressures.
REAL Letter to CSJ Council re Item 3.3, Police Staffing, Expenditures, and Workload Audit Report April 27, 2026 Page 2
We also note that the report and memorandum point to opportunities to shift certain functions away from sworn officers, including through the use of non-sworn personnel and other operational changes. This recognition – that not all public safety functions require a sworn response – aligns with and reinforces the City’s investments in community-based and non-police crisis response models.
For years, the REAL Coalition has supported the City’s investment in alternative crisis response models, including the TRUST program and related community-based interventions (such as prevention and intervention programs).
These approaches have been consistently acknowledged by City staff, the City Council, and the Mayor as cost-effective, trusted, and appropriate responses to a range of community needs, particularly behavioral health crises and situations that do not require a law enforcement response. When appropriately resourced and scaled, they can reduce demand on sworn officers over time while improving outcomes for residents.
We appreciate the memorandum’s emphasis on continued evaluation, including tracking response times, overtime trends, and qualitative impacts on workload. As the City moves forward, we encourage expanding this analysis to include how investments in alternative response models affect call diversion, officer workload, and overall system efficiency. A more comprehensive understanding of these dynamics will support better decision-making and more strategic allocation of resources.
In the current fiscal environment, identifying cost-effective approaches that maintain and improve public safety is essential. Pairing operational improvements within the Police Department with sustained and expanded investment in community-based response infrastructure offers a practical path forward, one that supports both fiscal responsibility and more appropriate, equitable service delivery.
We appreciate your leadership and look forward to continued partnership in advancing public safety strategies that are effective, equitable, and responsive to community needs.
Sincerely,
REAL Coalition’s Community Safety Workgroup
REAL Letter to CSJ Council re Item 3.3, Police Staffing, Expenditures, and Workload Audit Report April 27, 2026 Page 3
About the Racial Equity Action Leadership (REAL) Coalition REAL Coalition is a community of Santa Clara County-based nonprofit leaders and allies has been meeting since June 2020 to use our positional power to advocate for a more racially-just and equitable society; to establish a peer network of leaders committed to fighting white supremacy and systemic racism in ourselves and our institutions; and to hold each other accountable to the promises we made in the Nonprofit Racial Equity Pledge. The REAL coalition is broadly representative of the nonprofit community, including human and community services, behavioral health and health, arts and culture, domestic violence, older adults, food security, education, environmental, farming, legal, disability rights, LGBTQ rights, ethnic, immigrant rights, housing and homelessness, criminal justice reform, urban planning, intermediary organizations, and others. REAL has 50 core nonprofit members, numerous individual members, and hundreds of active participants in the nonprofit community. Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits and Sacred Heart Community Service are proud co-conveners of REAL Coalition.