Preface To ANN’s First Audio Interview With APD’s Police Chief
HEAR THE ENTIRE INTERVIEW AT BOTTOM OF STORY
Alameda’s chronically understaffed Police Department, — which once peaked at 111 officers prior to 2005—is inching towards attaining its authorized force number of 88, according to Alameda Police Chief Nishant Joshi in an exclusive audio interview with ANN. (please hear it at bottom of this story)
APD, in late July, hired three new officers who will become active in December of this year after completing their Department required training.
That will boost Alameda’s total of uniformed officers to 68, with numbers expected to rise by two in February of 2024, and the trend continuing through September to reach 82 of the 88 authorized long ago by the Alameda City Council.
In this exclusive audio interview, Joshi details the many facets of police staffing, deployment, what constitutes an appropriate number of officers given Alameda’s needs, what is involved with respect to determining an effective number of officers to handle public safety matters in Alameda, the time and process needed to add more officers, the relationship between officer visibility and crime deterrence and much more.
This is the first in a series of interviews which ANN will conduct with Chief Joshi who has agreed to interview with ANN on a wide range of topics about every 3 weeks or so.
Our next scheduled interview will focus on Police Culture in Alameda and elsewhere in the context of 21st Century Policing.
Please use the “Ask ANN” feature at the top of the homepage if you have questions arising from what you hear in this interview, and we will attempt to get them answered.
“Crooks know when a department is short-staffed.”
Burney Matthews, past APD Chief
As to why Alameda’s Police Department dwindled to below 60 at one point in past years prior to Chief Joshi’s tenure, former Alameda Police Chief, Burney Matthews, who headed the department from 1994-2005, offered his suppositions.
Matthews suggested that budgetary matters and agenda driven City Council and other internal politics prevailed over policy sensibility when it came to the trend of cutting Alameda’s police force.
“There was a political lack of support by City Council members who have an agenda. The majority lost sight of the need to have enough officers to respond and do the necessary police work instead of going from call to call.”
Matthews asserted that understaffed police departments make communities more vulnerable to criminal activity.
“Crooks know when a department is short-staffed. This is not brain surgery, this is common sense.” he said, adding that Alameda has to confront the problem of crime flowing into Alameda from neighboring Oakland, which also experiences a substantial officer shortfall, even though its force is listed at 734 officers.
The question, though, said Matthews, becomes just what level of staffing is needed for a community to better insure public safety and protection from crime.
That, he said, really should best be answered by the City or APD’s hiring of an independent, expert study group to determine the optimal number of officers needed in Alameda.
Chief Joshi did not preclude such an outside look, but weighed in with other ideas as you will hear in the interview.
LISTEN HERE
