By Mike Hazlip—
Citrus Heights Police Chief Ronald Lawrence in a neighborhood presentation on Tuesday addressed use of force, budget and crime questions.
Speaking to the Citrus Heights Areas Seven Eight and Nine (CHASEN) neighborhood association, Lawrence addressed a question about use of force, saying the number of incidents nationally that result in force being used is “a lot less than you might be led to believe.” He said public perception of use of force issues have been influenced by broadcast media as well as social media.
“What you see on TV, what you see on social media about some agency in Minnesota or Ferguson Missouri, or wherever the heck it is, is the latest story. It doesn’t mean that it’s happening in Citrus Heights, California.”
Lawrence said Citrus Heights police have used force 12 times in over 30,000 calls for service so far this year. Numbers for prior years were similar, with officers using force in less than half a percent of all calls, according to Police Department statistics Lawrence presented.
There were 68,449 calls for service with 47 uses of force recorded for 2019, and 68,884 calls in 2020 with officers using force in 40 of those calls, Lawrence said. He said training in de-escalation tactics have helped keep the numbers low.
Lawrence also said he looks forward to more technological development to help decrease use of force incidents and help officers do their jobs more safely. He noted in his own career seeing the development of tasers replacing the former police batons, and said tech is now being tested that will allow law enforcement to shoot a rubber tracking device at a fleeing vehicle and allow authorities to break off a dangerous pursuit while still being able to track the vehicle.
Crime
In addressing local crime, Lawrence said the past three years have seen the lowest crime rates in the city’s history, although he said the department doesn’t take credit for the drop last year due to the pandemic’s impact on crime. He called 2020 “an anomaly,” noting a drop in residential crime due to more people being home during the pandemic, while also seeing an uptick in commercial burglaries due to more businesses being closed.
The most significant local increase in crime was catalytic converter thefts, up 468% last year, accounting for the majority of parked vehicle accessory thefts. This type of theft also saw an increase over previous years.
Lawrence noted a “dark figure of crime,” referring to crimes that go unreported. He stressed the importance of community involvement in reporting crimes and suspicious activity and said unreported crimes contribute to the public’s perception that crime statistics do not reflect actual crime rates.
Budget
Despite recent calls to defund police departments across the nation, Lawrence said he doesn’t think that movement represents the desires of Citrus Heights residents.
Due to city budget deficits, Lawrence said the department began to prepare for a budget shortfall near the end of last year by leaving unfilled positions vacant. In total, the department had 28 unfilled positions, with 14 of those being sworn police officers.
However, he said the federal American Rescue Plan will provide enough funds to fill 22 of those vacancies. The city’s finance committee has taken steps to direct those funds toward police, Lawrence said, but a vote by the City Council is still needed before the funds can be allocated. The item is scheduled come before the council on June 24.
With these funds, Lawrence said he is confident “we’ll be able to rebuild our police department.”
Related: COVID-19 funds will likely restore 22 positions to Citrus Heights Police Dept
During his presentation, Lawrence also fielded questions from the community about mental health and homeless issues. He said he welcomes efforts to send social workers to address nonviolent mental health and homeless issues in the community rather than an officer.
“If someone is having a mental health crisis, let’s say they are in despair, but they haven’t committed a crime, and they’re not committing any violence, there’s no reason a police officer should go to that.”
The police chief’s presentation was part of the CHASEN neighborhood association’s monthly meeting, held at Antelope Road Christian Fellowship. The association recently merged with another nearby association, in an effort to boost participation and have the association’s boundaries line up with the newly created City Council District 2 boundaries.
Related: Why these two Citrus Heights neighborhood associations decided to merge
