BAKERSFIELD, CA -- The City of Bakersfield is making moves to improve police response times. This comes after years of public outcry that sometimes it takes police hours or days to respond to a complaint.
The idea came about last May, when city council members decided to add ten new officers to BPD's staff. The city is hoping this study will show the department a way to decrease response times without adding more expensive officers.
"I'm fed up with this," said Monty Hawatemeh back in February. He is the owner of an AM/PM. It's getting worse. It's getting worse."
Hawatemeh said he is the victim of countless thefts including many beer runs but when he calls police, "After two days, take a report, nothing been done about it," said Hawatemeh.
Since February there has been no improvement. According to the Bakersfield Police Department, the average response time for a priority call is 11 minutes. For non-emergencies, a day. Numbers Police Chief Greg Williamson said have to go down.
"We would obviously like to reduce them to much lower than that to provide a service to the citizens," said Police Chief Williamson.
To do that, Vice Mayor Ken Weir is suggesting the city fund a third party study to offer solutions for the department.
"We need to put a plan in place that we can affect an average or above average response time and we need a path to get us there," said Weir.
That path will be laid out by the International Association of Chiefs of Police chosen to conduct the study. Chief Williamson said the department's goal is to get all response times down to one hour.
"My goal is to put together a strategic plan, a multiple year plan," said Weir.
That includes not only this study and the department but the people of Bakersfield.
"We can't put police officers on every corner, it's financially unrealistic, so we have to look for that medium between providing service with officers and working with the citizens and other city and county departments," said Chief Williamson.
The city council is expected to approve the $100,000 needed for the study January 22. The study would start immediately following an approval.
The idea came about last May, when city council members decided to add ten new officers to BPD's staff. The city is hoping this study will show the department a way to decrease response times without adding more expensive officers.
"I'm fed up with this," said Monty Hawatemeh back in February. He is the owner of an AM/PM. It's getting worse. It's getting worse."
Hawatemeh said he is the victim of countless thefts including many beer runs but when he calls police, "After two days, take a report, nothing been done about it," said Hawatemeh.
Since February there has been no improvement. According to the Bakersfield Police Department, the average response time for a priority call is 11 minutes. For non-emergencies, a day. Numbers Police Chief Greg Williamson said have to go down.
"We would obviously like to reduce them to much lower than that to provide a service to the citizens," said Police Chief Williamson.
To do that, Vice Mayor Ken Weir is suggesting the city fund a third party study to offer solutions for the department.
"We need to put a plan in place that we can affect an average or above average response time and we need a path to get us there," said Weir.
That path will be laid out by the International Association of Chiefs of Police chosen to conduct the study. Chief Williamson said the department's goal is to get all response times down to one hour.
"My goal is to put together a strategic plan, a multiple year plan," said Weir.
That includes not only this study and the department but the people of Bakersfield.
"We can't put police officers on every corner, it's financially unrealistic, so we have to look for that medium between providing service with officers and working with the citizens and other city and county departments," said Chief Williamson.
The city council is expected to approve the $100,000 needed for the study January 22. The study would start immediately following an approval.