Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/tag/santa-ana-police-department/)
Santa Ana City Council members in a near-unanimous vote of the majority Democrat panel approved a budget Tuesday that increases police spending by nearly $3 million.
Hundreds of public comments on spending pushed the Tuesday meeting into Wednesday.
The discussion comes in the wake of protests over the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd. The idea has been struck down twice before by the Council.
The crowds gathered in response to nationwide outcry over the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, at the hands of a white Minneapolis police officer.
Third District County Supervisor Don Wagner vented his frustration Tuesday over tickets he says were issued by SAPD to parents dropping their high schoolers off along Santa Ana Boulevard to attend a weekend event he hosts about local government. Santa Ana City Councilman Juan Villegas fires back at Wagner over his public criticism.
A federal grand jury indicted former Officer Brian Booker with three felonies for allegedly beating a man who was complying with police commands and then lying about it in official reports.
The new city manager, Kristine Ridge, said the budget increase is no longer needed to cover the costs because the Police Department is reducing overtime and other expenses. City Councilwoman Ceci Iglesias said staff have not been transparent about how they found the money.
The suit alleges union president Gerry Serrano held a grudge stemming from then-Police Chief Carlos Rojas’ discipline of Serrano for a 2011 hit-and-run DUI arrest, and later worked to oust Rojas as part of an “illegal scheme.” Serrano and the city deny the claims.
Santa Ana City Council members will vote Tuesday on the largest pay raises for the city’s police officers in more than a decade, totaling $25 million in taxpayer money over the next two and a half years and adding $12 million per year going forward in additional costs. The raises amount to a 13.6 percent to 19.3 percent increase in base pay for each officer and sergeant between now and July 2020, according to the city. Officers and sergeants with 15 to 19 years in law enforcement would receive raises totaling 16.5 percent, and those with 20 or more years would receive 19.3 percent in increases. Before the last set of raises in 2017, the median compensation for a Santa Ana officer totaled about $213,000 per year, including $111,000 in pay before overtime and $88,000 in benefits, according to city data published by Transparent California. The city staff report doesn’t offer an explanation for the raises, beyond saying they resulted from negotiations between the police officers’ union and City Council.
Santa Ana residents and community organizers Bulmaro Vicente and Ben Camacho write about the need for transparency including public access to exclusive police records of misconduct and internal investigations in their city.