Perris police budget slashed by $900,000

Riverside Press-Enterprise

January 31, 2010

By JULISSA McKINNON

Perris citizens will see fewer patrol cars, less traffic enforcement and possibly slower emergency response times after a $900,000 cut to the city's law enforcement budget.

The City Council approved the budget cut -- the biggest in more than a decade -- at a recent meeting with no public discussion or comment.

After voters rejected a proposed parcel tax that would have generated $2 million a year for the general fund, council members started discussing slashing $1 million from law enforcement's $12.6 million budget. Like most area cities, Perris is facing year two of a budget shortfall because of plummeting property and sales tax revenues.

Over the summer, administrators slashed $2.25 million from the city budget by laying off five temporary workers and reducing employee hours by closing City Hall on Fridays.

The budget cut will mean Perris will have 31 street patrol deputies instead of 33, six traffic enforcement deputies instead of seven, and four community service officers instead of seven, said Riverside County Sheriff's Captain James McElvain, who heads the Perris Police Department.

It is unknown whether more cuts to city services are coming, Joe Vargo, Perris public information officer, said in an e-mail.

After negotiations with sheriff's officials, the council decided to reduce law enforcement spending by $900,000 instead of $1 million, McElvain said.

The staff reductions could mean slower emergency response times and slower investigation and police work overall, McElvain said.

"Perris wasn't overstaffed but they were comfortably staffed prior to this decision," he said. "We took a number of steps forward in the past five years so to take one step back, I don't foresee a huge negative impact. But at some point people are going to feel the change in the level of service."

Each deputy's time will be divided between more tasks. For example, a street patrol deputy may have to write more traffic tickets or respond to traffic collisions, McElvain said.

There also will be fewer community service officers to organize neighborhood watch groups, he said.

Since 1997, violent and property crimes in Perris have been declining. Between 1997 and 2008, those crimes decreased from 77 per 1,000 people in 1997 to about 41 per 1,000 in 2008.

"Do I turn around and say crime is going to go way back up because of this -- I don't see that happening," McElvain said. "But if you have a team of people all tugging on a rope in one direction and one person leaves, do you feel it? Maybe not. But if you start to lose more and more people ... at some point in time the piano's going to fall because there's not enough people pulling to hold it up."

Reach Julissa McKinnon at 951-375-3730 or jmckinnon@PE.com