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Crime & Safety

Hermosa Beach Police Facing Officer Vacancies

Five police officer positions have been left unfilled by the city to help close a $1.2-million budget gap.

It's 3 a.m. A Hermosa Beach police officer, tired from a long shift, cruises Pier Avenue in his patrol car. Having worked for 18 hours straight, despite his best attempts to stay focused, one thought goes through his mind: It's time to go home. 

This fictional scene has become one of many possibilities for the Hermosa Beach Police Department, as it continues with five police officer positions remaining vacant. The vacancies are the city's attempt to close the $1.2 million city budget gap. These and other unfilled positions were outlined cuts posted in the mid-year budget review earlier this year.

The deficiency of officers is causing HBPD to extend some shifts from the weekly standard of three 12-hour shifts to five 12-hour shifts. The shifts have the potential to go 18 hours maximum, with overtime pay.

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These extensions don't occur every day, but are sometimes necessary due to the shortage of help, said Capt. Lance Jaakola.

"Whenever we have a loss of positions, it makes the shifts lighter on manpower," Jaakola said. "Without filling positions, it forces us to extend hours and give guys more overtime. It would seriously affect our ability to function if we lost more people, though."

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Services that the department is struggling to provide are babyseat inspections and traffic ticket sign-offs by a supervisory officer. The department currently employees 60 people, 34 of whom are officers, including Jaakola and Chief Greg Savelli. 

"At this point, there's nothing to worry about," Savelli said regarding a decline in services. "We're making adjustments internally within the department to ensure that we provide high-quality patrol services. Only if these cuts need to be sustained or if additional cuts are needed would there be a degradation in service."

Officers who choose to work extra days with only one day off are a cause for concern,  Savelli said. Depending on seniority, certain officers are entitled to take on extra shifts if they desire. 

The police budget is not the only service in danger of being cut. According to the mid-year budget review, the city is also defferring a portion of the fire department equipment charges ($36,224) until the end of the year.

To help with the city fire departments budget problem, the City Council has been working with the Redondo Beach Fire Department for nearly a year in hopes of merging the two. 

"All the big-time politicians say 'we're gonna cut police and fire,' and I think those guys oughta be strung up," Mayor Pro Tem Peter Tucker said. "We've been working to bring the Redondo Beach Fire Department in to combine with ours. And hopefully if that works, Manhattan will want to come in, too. Believe me, the last thing I want to cut are police and fire."

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