Public Safety - Police/Sheriff

• Crime has been increasing - FBI Part 1 crimes in Rancho Cucamonga as compared to other agencies. Rancho Cucamonga use to rate #2 safest city, but now dropped to #6th

• Criminal Homicide - Rape - Robbery - Aggravated Assault

• Staffing Levels are below FBI recommendations

• Officer Safety has decreased

Rancho Cucamonga's drop in public safety rankings is considered tied to a widening gap between high-density population growth and law enforcement staffing levels.

Historically celebrated as the #2 safest city in California, the city has experienced an uptick in FBI Part 1 violent crimes—specifically Criminal Homicide, Rape, Robbery, and Aggravated Assault—slipping to lower slots on regional safety indices.

The Staffing and Crime Metric Breakdown is considered Failing to Meet Federal Recommendations: The FBI commonly recommends a baseline staffing ratio of roughly 1.5 to 2.5 sworn officers per 1,000 residents depending on regional demands. Rancho population is estimated to be 178,000 in 2025. Using an Average between 1.5 to 2.5 or 2.0 x 178 = 356 officers. Will the City explain that this level has been met, or has not been met?

Formula (County Average Cost Salaries and Benefits of a Deputy Sheriff x 356 = $X Sheriff Contract Cost for Salaries and Benefits of Rancho Sheriff staff = should equal $X or greater.

Due to rapid population expansion from multi-family complexes, the Rancho Cucamonga Police Department (contracted through the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department) has seen its per-capita officer ratio fall significantly below these federal metrics. FBI Part 1 Crime Inflation: As raw numbers for violent crimes rise along heavily congested transportation corridors, the city's per-capita crime score has faced downward pressure. When compared to adjacent agencies that have aggressively funded extra proactive patrols, Rancho Cucamonga’s contract-based staffing limits mean fewer units are available for preventative visibility. Degraded officer Safety: Lower active staffing levels mean fewer patrol units are on duty per beat during a single shift. When responding to high-risk Part 1 calls, backup arrival times are extended, severely lowering officer safety margins and forcing single units to handle volatile situations alone for longer durations.

Local Impact of contract policing law enforcement is managed via a contract with the County of San Bernardino, and the City Council controls the exact number of personnel it pays for: The Population vs. Patrol Lag: by adding high-density housing/commercial projects (ie Hamilton) adds thousands of new emergency calls for service annually. If the city does not explicitly vote to fund and add more deputies to the Sheriff’s contract, the existing police force is stretched across a denser, more congested geography. Rising Call for Service strains Officers that are spending an increasing percentage of their shifts running from call to call rather than conducting targeted proactive policing, which allows property crimes and localized physical assaults to expand.

The other causes the City may not be properly funding to police industry standards – is the same reason San Bernardino City went bankrupt. Fire Pension and Salaries had gotten out of control. Simply, government budget shortfalls are increasingly driven by a structural mismatch between escalating public safety personnel costs and unencumbered deferred liabilities. When public safety salaries and benefits outpace revenue growth, municipalities frequently face structural deficits. To balance immediate operational budgets, local governments often delay long-term obligations—such as infrastructure maintenance or pension funding—creating a ballooning wave of deferred costs that eventually compounds fiscal distress. MunicipalBond.com states the cause was “The city offered more generous retirement benefits than most California cities, including higher employer pension contributions and a city charter that set police officer and firefighter salaries by formulas”. Did the City of San Bernardino use salary comparisons of Rancho Cucamonga High Fire Salaries to establish Salary Comps?

It should be noted that certain data on crime in Rancho Cucamonga is no longer available. Mapping data is gone yet is available for surrounding cities. Details from the FBI crime data center - on crimes within the city are no longer tracked or not broken out like Chino Hills (Sheriff Contract City). Excuses are given like “Pandemic” or “Change in Reporting” or “Data was lost” or “We are transferring to a new system”, yet other agencies are reporting.

This is why in 1979 I was asked by the County Administrative Office, Law and Justice Agency and Probation Executive Officer (Harry Mays) to transfer to Sheriff Bureau of Administration, to provide a “Pencil Pusher” (College Degree in Business Administration) and not have “gun carrying deputies pushing pencils, but out on the street – addressing crimes. I acted as the bridge between great law enforcement leadership AND county budget operations. It was an honor to help. But it was brought to my attention law enforcement personnel (not high tech computer programmer geeks) are now writing the new Dispatch Code (replacing the outdated Tiburon/PRC dispatch system) Presently, this is only hearsay but needs validation of being false. If County Data Processing is part of the development team – everything should be OK!