Update From Chief Cynthia Renaud

October 15, 2018 9:00 AM
by Cynthia Renaud

This article originally appeared in the October edition of Seascape. 

Greetings, Santa Monica! It seems like only a few weeks ago I was writing to introduce myself as your new Chief of Police, yet it’s actually been about four months now. In that time, I have been working hard to meet community members, attend a multitude of neighborhood meetings, and liaise with our business groups. If you haven’t seen me around town or had an opportunity to talk, just wait – I’m sure we’ll bump into each other soon! I could spend pages telling you what we’ve been doing recently here at Santa Monica PD, but I was only given 400 words in this Seascape column, so bear with me! Here goes the quickest review ever.

As I’ve been talking with people, I have stressed that our organization is focused on achieving the following outcomes: combat crime; reduce homelessness; improve traffic safety and mobility. In order to achieve these outcomes, we need three, main things: 1) Santa Monica Police Department employees in place to get the job done; 2) an engaged, educated community armed with the knowledge they need to be part of our solutions; 3) a strong reliance on the most appropriate technologies that can help us do our jobs faster and more effectively.

Santa Monica PD has been working hard to fill its employee vacancies. In June, we put three new police officers in the field. Three recruits will graduate the Police Academy in October, we anticipate hiring five lateral police officers by mid-September, and we have 46 applicants in the various stages of the overall hiring process. We have also hired three Animal Control Officers, one Public Services Officer, one Custody Officer and one Pier and Harbor Services Officer. We have begun using a new software that allows us to streamline our process and shave months off our hiring timeline, while still maintaining our high standards in attaining the diverse workforce best capable of serving this community.

We have increased our number of resources in Patrol Operations and I know that many people tell me they "see more of us" around town and in their neighborhoods. We have deployed our Mobile Command Unit (#OptimusCrime) to Reed Park and Palisades Park to combat issues there. We began our “Wag and Watch” program to increase citizen involvement and awareness, and, of course, we have been working on scooter safety. With all that, we are still battling property crime, particularly break-ins to vehicles and crimes of larceny. Please help us decrease crime by not leaving valuables in your car and keeping your car locked at all times! We will not be able to reduce crime until we reduce the crimes of opportunity our city offers.

The ever-present struggle with homelessness here in Santa Monica is an incredibly difficult issue to dissect and solve, as it ultimately involves human beings and their individual situations. While the Police Department’s core mission is to enforce laws, we know that we have to be part of a comprehensive solution to this human issue. To that end, we continue to work closely with Alisa Orduña, our city’s Senior Advisor on Homelessness, to help bridge the gap between the myriad of social service providers, mental health professionals, and addiction counselors working to end this complex crisis.

If you are reading this and are left thinking of all the things not discussed here, please know that I am already well over my 400-word limit, so you can visit our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for more news on SMPD!

Authored By

Cynthia Renaud
Chief of Police