What's going well 

The City has increased police hiring and is testing new tools and emergency response models to ease pressure on its public safety resources.

Challenges     

Tight staffing and high call volumes stretch police and fire crews. Some crisis calls could be handled better through a non-emergency response, but those options remain limited.

What the City is doing

• Hire and keep more police officers. The City will grow each police academy class to 40 recruits, add hiring bonuses for experienced officers, and offer cadet stipends.
• Reduce time spent on police paperwork. The City will test artificial intelligence (AI) software that helps write police reports, so officers spend less time at a desk and more time responding to calls.
• Redraw patrol areas. The City will move from 16 police districts to 12 so workloads are more even and response is faster.
• Send the right responder to medical calls. The City will launch a Community Paramedicine pilot that sends specially trained paramedics to lower-level and frequent 9-1-1 calls to connect people to medical, mental health, and social services.
• Get the closest Fire unit to medical emergencies. The City will test a “closest unit” fire dispatch model so the nearest crew responds to medical calls.

What’s going well

Overall crime in San José is trending down and the City is considered the safest large city in the nation.

Challenges

A few categories of crime have remained flat across California. The City wants better tools and stronger partnerships to continue reducing crime.

What the City is doing

• Use technology to help solve crimes. The City will connect up to 1,500 City-owned public safety cameras and 300 private cameras to the Police Department’s Real Time Intelligence Center (RTIC).
• Learn from what works elsewhere. The City will send a team to study how other jurisdictions carry out Proposition 36, a state law on certain theft and drug crimes, and will bring back ideas that fit San José.
• Connect people to services instead of repeat arrests. The City will build a clear plan for police to refer eligible people to the County’s Reentry Resource Center.

What’s going well

The City runs school-based and community programs that reach young people who are at risk of violence.

Challenges

Schools, community groups, and public safety agencies do not always share information quickly. This can delay help for at-risk youth and increase the chance they remain involved in violence.

What the City is doing

• Strengthen school safety programs. The City will update the Safe Schools Campus Initiative and the Female Intervention Team to use approaches backed by evidence.
• Redesign community crisis outreach. The City will rebuild the Community Crisis Intervention Team around a “focused deterrence” model that concentrates help on the small number of people most connected to gun violence, in line with Bringing Everyone’s Strengths Together (BEST) funding.

What’s going well

Through its Vision Zero Action Plan, the City is already building safer streets and using data to target the most dangerous locations. 

Challenges

Many streets were first designed for speed and traffic volume, not safety. Speeding is the main cause of deadly and serious crashes in San José.

What the City is doing

• Build safer streets. The City will complete 95% of planned traffic safety projects in priority corridors, such as crosswalk and traffic-calming improvements.
• Slow down speeders with technology. The City will turn on 33 automated speed enforcement cameras along the most dangerous corridors, made possible by state law Assembly Bill 645.