‘It’s a win-win for everybody.’ City of Gustine adds new officers to its police force

The Gustine Police Department is getting several sets of helping hands, as city leaders Tuesday swore in a full time police officer and eight reserve officers into the force’s ranks.

Police Chief Ruben Chavez said the officers will provide assistance toward popular town events like the Memorial Day parade, Fourth of July fireworks, graduation ceremonies and other town favorites — all of which are expected to make a comeback after a year’s hiatus.

“It’s a win-win for everybody, the community gets better service, crime is lowered because you have more officers on the street,” Chavez said. “And it’s saving the city over time because now they’re filling that void without incurring extra costs to be able to allow our staff to take off days they badly need.”

Currently the department has a total of 12 employees — seven full-time officers, three reserve officers, and two regular employees.

Tuesday’s addition means the department now has a total of 21 employees: eight full-time officers, 11 reserve officers, and the two regular employees.

Greg Gilstrap is the new full-time officer who was sworn in. The new reserve officers are Paloma Chavez, Jessie Diaz, Tony Fuentes, Jose Gallardo, Jarrod Nunes, Thomas Paredes, Manuel Pinto and Michael Trujillo.

Chavez said having a larger force will provide more availability for shift coverage, allowing other officers to take time off and saving the city money — as more reserve officers means less overtime for full-time officers.

“Being in an occupation that’s high stress, we want our officers to have the time off and take the time off to relax and recoup, kind of de-stress. Having a volunteer force to be able to fill that gap, allows them to do that,” Chavez said.

Reserve officers are similar to full-time officers. They offer the same services, but are unpaid volunteers. The reserve officers carry guns and make arrest just like full-time officers, and are Police Officer Standards and Training) certified.

“They’re giving a value to the city by patrolling; they’re not being compensated. Each one will give about two days of patrol a month, so if you have eight, that’s 16 days, that’s 128 hours of patrol minimum,” explained Chavez.

The additional full-time officer is being made possible thanks to a $294,882 anti-tobacco grant from the California Department of Justice. Some of that funding will go towards the full-time officer’s salary as well as other department projects.

Money to fund the reserve officers comes to $110,000. “The money that was saved for not hiring another officer to backfill an officer who retired, there was already money allocated for his salary. And since we didn’t hire another person, the money that stayed in our budget was used to do the backgrounds on the medical exams, psychological exams, equipment for the reserve officers,” explained Chavez.

Approximately $35,000 out of the $110,000 was used for the hiring of the reserve officers, while the rest will go toward different department needs.

The reserve officers are expected to serve a minimum of three years.

Reported crime down in Gustine

The city saw an overall 13 percent decrease in Part 1 crimes in 2020 over the prior year.

Part 1 crimes include violent crimes like murder, manslaughter, assault, rape and robbery plus property crimes like burglary, arson, larceny and auto theft.

Chavez said the reason for the decrease was probably due to the pandemic, which likely prompted residents to stay at home.

Among the highlights of the city’s 2020 Part 1 crime data:

• Homicides: 0 in 2020, 0 in 2019
• Aggravated Assault: 3 in 2020, 11 in 2010
• Rape: 2 in 2020, 2 in 2019
• Robberies: 2 in 2020, 4 in 2019
• Simple Assault: 55 in 2020, 58 in 2019
• Burglaries: 21 in 2020, 32 in 2019
• Larcenies: 56 in 2020, 55 in 2019
• Car Theft: 28 in 2020, 29 in 2019
• Arson: 1 in 2020, 2 in 2019

Despite the decrease, Chavez noted last week there were roughly a half dozen assaults reported.

Chavez said he’s hopeful the new officers will play a big role in responding to those and other crimes.

“Also we have some really good officers that stay very active,” Chavez said.

“I think the fact that there were fewer people out and about (in 2020), the officers were more active in investigating suspicious activity and making traffic stops and things like that, maybe that had a deterrent effect on people that might potentially want to commit crimes. With the new officers we’re hoping to see even less crime,” he said.