Police union blasts Merced City Council

The Merced Police Officers Association has designed an image that has appeared in social media this week in which the union condemns the Merced City Council, saying it “failed” voters.

The association apologized to residents through the image, which includes photos of each of the council members and text that reads: “We supported many of our current council members who have dissapointed (sic) and failed us all.”

President Joe Deliman, who is also a detective in Merced, confirmed that the association designed and distributed the image. “We do need more officers on the street,” he said. “Like I said, we’re doing more with less.”

The association put the image on Facebook to let citizens of Merced “know we care,” he said.

The image also states that the City Council has not delivered its promises to create jobs, award city employees who have taken pay cuts, help the homeless and improve public safety. Deliman noted that the city would likely need to see improvements in the economy before it could hire more officers.

After several years of a plummeting local economy spurred by the housing market crash and Great Recession that began last decade, the number of officers employed in Merced has fallen. The peak of 111 officers in 2007 is down to 87 this year.

Merced is also experiencing a violent year, which the association’s image points out. Merced has seen 14 homicides this year, with two months left on the calendar. Last year saw a total of five, and there were nine the year before that.

Deliman said officers can’t necessarily prevent all murders but a greater police presence could help prevent shootings on the street.

Measure C, a half-cent sales tax approved by voters in 2005, is aimed at helping pay for police, firefighters and roads. This year, more than $6 million is paying for 22.99 police department positions and 13.8 fire positions, according to city records. Another $223,675 is aimed at street maintenance.

Last year’s budget was slightly higher, paying for the same number of positions but increasing the street resurfacing budget to $475,000.

Mayor Stan Thurston said he is looking to get the council’s approval to add one officer a year for the next five years. “It’s probably the most affordable proposal,” he said. “If the financial gurus of the city think we can afford more, then we should hire more.”

Thurston said the officers are overworked, and tired officers are more prone to injury or illness.

Beyond hiring new officers, he said, the city needs to implement programs to help fight crime, particularly gang violence. He said the city could do a better job of communicating with residents, because many of them feel like police are doing nothing to improve safety.

“No one thing is going to do it,” he said. “But if enough things are done, then the neighborhoods are going to believe that the city is concerned about their safety and has their back.”

Growing Neighborhood Watch programs and an elevated presence from Merced Ceasefire would also be good additions to the city, he said.

The next level of Ceasefire, which gathers residents to walk what can be dangerous neighborhoods, would plan a “call-in” meeting, in which gang members are offered help to find work and warned that further gang activity will only draw attention from police. Cities such as Boston, Sacramento and Stockton have had success with similar programs.

Councilman Kevin Blake, who is also a Merced County sheriff’s sergeant, called public safety his No.1 priority. He pointed to the recently assembled Disruptive Area Response Team as an example of the council’s efforts to improve public safety, but added he understands the association’s frustrations.

Blake said the city needs to find a way to add officers to the police force. He called the number of homicides “unacceptable.”

“We’ve had residents that come up and speak, and they voice their fear,” he said. “They’re afraid to come out of their homes and things like that, and that’s just sad.”

He said he would support the idea floated by the mayor to add one officer a year over the next five years, but added he would want to go beyond that. “I don’t know exactly what that would look like,” he said. “We would have to find the money. We have to make public safety a priority.”

This story was originally published November 5, 2014 at 7:08 PM with the headline "Police union blasts Merced City Council."