CLEARLAKE >> Violent crime and property crime dropped by 6.26 percent in 2017 in the City of Clearlake.
In sharing the news with Clearlake’s City County, acting Police Chief Tim Celli reported that over his three years at the interim post, the number of incidents has fallen noticeably. Last year, for example, the city had zero homicides related to marijuana. Yet he was not ready to celebrate the information.
“If you recall we did have one homicide last year and I will say that the homicide was not marijuana-related but it was still drug-related and that person has been convicted of that crime,” Celli said.
Celli observed that the drop occurred despite new laws that seemed likely to cause an increase in crime. These include AB 109 that required a reduction of inmates in state prisons, Propositions 47 that reduced felony crimes to misdemeanors and Propositions 57 that reduced prison sentences even further.
Celli said the police staff in the city continues to work diligently as they crack down on crime in the area even with the shortage of staff. With the approximate $3.8 million budget, the department allows for a staff of 23.5 sworn in officers. Currently, the staff only has 18.5.
To help spread out some of the work with the staff shortage, the department has doubled up on the workload and established 12-hour shifts. Taking the workload and staffing shortage into consideration, Celli said each officer has handled 1,805 incidents in 2017.
“To put that into perspective, the average Sacramento City Police Officer handles approximately 468 incidents per year. This comparison was based on their 2016 Annual Report information. Just saying we’re busy doesn’t paint the whole picture,” Celli said.
There were 2,002 arrests made, 2,802 Traffic Enforcement Stops and 3,430 reports put in by officers. Even with the decrease in the percentage of crime, Celli said the city has experienced an increase in rape, robbery, vehicle theft and aggravated assault.
Other accomplishments the department had last year was establishing a procedure for cleaning up behind Ray’s shopping center, hosted the city’s first National Night Out, created partnerships, reestablished a Community Service Officer, developed the Scavenging Ordinance and more.
Celli said this is also made possible with the help of their volunteers. The department has added more volunteers and in 2017 these individuals had logged in 4,732 hours.
“It is important to understand we would not be able to do what we do without our Police Volunteers,” Celli said. “If they weren’t there, these would be duties that we would have to do as paid staff which would hinder our efficiency.”
Looking at this year, the department is looking at starting to focus in other areas such as Animal Control, getting staff levels to capacity, continue partnerships with departments and organizations and reducing vehicle theft and other crimes.
“The department works very hard. The men and women of the Clearlake Police Department do an outstanding job each and every day and I’m proud of them,” Celli said.
