Sausalito Police Protection

**NEWS UPDATE: 8/30/2022

By the way, rumor has it, Sausalito may be closing down it’s police force and contracting with the CHP and Marin County Sheriff to patrol our streets. What about community policing? Since this is only a rumor, please email the Council and ask them what’s going on/express your outrage. Will we have another deal where the residents pay for the huge buildings AND 45% of our property taxes go to public services? That is the deal the former Council cut with Southern Marin Fire. Yes, 45 % of your property taxes go towards fire protection.

Are Sausalito residents safe? Are our criminals becoming more sophisticated?

Anecdotal incidents in 2021

●     Thieves park trucks in front of an empty Sausalito house and over the course of fourteen hours remove all of its furnishings;

●     Despite all its theft-protection systems, a new Volvo was stolen out of the driveway at a house on the Hill; and

●     In February of this year, two San Francisco men were arrested in Sausalito in possession of a stolen van that was filled with stolen property including bicycles, electric scooters and luggage. Source: CBS News San Francisco

Crime Statistics for 2019

The most recent crime statistics we have are from 2019 (source of data and charts: Neighborhood Scout)  The good news is that violent crime was not a component of the problem.  Property crime, however, was a major issue.

●     Would you be surprised to find that, in our supposedly sleepy little village of Sausalito, you were 65% more likely to suffer a property crime in 2019 than your fellow Californians?

●     Or that you were over twice as likely to suffer a theft in Sausalito than the average spot in the United States?

Sausalito vs California statistics

Sausalito vs National statistics

Have things changed since 2019?  If you go to social media sites like Next Door, you would conclude things have gotten worse.  California is releasing 76,000 inmates, including repeat felons, in 2021 (source: Center Square).  Based on the statistics above, Sausalito draws thieves.

The City Council Reacts - by reducing the police force?

Maybe the City Council members haven’t experienced crime personally and are lulled into a sense of security.  That would explain why they voted to “delay funding” for two beat patrol officer positions.  Typically now there are two officers patrolling on any given shift.  A diversion in the north end of town could leave the south end unprotected.  Do you think criminals don’t know this?  Does that make you feel safe?

Another savings move was to require parking enforcement officers to spend their time enforcing zoning infractions like illegal short term rentals.  Parking enforcement keeps streets from becoming clogged and produces revenue.  Keeping a lid on illegal short term rentals prevents abuses like party houses and even worse, like the horrible gunfight in Sunnyvale (ABC 7 News).  It’s foolhardy to assume either of these important tasks will be successfully accomplished by officers splitting their time.  One or the other or both will suffer.

If the City Council wasn’t spending $13,000 per month on the funding of the Bank of America building, they could fund at least one of the beat patrol officer positions.  We need that officer.