City of Willits*

The budget of the Willits Police Department provides for a staff of one chief, three sergeants, ten patrol officers, one community services officer, five dispatchers and one administrative assistant [supervisor]. Agree.

At the time of the Grand Jury's visit, three patrol officer positions were vacant, two of them unfilled and one unfunded. One dispatcher position was unfilled. Agree.

The Administrative Assistant [Supervisor] is in cross training for Dispatcher. Agree. There currently is neither a female nor a bi-lingual patrol officer.

Housing and quality of life are important considerations when recruiting personnel for WPD. Agree. According to the California Board of Corrections Inspection Report of 2005, the

Willits Police Department Holding Cells were out of compliance because not all required Policies and Procedures were included in the Jail Manual. Agree.

On occasion there are not enough officers to adequately staff the holding cells and still respond to calls. We partially agree, as this only occurs at times where staffing dips to the point on a given shift where all on-duty officers are involved in the booking process, and there is a short wait until a transport officer can be called out from home. Having officers involved in an arrest limits the availability of backup in cases where one officer must break free to handle an additional call for service. The recent hiring of a community services officer to help with prisoner transports and the filling of vacant patrol positions has greatly decreased those periods where staffing creates a conflict over response to calls for service versus prisoner handling.

General Orders (operating procedures) for the WPD are being revised with funding provided by Redwood Empire Municipal Insurance Fund [REMIF]. Agree.

Currently one staff person is qualified to be a custodian in the evidence room; other staff are undergoing training. Agree. Currently our Community Services Officer (CSO) has begun training in this area, with the hope that she will eventually be the custodian of the evidence room with supervisor backup from a police sergeant serving as a "check and balance".

Transportation of prisoners to the County Jail or another facility is carried out within one hour. Agree.

At the time of the Grand Jury's visit, all holding cells were clean and facilities were found to be in working order. Agree.

WPD does not possess tasers. Disagree. Willits Police Department did not possess tasers at the time of the Grand Jury visit; however, tasers were recently purchased. They have not yet been pending implementation of a training program and the deployed, publishing/implementation of the REMIF General Order Manual section relating to this tool.

The Emergency Plan for the City of Willits was last revised in 1998. Agree.

Total drug arrests are up by approximately 300% over the last five years. Agree.