Mayor Todd Gloria has floated the idea of combining the Port of San Diego Harbor Police with the San Diego Police Department, saying such a move could help the city solve a perennial police staffing shortage.
Gloria offered up the idea at last weekend’s Politifest, an annual public affairs summit by the nonprofit news outlet Voice of San Diego. The mayor described the merger idea as “a little more provocative” than his other suggestion of using technology to improve police responses.
He said the city was dealing with a time of “extreme financial challenges,” and such a change could bring an additional 140 officers onto the force in one fell swoop.
“With the lack of resources, we have to be laser focused on fundamentals that I think can deliver us the city that we want,” he said, according to a video posted online of Saturday’s event, which was held at the University of San Diego.
Gloria said keeping people safe was one of his top four priorities for the city. While San Diego remains one of the safest big cities in the U.S., Gloria said the police department lags on its goal of having a 2,000-officer force.
“We’re about 200 police officers short, and we have a Harbor Police Department that consists of about 140 police officers, that basically has overlapping jurisdiction,” Gloria said. He noted that the two agencies already cooperate when responding to larger incidents.
The mayor said during the event that the department had 1,822 sworn officers. A department spokesperson this week said staffing was at 1,860 officers, thanks to the addition of a new class of police academy graduates.
During this spring’s budget discussions, officials said San Diego has about 1.3 police officers for every 1,000 residents, far below the national average of 2.4 officers per 1,000 residents. The officer shortage has been an issue for the department for more than a decade. In 2022, the city boosted police pay and offered incentives to reward officers who bring in recruits and bonuses to experienced officers who join the force.
“We should be asking ourselves fundamental questions about the way we choose to organize ourselves and wonder if we can be more efficient and more effective by bringing the professionals that are at the Harbor Police Department into the San Diego Police Department,” Gloria said.
With such a change, he said, “you suddenly get a lot closer” to the goal of 2,000.
Later in the discussion, another panelist asked how the Port of San Diego, which oversees Harbor Police, felt about such a plan. “I was told the assignment was to throw ideas out there,” Gloria replied.
A Port District spokesperson declined to comment on Gloria’s merger idea.
When asked what work might be done next to pursue such a plan, a spokesperson for Gloria described the idea as “still in the very early conversations stage.”
Harbor Police provide police services and marine firefighting within the territorial limits of the Port of San Diego, including providing law enforcement at San Diego International Airport.
According to its website, the department has “cross-trained to prevent crime on the waterfront and fight fire on the water” and provides specialized training in such things as maritime tactics, terrorism, narcotics, explosive detection canines, and dive and rescue teams.
It is responsible for patrolling more than 14,000 acres of tidelands and water areas in and around San Diego Bay, including parts of San Diego, Coronado, National City, Chula Vista and Imperial Beach. It has a budget of $57.5 million, which provides for a staff of 179, including 142 sworn officers.
By comparison, the city allocates the San Diego Police Department more than $702 million from its general fund, enough to provide 2,031 sworn staff. The department also employs around 523 professional staff.
Police Chief Scott Wahl declined to comment on the mayor’s idea, said spokesperson Lt. Travis Easter.
“They are our neighbor police law-enforcement agency, and whenever there is something that crosses over jurisdiction-wise, we are already wanting to help out,” Easter said. “It is always one team.”
A potential merger wasn’t the only idea Gloria mentioned at the summit to bolster public safety. He said he’d also like to see the police department possibly expand its use of drones, similar to what Chula Vista has done.
He also said officers could use artificial intelligence programs to help them more quickly prepare written reports, which would allow them to spend more time in the field “keeping us safe.”
“I think technology will be a force multiplier and one of the ways we can bridge that gap,” he told the audience.