The cities had been contracting with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department.
However, Lake Elsinore City Manager Grant Yates described the growing apprehension toward the contract, “Some of these costs are really onerous and scaring us all on the local city side.” Those costs mostly focus on rising labor costs, the contractual pay raises are growing and cities are left wondering how to foot the bill.
The coalition consists of the Cities of Canyon Lake, Calimesa, Coachella, Eastvale, Indian Wells, Jurupa Valley, Lake Elsinore, La Quinta, Menifee, Moreno Valley, Perris, San Jacinto and Temecula. The cities of Norco, Wildomar, Palm Desert and Rancho Mirage also hold contracts with the County Sheriff but are not currently part of the group.
Riverside County Sheriff Stan Sniff says the rate increases in the contract are a result of higher labor costs, but also thinks the study being conducted by the cities will only validate the cost-effectiveness of contracting through the County Sheriff’s Department. A statement from the Sheriff’s Department said, “Each of those expensive studies have universally validated the cost-effectiveness of our police services contracts over these many decades.”
This movement comes while Riverside County is in the middle of an audit of their public safety expenses.
The cities in the coalition are splitting up the cost of the study, which seeks to produce an operating budget and 10-year projection. The goal is to maintain the current level of services while saving a couple bucks at the same time.
Further reading on the joint police force study can be found here.