Traffic Patrol

Need for traffic patrol in El Dorado Hills

Position paper paper #06-01 of the El Dorado Hills Citizens Alliance
Approved by Citizens Alliance board of directors 2/10/2007

Summary

El Dorado Hills has a compelling and unsatisfied need for traffic patrol in the interest of public safety. The most viable way to satisfy this need appears to be amendment of state law, to grant full authority for the El Dorado County Sheriff to enforce the California Vehicle Code on the surface streets of El Dorado Hills. We recommend prompt passage of legislation to do this.

Need

Traffic patrol is the most effective response to the most important public safety issue in El Dorado Hills.

An example of the value of traffic patrol is Redwood Shores, where the Redwood City Police are staffed at 1.25 sworn officers per thousand population. Residents typically see a patrol car on traffic duty two to three times per week, and driving habits are consequently much more prudent than is typical in El Dorado Hills. A radar speed survey on Redwood Shores Blvd. showed an 85th percentile speed of 37 mph where the posted limit is 35. In contrast, speeding and running stop signs are common in El Dorado Hills. The neighborhoods of Waterford and Sterlingshire have each clocked speeders on radar as fast as 78 mph on residential streets posted for 25 mph

El Dorado Hills is a city of about 42,000 people but is unincorporated, without its own police. It has experienced rapid growth, with its population tripling in about 15 years. Rising population and road congestion have brought increased rates of accidents, with visible consequences including property damage, injuries, and fatalities. Many accidents would not have occurred if drivers had exercised the degree of caution generally seen in areas with good traffic patrol presence.

El Dorado Hills law enforcement coverage is split between the California Highway Patrol for Vehicle Code enforcement and the El Dorado County Sheriff for general law enforcement. Because of its unincorporated status, only the CHP has full authority to enforce the Vehicle Code on EDH surface streets. The most important enforcement power in question is ability to perform traffic patrol, with units stationed at particular locations or cruising to watch for problems. Visibility of law enforcement vehicles on patrol is itself a very strong deterrent to dangerous driving practices.

Our problem is that the CHP has virtually no resources available for local traffic patrol. Its Placerville office is responsible for a system of almost exactly 1,000 miles of roads. The CHP beat that includes El Dorado Hills covers an area of about 250 square miles, the portion of El Dorado County from the Sacramento County line to Ponderosa Road in Shingle Springs. Peak daytime staffing on this beat normally provides only two units on duty at any given time. Minimum staffing goes down to one unit for the entire West Slope on graveyard shift.

Three homeowners associations in El Dorado Hills are securing limited patrol through Reimbursable Services Agreements, basically buying service from the CHP by funding overtime duty. Otherwise traffic patrol on surface streets tends to be limited to major arterials, and even that patrol presence is so episodic and scarce that it is difficult to quantify.

Law enforcement level of service comparison:
Sworn officers per thousand population

Law enforcement level of service was an issue in the 2005 campaign for local Measure P, which would have incorporated El Dorado Hills as a city. Cityhood opponents repeatedly cited Folsom's level of police services as a desirable standard, 1.14 sworn officers per thousand population. Cityhood proponents agreed that this is an appropriate level of service. (The campaign arguments revolved around whether the desired level could more easily be reached as a city or as an unincorporated part of El Dorado County.)

To provide the same level of service capability would require 47 CHP officers dedicated to El Dorado Hills. Actual staffing for the entire West Slope area at this time this is written is 16 officers. In contrast, the El Dorado County Sheriff's Office most recently reported having 165 sworn officers for general law enforcement.

Comparison of EDH needs with actual level of service in incorporated cities of similar sizes is difficult because larger police departments have some degree of staff specialization. For example, a police department with 1.25 sworn officers per thousand population might have a unit specializing in traffic patrol, and that unit's size might correspond to 0.5 sworn officers per thousand. The remaining staff normally would not focus on traffic patrol, but are legally empowered to do so. Since data is not easily available to study such division of labor, the notes above focus on the only generally available measure: Sworn officers per thousand population who have full enforcement authority for the Vehicle Code. It is important to recognize that this is a measure of capability for service rather than actually rendered level of service.

Possible ways to secure and support adequate traffic patrol

These are possible ways to gain traffic patrol in El Dorado Hills:

Amend the California Vehicle Code to grant full enforcement authority to the El Dorado County Sheriff's Office within the boundaries of El Dorado Hills. This is the only alternative that involves very little additional cost and manpower, and probably is the only immediately viable alternative.
Fund CHP traffic patrol within El Dorado Hills through a grant from a separate agency. For the desired level of service this would require at least $6 million per year for staff cost, growing to at least $9 million per year by 2015. Additional costs would be incurred to acquire and maintain vehicles, equipment, and office facilities. This option does not appear viable because of its requirements for funding and the current shortage of qualified CHP officers.
Secure support directly from the CHP. This is effectively identical to the preceding alternative except that the source of funding is the CHP's own budget. It does not appear feasible for the same reasons, limitations on funding and staffing.
Incorporate as a city. This would transfer Vehicle Code enforcement to city police, or to an agency contracted to perform the duties of city police. City incorporation is not feasible for a minimum of several years.

The city police alternative

The conceptually easiest way to gain traffic control would have been to incorporate as a city. This would combine enforcement authority for both traffic patrol and general law enforcement in a single agency, city police. This was in fact cited by CHP officers as the best way to obtain traffic patrol for El Dorado Hills as a whole.

Incorporation of El Dorado Hills as a city was attempted and was defeated in the November, 2005 election by a margin of 56.3% to 43.6%. Under state law (the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Act) it will be impossible to incorporate as a city earlier than 2010. It is highly questionable whether it will be politically feasible that early, 2015 would be a more realistic date but even that year may be questionable. By that time the population of El Dorado Hills is expected to be in the range of 60,000 to 65,000 people. Also, the daily transient population of the 885-acre El Dorado Hills Business Park is expected to be 10,000 and the Town Center area in El Dorado Hills is expected to be a regional center of commerce.

All of these growth factors increase the need for traffic patrol. The need already is compelling, it will be even more so in the near-future years.