Mesa looking to civilians to aid in police work

Officer shortages plague the East Valley and costs of policing are on the rise — so Mesa police Chief George Gascón is figuring out a way to weave more citizens into crime-fighting.

Mesa police chief: Crime is dropping

Mesa clarifies immigration policy during arrests

While many details still need to be ironed out, Gascón said he wants to create a new model for policing that would employ more non-sworn employees to perform duties traditionally reserved solely for police officers. A sworn employee is someone who has completed the police academy, is certified to work as a peace officer and can make arrests.

Gascón believes the program would provide better customer service, allow police to respond more quickly to emergencies and develop a better reporting process.

“We’re hoping to start a pilot program with one of the stations and hopefully eventually go citywide,” Gascón said.

The concept of adding civilians to the police department isn’t a new one. Currently in Mesa, civilian employees investigate property crimes, take minor traffic reports and gather forensic evidence at crime scenes.

And other cities throughout the East Valley also have civilians performing law enforcement-related duties. For example, Chandler has volunteers who can write tickets for cars parked in fire lanes and handicap spots and Gascón is hoping to take current practices to the next level with a pilot program that would allow civilians to go as far as testifying in court when needed. And he plans to make it happen within the department’s current operating budget.

“Civilian employment doesn’t save a lot on the front end, but when it comes to the pension systems, it does,” Gascón said. “A lot of this is savings you’ll see in 10, 15, 20 years.”

Gascón said he wants to keep officers doing what they do best — fighting crime. Also, he hopes that by training civilians in certain duties, staff can have the extra time to be more customer-friendly.

Mesa police officer Bryan Soller, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, said his union supports the idea because the city is down more than 200 police officers, compared to what’s recommended standards.

“When there’s no suspect information or there’s just a report that needs to be taken, civilians can do it,” Soller said. “We’re always leery about taking jobs away from police officers of course, but this is going to help us and free up our guys to go out and fight crime.”

Still, Mesa’s other union, the Mesa Police Association, has some concerns about the plan.

“Are they trying to get by with not hiring an adequate number of officers?” said Mesa Police Association President Fabian Cota. “Are we short-changing our citizens with less quality because we can’t afford to pay for officers?”