Riverside hopes to hire 60 more police officers in the next five years.

The hiring would bring the department back to pre-recession staffing levels and help keep pace with the city’s population growth, officials said.

The cost of the hirings was not available Thursday, Dec. 29. The 60 hires would include new recruits and transfers from other agencies. Measure Z, the sales tax increase city voters approved in November, would provide money to beef up the police ranks.

Under a plan that will be discussed in January, about 15 new cops would fill vacant positions that were cut earlier this year to help close a deficit, Riverside Police Chief Sergio Diaz said. The rest would be put on patrol, he said.

“What it’ll enable us to do primarily is respond to calls … in a more timely way,” he said. “Sometimes people are waiting for hours for a police response to things that are not life-threatening.”

The added police would bring the department from about 350 to 410 sworn officers in five years.

The council will discuss the plan and likely vote on the funding next month, possibly at a Jan. 31 workshop on how to use projected revenue from Measure Z.

In October, council members unanimously agreed to a “responsible spending” pledge that laid out priorities for any new city revenue: paying down debt, increasing emergency reserves, and maintaining city equipment and infrastructure. Officials also have promised to use sales tax dollars to shore up public safety services.

The city’s police are “overworked and overtaxed,” City Councilman Paul Davis said Thursday, Dec. 29, adding that, “When (residents) voted to pass Measure Z, that was a mandate to me that said ‘Yes, we want to fix these issues.’”

Councilman Mike Gardner said he supports the hiring plan and would like to add 100 officers rather than 60.

As police staffing has dwindled, the city’s population – estimated in 2015 at more than 322,000 people – has grown by as many as 35,000 people over the past nine years or so, Gardner said.

Hiring wouldn’t happen overnight.

With background checks and training, it could take eight to 10 months to bring an officer from another law enforcement agency on board, and even longer for a new recruit, Riverside police Capt. Larry Gonzalez said.

Applicants have their criminal record checked, fill out a questionnaire, take fitness and polygraph tests and – if they’re offered a job – undergo a psychological exam. Entry-level hires spend six months at the police academy. All get several months of field training.

Diaz said he’s working on a recruitment plan and believes adding about a dozen officers a year is realistic, but “The heavy lifting’s still ahead of us.”

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