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San Diego Police Department Realigns Service Areas;
College Area Beats Will Move from Mid-City to Eastern Division
The San Diego Police Department recently announced a major realignment of its geographical divisions. Effective September 17, the College Area police beats (814 - College West and 815 - College East) will become part of the Eastern Division instead of the Mid-City Division. The realignment was the result of an eight month internal process, and was based on reviewing services calls to various areas. The last realignment occurred in 1990, when the Mid-City Division was created. Prior to 1990, the College Area was included in the Eastern Division. The Eastern Division headquarters is located on Aero Drive in Kearney Mesa.
North Park was assigned to Mid-City because it fits better geographically and faces similar types of criminal activities. Because North Park is hard to reach by freeways, there is often a delayed response by Western Division units. Adding North Park to Mid-City necessitated reassigning the College Area beats to Eastern and the Oak Park and Ridgeview/Webster beats to Southern.
Currently, officers from the College Area beats are often pulled away to assist with the most active areas in Mid-City, such as City Heights. This will not occur with the realignment since Eastern has fewer urgent calls than Mid-City.
In order to keep the all of El Cajon Boulevard from North Park to La Mesa in the same division, the businesses along the north side of El Cajon Boulevard to their borders with the adjacent residential areas will remain in Mid-City. (See map.) If a call near a division border is received, the closest unit will be dispatched, with back-up from a unit in the service area (if different).
In order to ensure that the Eastern Division has adequate resources to take on the College Area, four new officers have been assigned to the division. Currently, Eastern has only one Community Relations Officer (CRO) compared to three in Mid-City, but with the addition of the College Area, Eastern Division Captain Sarah Creighton plans to establish a second CRO position.
Captain Creighton has committed to maintaining the College Car and is working with SDSU officials to secure their support. She also indicated that they will continue utilizing Administrative Citations ($1000 fine per tenant) for residences that cause loud disturbances. Mid-City is training Eastern personnel on these programs to assure a smooth transition.
The realignment will split El Cerrito into two divisions (north of El Cajon Blvd. in Eastern and south in Mid-City). Assistant Police Chief Boyd Long will be meeting with the El Cerrito Community Council to discuss their concerns regarding this.
The CACC has appreciated the close working relationship we have enjoyed with the Mid-City Division, especially Captain Lawrence
McKinney and his predecessor Captain Guy Swanger, Lieutenant Chuck Kaye, former CRO's Jenny Hall and Dean Thomas and others. We look forward to developing similar strong relationships with Eastern Division.
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