Amid nationwide and local calls for redistributing funds from police departments, the city of Lompoc recently approved pay raises for its officers.
During its meeting on July 7, the City Council approved an agreement with the Lompoc Police Officers’ Association that includes a 2 percent salary increase for the union’s members. According to a staff report for the meeting, the city is also increasing its medical contributions to the officers.
This agreement, which will remain in place through June 2021, replaces a previous one that expired at the end of June. According to the staff report, the agreement will cost the city $126,190 over the next year.
The council last approved a pay raise for officers in its 2017-19 budget. In exchange for this raise, the police department agreed to hold three officer positions vacant.
Following the passage of the 1 percent sales tax measure earlier this year, the council decided to again fund those positions. But as the Sun has previously reported, the city—which pays its officers less than surrounding jurisdictions—has had a hard time filling openings within its police department.
This increased investment in the city’s police department is taking place while advocacy groups across the country are pushing for changes in how police departments are funded and operated following the death of George Floyd while in police custody in Minnesota.
During the meeting, resident Shawndel Malcolm urged the council to find funding in the police department’s budget to provide body cameras for the city’s police officers.
“I know that in our last City Council meeting, there was the issue of cost, which is a little alarming to me that we are looking at the cost of body cams instead of looking at the people that it’s going to protect,” Malcolm said.
While the council didn’t respond to Malcolm’s request, Lompoc Mayor Jenelle Osborne proposed that the council consider resolution declaring systematic racism as a public health crisis. Councilmembers Gilda Cordova and Dirk Starbuck backed the mayor’s proposal to place this on a future agenda.
Osborne said she plans to work with local health organizations and the recently formed Building BLOCK (Black & Latinx Offering Community & Knowledge) to identify what local issues exist and how the problems can be addressed. She said the resolution will include actionable steps, rather than a hollow proclamation that acknowledges systematic racism is a problem, but doesn’t do anything about it.
“I’d like for the council to consider a resolution that systematic racism is a public health crisis,” Osborne said. “By us partnering with our public health facility in the community, find ways to address it, and start providing solutions to our community.”
This article appears in Jul 16-23, 2020.
