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Public safety spending up
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Public safety spending up

While San Diego’s 18 cities and county government budgeted $1.76 billion on public safety for the most recent fiscal year (FY 2006-07), the number of sworn law enforcement officers is not keeping pace with population growth. These findings are detailed in the latest report from the SANDAG Criminal Justice Research Division, Public Safety Budgets in the San Diego Region: Expenditures and Staffing for Fiscal Year 2007.

Public safety costs have grown 16 percent during the past five years. During the same time, population countywide has increased five percent, while overall public safety staffing decreased slightly (less than 1%).

Law enforcement constitutes the largest proportion (50%) of the overall, annual public safety budget in the region ($879 million for law enforcement). The public safety budget includes expenditures for corrections, prosecution, probation, public defense, court-related, and law enforcement (i.e., police departments).

More than one-third (35%) of the general funds for the 18 incorporated cities in the county combined is dedicated to law enforcement.

The SANDAG report is the latest in the Crime in the San Diego Region series.

The SANDAG Criminal Justice Research Division, in conjunction with ARJIS (Automated Regional Justice Information System), is an essential source of information for local communities on public health and safety, crime data, and crime prevention and reduction strategies being implemented countywide.

Project Manager:
Darlanne Mulmat, Associate Research Analyst
dmu@sandag.org, (619) 699-7326