Interview with Sebastopol Police Chief
by Hank Flannery

Jeff Weaver has been a police officer in Sebastopol for 17 years and has been the Chief of Police for the last 2 years. Jeff has seen policing change dramatically in those 17 years and has an extensive store of information regarding Sebastopol and Sonoma County. Chief Weaver is fully aware of peak oil and Powerdown and the repercussions that they may have for his department and for Sebastopol.
Sebastopol is an independent department. Chief Weaver is one of the 3 “Little Chiefs” that include himself and the chiefs of Cotati and Cloverdale which represent the other 2 independent departments in Sonoma County.

The city of Sebastopol is involved in a greenhouse gas reduction project and the police department is engaged in a large way.

1. Heat and air system in the police station is being revamped to reduce energy consumption. The current system is not energy efficient as it dates to the time of construction of the building in the 1980’s.
2. Motion sensor lights and timers are in use. The Public Works group under Rich Emig has brought in a group to advise on lighting for the building.
3. Lights were off in most of the building with the exception of inner area that did not have windows. The holding cells and processing area had lights.4. There is a plan to install covered parking open garage style structures in the now open parking lot. There will be solar panels installed on top of the structures for energy generation for the police station. The roof of the station is not conducive to solar panel installation. The parking lot structures and solar panels are scheduled for this year.
5. The city of Sebastopol has provided Jeff with a hybrid Ford Escape
6. The parking enforcement vehicles are Prius hybrids.
7. Police Lt Jim Hawkins is scheduled to switch to a hybrid when his Crown Victoria is replaced.
8. Research revealed that there are no hybrid patrol cars available on the market today. Hybrids are not large enough for police patrol purposes. Patrol cars need to be large enough to hold detainees and high enough to provide clear and broad views for the officers.
9. Chief Weaver and the city council have decided to replace the Crown Victorias with Chevy Impalas which are 15% more fuel efficient. Customizing the Impalas is a bit difficult. They need to be refitted with cages in Anaheim.
10. The city and the police are researching ethanol as a possible alternative to gas.
11. Chief Weaver hopes to have all police vehicles aside from patrol cars go hybrid in the next few years.
12. Sebastopol police use 2 motorcycles for patrol.
13. Police bike patrols are common. 4 bicycles and 4 ZAP motorized bikes are used.
14. Sebastopol police have a CNG powered van. CNG is compressed natural gas.
15. There is a recycling area in the break room. Money generated is used to purchase incidentals like cakes for celebrations. This is a small but effective money saver for the police budget. Note: this is a microcosm of sustainable reuse. On a larger scale in cities it would have huge consequences.

Sebastopol is a forward looking community and the police department mirrors that commitment. The city council and the police department work together and meet on a regular basis. Sebastopol is small enough to have close personal relationships between council members and the agencies that serve the city. The council sets policy for the police department but lets the police do their job. There is a small town, community focus that the police department embraces enthusiastically.
The police department has set up a system of community service and involvement that is successful, effective and economically prudent. The police department structure is as follows

48 Total Employees

Sworn Employees
2 Administrators – Chief Weaver and Lt Hawkins
4 Supervisors
9 0fficers
7 Reserve Officers

Non-Sworn Employees
1 Administrator
5 Dispatchers
1 Per Diem Dispatcher
1 Police Aide

Volunteers
12 Community Service Volunteers
6 Police Explorers

Sebastopol provides 24 hour a day police service. 365 days a year.
20% of the patrol officers are female. Compared to most police departments this is a high percentage for active patrol officers.

Recruiting

Sebastopol has been very fortunate in regards to its police staffing and its relationship with the community. Sebastopol is a respectful community and the police have a work hard, work smart attitude towards its interaction with the public. That, in part, has enabled the police department to maintain a high level of professionalism. Many of the officers and staff have been with the department for decades and all live in Sonoma County. Of the 15 active officers 8 live in West County, 5 live in Sebastopol and the rest live in Santa Rosa or Windsor.
However, retirement, turnover and recruiting are becoming more of an issue.
Sebastopol has been deeply involved with the Sonoma County Police Academy and has 6 officers on staff who graduated from the Academy. That connection had been critical for Sebastopol.
One of the main challenges is pay and benefits. Sebastopol is not competitive with Santa Rosa, Rohnert Park and the Sonoma County sheriffs department. They are also below Cotati, Healdsburg and are near what Cloverdale offers. Officers and employees are leaving for higher pay and better benefits and new applicants are not necessarily from the county. Chief Weaver has applications from Lake County and Napa and expects more from other areas.
This is a problem in many ways. It takes 4-5 years for a patrol person to become a journeyman officer. It takes years to become fully involved in the community. Training and education cost money. Getting an officer or staff member up to speed only to lose them to Santa Rosa or the Sheriffs Department is costly.
Chief Weaver and the Sebastopol council are aware of this and looking for solutions. They are aware that recruiting from outside the area will be necessary. There has been discussion about housing for police in the city but that raises 2 main issues.
1. The police should have some degree of separation or privacy.
2. If the housing is city owned then the police would basically be renters. Most would prefer to own their own houses.

Recruiting and retention are major issues for Chief Weaver and the city. Maintaining the community involvement and sense of connection are very important for Chief Weaver. There has been discussion of contracting with the Sonoma County Sheriffs department but that is not cost effective or beneficial to the community. Chief Weaver commented on the city of Sonoma’s decision to go with contracting. They receive less service than Sebastopol and pay more. The police station lobby in Sonoma is closed at night. Less sense of direct community contact is the end result.

Volunteers

Volunteers are an integral part of the Sebastopol system. There are 12 members of the Community Service Volunteers team and they range in age from 19 to 83. The CSV wear white uniforms and fill out form, check the parks, work in the evidence room and assist in crime prevention outreach.
The work that the CSV does allows the patrol officers to spend less time on paper work and administrative activities. This program has been very successful for Sebastopol.
The Explorers are a youth group that helps with events like Apple Blossom Day, 4th of July fireworks and other community functions. The Explorers direct traffic and provide direction at events. They wear gray uniforms and the age range is 14-21.
CERT is the Fire Department managed Community Emergency Response Team. This very successful program uses a 7 week, 3 hours a week training plan for volunteers to prepare for earthquakes, disasters and emergencies of all scope and size. There are usually 20-30 attendees in each class and the city trains about 80-100 people each year. The idea behind this program is that the trainees will be able to handle problems for 3 days in the event of an emergency or disaster.

Social Network

A very interesting part of the conversation was the effect that skyrocketing energy costs would have on the social network and services for the less fortunate in society. Methamphetamine is a major problem in Sonoma County and the police are often the first ones to deal with the radical behavior of meth abusers.
Chief Weaver discussed the difficulties of dealing with individuals who are suffering from drug induced psychosis and are acting in a totally irrational manner.
In the event of the breakdown in social services due to peak oil economic failure there will be little in the way of rehabilitation or detoxification for drug addicts, alcoholics, the elderly, the mentally ill, the injured or the many other unfortunates in our society. This social safety net that grew out of the New Deal policies of the 1930’s may be one of the first things to disintegrate in the event of severe Powerdown. The police may be expected to deal with immediate and initial contact with an increasing number of individuals and social problems that are currently handled by other agencies.
This is a very real possibility and one that should be considered in any peak oil or Powerdown scenario.

Other Challenges

Police departments are as dependent on supply as any other sector of the economy. We discussed interruption of supplies and how that will affect all police activity. Deteriorating road conditions would make service to outlying areas difficult. Sebastopol is rather small and compact so there are no great distances involved. In a conversation with Larry Robinson he indicated that there is a fuel reserve for city vehicles.

Closing

The independent nature of the Sebastopol police department allows it to have an enviable relationship with the citizens of the town. Chief Weaver and the city council hope to keep that small town relationship alive and our preparing now for the challenges that are inevitable in the future.
Sebastopol is not representative of most communities. The city council and police department are future/forward thinking and progressive in their policies and actions. While Sebastopol may be an example of a community that is preparing for energy and societal change they are not typical of the majority of municipalities in the United States and the world.
One of the challenges for the Powerdown team is to take the example of Sebastopol as a template of what a town can do. Sebastopol has done things that many other communities can do.
There was very little difficulty in presenting our ideas to Sebastopol. That may not be true in other communities. Hopefully we will continue our very beneficial relationship with Sebastopol. The advice, information and cooperation we have received from Chief Weaver and Larry Robinson have been invaluable.