San Bruno Police Chief Matt Lethin says police essential services remain unchanged: Community members express concern about impact of stagnated labor negotiations on service

Police Association President Thomy Ledesma did not immediately respond to request for comment. 

In a statement to the community March 31, Lethin stressed that while the department may consider scaling back nonessential services temporarily in the future, all essential services, like 911 calls, patrol operations and case operations will not change. As of now, there have been no changes to police services, he said. 

“We got some feedback that some community members believed or understood there was potential that if they call 911, the police will not be able to come,” Lethin said. “That is absolutely not the case.” 

In internal discussions, police leadership have weighed what reductions or changes to nonessential services could be made in the future if necessary due to staff vacancies, Lethin said, however, he did not directly correlate that to ongoing labor negotiations. 

“I’m not trying to draw a direct connection — we closely monitor staffing levels and upcoming staffing levels, and what that does to our ability to provide services,” Lethin said. 

The city declared an impasse in negotiations with its police unit March 3 after members of the unit rejected a proposed 19% salary increase for sworn staff and a 9% to 22% salary increase for civilian staff over three years, City Manager Alex McIntyre said previously. 

That has generated frustration from the community, who’ve been demanding that police receive the requested increases. Most recently, the unit representing officers had proposed a 22.4% salary increase for sworn staff and between a 13.5% to 26.4% increase for civilian staff over three years, McIntyre said previously.  

He fully disputed community worries that the city might look at contracting its police work to the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office as a result of the ongoing labor dispute. 

“We have absolutely no intention of looking at contracting our police enforcement, our police services, with the county or any other agency,” McIntyre said. “That’s just not on our radar at all. We will work through what we need to work through with our labor challenges.” 

McIntyre also expressed optimism that both parties will be returning to the bargaining table soon. 

“I think conversations are going to start here soon,” he said. “I’m feeling optimistic that … we will get through this, and I think the labor groups and the city will sort of find a path forward that’s going to make sense to both parties.”