San Mateo to scope sleeping quarters for police officers

City Manager Drew Corbett explained eight beds are currently provided in two separated barrack rooms at the San Mateo Police Department at 200 Franklin Parkway to give officers working overtime or expected to make a court appearance a chance to sleep between especially long shifts. But he said the barracks are increasingly being used by officers weighing whether it makes sense to drive home between shifts lasting just over 11 hours four days at a time, a typical shift rotation.

Positioned between a fitness facility and a locker room, the barracks have not been ideal sleeping quarters given the high volume of noises on both sides of its walls, according to the report. With even more employees in need of using the space to get rest between shifts, officials have been searching for alternatives, noted Corbett.

“It’s just been exacerbated by the sheer volume of people,” he said.

Corbett said the issue has surfaced at least twice in recent discussions with the City Council, spurring an effort to better understand the extent of the issue and possible solutions.

Though demand for the barracks has risen to the point where they are being used around the clock, some officers have opted to regularly spend the night on couches with family or friends to get rest between shifts. With only 25 line-level officers living within San Mateo County, more than two-thirds of the city’s frontline officers are commuting from another county to San Mateo daily and face an average commute distance of 50 miles each way, according to the report.

According to a San Mateo Police Officers Association survey to which 85% of officers responded, the average round-trip commute time officers face is one hour and 52 minutes. Those traveling from outside San Mateo County spend an average of two hours and 17 minutes in their roundtrip commutes, according to the survey.

According to the report, city staff is currently analyzing a threefold increase in the number of injuries sustained by San Mateo police officers recorded in the last five years. By regularly getting fewer than six hours of sleep a night, San Mateo police officers are at greater risk for increased injury, according to the report, which referenced research showing fatigued officers use more sick leave, experience more injuries, practice inappropriate uses of force more frequently, become involved in more vehicle accidents, face more challenges dealing with community members and have a higher likelihood of dying in the line of duty.

Facing the region’s high cost of living and extended commutes, an increasing number of San Mateo police officers are considering and taking lateral positions closer to their homes, in part driving competition to recruit qualified candidates between law enforcement agencies. Daly City, Foster City and Atherton are among the local agencies already offering sleeping quarters in their police stations, according to the report.

Though the San Mateo Police Officers Association has scoped the possibility of providing affordable or free community-based sleeping quarters with apartment building owners, hotels and representatives of the San Mateo United Homeowners Association, city officials have expressed concerns about potential challenges that could arise with regard to city policies related to the acceptance of gifts.

An option to repurpose Fire Station 26 to hold a police substation, vehicle storage and sleeping quarters is also up for review. Currently leased to American Medical Response as a rest facility, the facility could with minor renovations become a police substation on the city’s east side. Officials could also consider using the Fire Station 25 facility to house sleeping quarters once a new station is built on the same block, according to the report.

Among the strategies the Redwood City Police Department and the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office have pursued is use of modular, portable residences that could be parked on city property. Officials could also review the possibility of purchasing or leasing a home or apartment building to provide sleeping quarters for officers, or work with hotels to provide rooms for officers at a set rate paid by the city, according to the report.

The council meets 7 p.m. May 6 at City Hall, 330 W. 20th Ave.

anna@smdailyjournal.com

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