CHULA VISTA, Calif. — Despite advertising itself as "one of the highest paid" police departments in San Diego County, Chula Vista is struggling to staff its police force.
According to law enforcement numbers from the FBI as well as numbers from police departments in San Diego County, Chula Vista has had the lowest number of officers per capita since 2018.
Those numbers show that locally, over the past six years, San Diego County's second-largest city has had 8-to-10 officers for every 10,000 residents.
That is 10 less than the Coronado Police Department and five less than its neighbor, National City.
According to the FBI, the national average of officers for every 10,000 residents is 24, three times the number in Chula Vista.
In fact, FBI numbers for 2022, show the South Bay city's police force has the 18th lowest officer-per-capita numbers in the country.
The officer shortage has forced Chula Vista's Police Department and the city to get creative, placing job advertisements as far away as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
"We’re currently hiring approximately 25 sworn positions. Chula Vista Police Department is currently one of the highest-paid agencies in San Diego County," reads a September 18 job posting. "We offer not only a competitive salary but a great benefits package. A highlight of our benefit package is FREE Medical insurance for yourself and your family."
In fact, in a recent study from WalletHub, out of 182 cities it studied, Chula Vista had the lowest officer-per-capita ratio.
Officer shortages have been a longtime concern for Chula Vista Mayor John McCann.
McCann told CBS 8 that recruiting new officers and growing the department is his "top priority."
As for the reasons for the low officer-per-person ratio, McCann said that it is an issue plaguing departments across the region and the nation.
"I have been opposed to defunding police and devaluing the police. The challenge is there are a lot of people in their twenties and thirties who don’t see a police officer as a favorable position," said McCann. "When I was growing up it was a great career and we need to put value back into our officers. They do an incredible job. They’re highly professional and we need to be able to attract people."
But the image is only a small part of it, said McCann.
The high cost of living has also had a major impact on staffing shortages.
In response, McCann and the city boosted officer pay earlier this year and are trying to do more by the end of the year as well.
"In April, we went off cycle and gave officers a five percent pay increase," said McCann. "That was something that I helped champion and their contract is going to be up and we’re going to start negotiations early next year."
However, McCann said raising the salaries for Chula Vista Police only encouraged other local cities to do the same.
"The raise brought them to number two in the county, then all the other departments increased their salaries too so we need to make sure that we’re keeping up with the other departments and making sure that we’re one of the top in the county for paying our officers," said McCann.
In regard to the low officer-per-person ratio, Mayor McCann said that the South Bay city is safe and the fact that it is so safe without a high officer-per-person rate is a testament to the officers on the force.
"I'm just so thankful for our police department in what they do in making us one of the safest cities in San Diego County and in the United States."
In fact, Wallethub's national study echoes McCann's view.
Despite having one of the smallest police forces in regard to population, Chula Vista ranked as the 54th safest city out of the 182 cities it evaluated due to a low number of violent crimes.