Second Police Officer Mike Slyvester is looking forward to mountain biking, snowboarding and basically staying as far away from work as possible when he retires. There is one problem, however, and that’s lack of pension money for city employees.

The San Diego City Council does not have enough money to funds its contribution to the San Diego Police Department’s pension program. Currently, the pension program for all city employees is $2 billion dollars short, said Jeff Jordan, vice president of the San Diego Police Officer Association.

One reason the pension program falls short is that in the 1980s the city promised its employees full health care benefits, totaling to about $250,000 per employee, said Jordan. According to Jordan, when those employees began to retire in 2009, the city did not have the money for the benefits because they never put the money aside to fund them.

This year, the city paid $235 million just to the San Diego Police Department’s pension fund. The amount is so high because the city is trying to make up for the broken promises it made such as the health care benefits, said Jordan.

“The pension program isn’t that expensive, maybe $50 million a year,” said Jordan. “Do you know what is expensive? Retroactive promises that you never funded, and now you gotta pay them.”

Jordan pointed out that Stockton, Calif., is another city that is making headlines with not having money to fund its city employees. Right now, the city of Stockton is in court trying to declare bankruptcy and break contracts to not pay city employee pensions.

Unlike Stockton, the city of San Diego is trying to avoid filing for bankruptcy by working with city employee groups like the Police Officers Association to cut pension costs, said Jordan.

According to the POA’s document “Steps to Real Pension Reform for the City of San Diego,” provided by Jordan, the association is trying cut pension costs by implementing a new hybrid pension reform that would decrease defined benefits and rely more on defined contribution. Currently, employees at the San Diego Police Department get 3 percent of their salary each year they work at the department.

For example, an employee making $100,000 and working at the department for 25 years would get $75,000 per year in retirement. The new hybrid pension would decease the 3 percent multiplier.

The defined contribution aspect of the pension reform would make it mandatory for employees to invest their own money into retirement with the department matching what the employee invests.

Additionally, the document shows the Police Officer Association asking the City Council members to take their own pension cuts by getting rid of the Elected Members Plan from the city’s budget. The plan allows the City Council to get a higher multiplier, at 3.5 percent, while having no minimum age of requirement with eight years of service to the city. (link)

It boils down to more than just money, there is a whole ethical argument underlying in the situation, said Jordan.

“I pay my part each and every day when I put on my badge and risk my life, so the city should keep its promise,” said Jordan. “But I understand the consequences of the city keeping its promise [bankruptcy].”

What may seem unethical to Sylvester is that after 27 years of service to the city, he may not be able to live out his retirement dream of getting out of his police uniform and enjoying the outdoors. It will all depend on compromises made by the city and city employee groups.

 

San Diego Police Officer Jesse Rippy recalls his most memorable incident with a gun while on duty. A child at an elementary school in Normal Heights texted his mother that another student in the classroom had a gun.

The mother called the cops and when Rippy arrived in the classroom, he asked all the kids to put their hands on the desk.

“There was one little boy sitting in the back who didn’t put his hands up,” Rippy said. “I knew he was the one with the gun.”

Rippy said the firearm belonged to his father and was given to the child for protection.

According to those in favor of guns, the problem is not the gun but the person behind the weapon. In addition, pro-gun San Diegans said the passing of Senator Dianne Feinstein’s Assault Weapons ban of 2013 would not help decrease gun violence.

If put into law, the Assault Weapons Ban of 2013 will make it illegal for California citizens to own military-style assault weapons and guns with a magazine, an external compartment that holds the gun’s ammunition.

Rippy said he thinks the ban would not decrease gun violence but actually increase it since this has happened in cities like Chicago and Washington D.C. where similar weapon bans have been put into place.

California already has some of the strictest guns laws in the country, said Gabe James, the armor manager at San Diego Police Equipment. A store that mainly sells firearms to police officers and those in military but is also open to the public.

In order to purchase a firearm, an individual must undergo a background check that looks at criminal and mental health history. The laws become more complicated based on what type of gun is purchased.

To purchase a long rifle or shotgun, the individual must be 18 years or older and have a current California I.D. To buy a handgun, the individual must be 21 years old, have a current California I.D. with a second proof of residency, and must take a handgun safety course.

In addition, there is the “cool down” law. This law makes it so the purchaser of the gun cannot pick up the gun until after 10 days.

The cool down law is set in place so that an individual who is thinking about committing a crime has time to think about it and hopefully reconsider, Rippy said.

California resident and United States Marine veteran Mike Stack is a firearm owner passionate against California’s gun laws.

“I have a problem with California, especially Mrs. Dianne Feinstein,” Stack said.

Stack said he is angry that after serving this country in the Marines, Senator Feinstein is trying to take away guns from veterans because she believes they are too unstable to handle guns. In addition, he thinks it is unfair since Feinstein has a concealed firearm permit herself.

“She carries a weapon 24/7 and is authorized to do so,” Stack said. “She also has armed guards. So if I can’t protect myself, why does she have the authority to do so?”

Like Stack, James, the manager at SDPE, is upset with Feinstein.

“Diane Feinstein seems to be an advocate of no guns anywhere,” James said. “If she had it her way all guns would be illegal. She’s trying to find loopholes in the current laws and fill them in with things that make them illegal.”

James said that if Feinstein’s bill were to pass, nearly all firearms would become illegal since it is very rare to find a gun without a magazine.

“I am concerned about what my government officials are trying to do,” Stack said. “It scares the hell out of me.”

While other citizens support government officials and their efforts to increase gun safety. Native Canadian Elizabeth Tudhope, who is now a California citizen, has a hard time understanding some of the United State’s gun laws and why they are not stricter.

For instance, Tudhope said a lot of Canadians get stopped at the border going into the U.S. for having Kinder eggs, a chocolate egg with a toy inside for children, because they are illegal.

“I think it says a lot about our protection laws when guns are legal but candy is not,” Tudhope said.

According to Tudhope, Canadians have a different mentality towards guns and it has taken her sometime to understand some American’s obsession with guns.

“There is no concept of the right to bear arms [in Canada],” Tudhope said.

Tudhope said she thinks guns will never be fully banned in the U.S. because of the 2^nd Amendment.

“I get it’s a part of America’s soul,” Tudhope said.

However, Tudhope does support stricter gun laws like Feinstein’s assault weapon ban.

Tudhope said in mass shooting situations like Columbine and Sandy Hook lives can be saved if people have the opportunity to get away from the shooter when the gunman takes time to reload the gun’s ammunition.

“That little bit of time minimizes destruction,” Tudhope said. “You shouldn’t be able to blow a bunch of people away in 30 seconds.”

California citizen Jessica Gonzalez goes a bit farther with stricter gun laws.

“If it were up to me, no one would have guns,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez said she thinks guns put others at too great of a risk with the chance of being shot.

James said even if these types of laws are put into place, it does not mean they will be followed. The magazine’s safety feature that slows down the time it takes to reload the gun can be easily removed by taking off a few screws, said James.

“The criminal isn’t going to use the California legal gun that slows him down,” James said. “He’s going to use an illegal one.”

The gun brought to the Normal Heights elementary school was also illegal and stolen.

However, Officer Rippy does believe gun violence can be reduced in schools but said a gun ban is not the answer.

“Provide firearm safety courses to gun owners and place armed guards in the schools,” Rippy said.

Police said DNA evidence puts a parolee accused of fatally stabbing a prostitute at the scene of the crime.

San Diego police Criminalist David Cornacchia testified yesterday at the San Diego Superior Court during the preliminary hearing for Frank Dwayne Shaw, who is charged with the slaying of Maureen Skeffington.

Cornacchia said a bloodstain found at the crime scene contained traces of Shaw’s and Skeffington’s DNA. This piece of evidence is particularly important as many witnesses from the San Diego Police Department said conditions of the crime scene made collecting evidence difficult.

According to San Diego County Deputy Medical Examiner Dr. Craig Nelson, Skeffington died from multiple stab wounds to the face and neck. She lost a considerable amount of blood from the wounds in her caused by a sharp-edged object that cut deep into her veins, said Nelson.

San Diego police Detective Michelle Velovich believes Skeffington was killed on her bed and then carried to the bathtub. A Luminol test, a chemical test that reacts to blood, confirms the body was moved by showing the trail of blood in the apartment from the bedroom to the bathroom, said Velovich.

According to her, the test also show the suspect tried to clean the trail of blood with cleaning products, which made it hard for the police to get a DNA sample.

San Diego Police Department Crime Scene Specialist Katie Boyd said that DNA swabs and fingerprints, which are still being processed, were taken on two of the tub handles to try and further identify a suspect.

Further, Nelson said he swabbed underneath Skeffington’s fingernails during the victim’s autopsy but was unable to recover any DNA. The main reason DNA could not be found under the fingernails is that her body had begun to decompose after being submerged in water for at least two days, said Nelson.

 KFMB news reported Patrol officers were doing a routine welfare check on Skeffington on Aug. 28 after neighbors reported not seeing her for a few days. When officers found her body in the bathtub, it was apparent she had been dead several days from stab wounds.

According to KFMB, Shaw was last seen with Skeffington on Aug. 26, the day she likely died. He wanted to exchange drugs for sex, but Skeffington insisted on being paid in cash.

KFMB reported Defense attorney Kara Oien saying Shaw was in the area of Skeffington’s apartment but left around 10 p.m. Shaw was arrested at his home in Southcrest on Dec. 20.

 KFMB also reported that Shaw has previous convictions from a series of armed robbery sprees in 1997, which he plead guilty to.

If convicted at the end of the preliminary hearing, which is expected to last a few more days, Shaw could face 82 years in prison to life. Currently, Shaw’s bail is set at $1 million.

 

Every year, Michelle Lovern takes her third grade class on a field trip back in time. The students leave their classroom at Grant Elementary and go to the Gaslamp Museum to learn about life in the 1800s. The museum is located at the William Heath Davis House and recently received a remodel.

Textbooks and lectures about Social Studies can only show children so much about history. A firsthand experience at the museum gives them an inside look at the past. The children delve into history as they tour the 163-year-old home.

“They love it,” said Lovern.

She takes her class to the museum every year because it is an accurate representation of life in the late 19^th century and fits her class’ curriculum about American settlers and San Diego’s history.

The museum gives about four to five tours a year to schoolchildren according to Jeff Guernsey, a museum docent. Each school pays a fee based on the amount of children that attend the tours.

The museum wouldn’t be running without grant money, visitor contributions and city funds.

“[The museum] would just be a structure standing here,” said Guernsey.

Tours for the children also include learning about the surrounding Gaslamp area and its historical architecture. During tours of the house, Guernsey points out the Victorian influence in the architecture. To keep them interested, he weaves in stories about surrounding buildings.

“If you just go on about architecture,” said Guernsey, “the kids will go glassy-eyed.”

One story he likes to tell the children is about San Diego’s “first zoo.” A local bar owner in the Gaslamp kept animals in the bar to attract customers.

Guernsey says he avoids telling children about the racier parts of history, such as where gambling dens and brothels were located.

He also avoids any references to ghosts. The William Heath Davis House is popular with ghost hunters. The museum hosts a paranormal investigation once a month where visitors can accompany a professional paranormal research team to look for ghosts. Guernsey doesn’t like to talk about this aspect of the house with the children because he doesn’t want to scare them.

“They have this automatic reaction when they hear the word ‘ghost.’ They’ll immediately say they’re scared and don’t want to go in,” Guernsey said.

The children also get background information about the house. They learn about the house’s unique history and William Heath Davis, the house’s original owner. Davis built the house in 1850 after wood was shipped from the east coast, due to a lack of wood in the area at the time. Davis never actually lived in the salt box-style house. Instead, it was leased to the military to house pre-Civil War officers. The house then became a county hospital and a family residence afterwards.

The eight-room house is decorated and furnished as it would have been in the 1860s and 1870s. Some rooms represent typical homes in California in that time period. Most of the rooms represent a specific time in the house’s history. For example, the first floor has a military officers’ room furnished with a small bed, military clothing, a few pictures and a schoolmaster’s desk made of California Redwood.

The constant traffic through the museum, especially large groups of children, has taken a toll on the oldest surviving structure in downtown. The city-owned building was recently granted $9,000 from City Council Community Projects funds to make improvements to the building’s interior and exterior along with the adjacent park.

The money from City Council was used to fix the house’s flooring and electricity, to install electricity in the park, for a new sign at the front of the house and to landscape the park.

Council Rep. Courtney Thomson hopes the improvements will make the museum more accessible and the park more visitor-friendly. The improvements on the house will allow museum curators to enhance displays and to educate more children about San Diego’s history.  

The William Heath Davis House is the oldest surviving structure in the Gaslamp Quarter, and its wild west past has caused some beauty blunders. The Gaslamp Quarter Historical Foundation recently made some improvements in an effort to rejuvenate the house and conjoining park.

On Feb. 26, the San Diego City Council unanimously voted to grant the Gaslamp Quarter Historical Foundation $9000 towards renovations to the house and park.

Both Council President Todd Gloria and Councilmember Kevin Faulconer contributed $4500 towards the project. In addition, the historical foundation used $5,000 from its own reserve, said Bob Marinaccio, executive director of the William Heath Davis House.

“I knew we were getting the grant,” said Marinaccio.

According to Marinaccio, Gloria and Faulconer told him the City Council would approve the grant.

During the City Council meeting, Gloria said he was happy to work with Faulconer on the project because the renovations will help make the historic home look better for those visiting the Gaslamp.

Originally, the home belonged to William Heath Davis. Davis wanted to create a “New Town” close to the San Diego bay, so he decided to establish a residency in what is now known as downtown. In 1850, Davis built the home with the help of a few other men.

After Davis lost the home to debt it was used for other purposes including the housing of military officers, a county hospital, and home to the “Father of San Diego” Alonzo Horton. In the early 1900s, it was headquarters to a World War I German spy and finally bought by the city in 1984.

Now, the 163-year-old building houses the Gaslamp Historical Museum serving to educate visitors on the Gaslamp’s past. Every year, around 10,000 people visit the home for tours, events and lectures.

The funds from the City Council renovated the home to enhance visitors’ experiences by replacing worn down flooring, expanding the museum’s exhibit space, cultivating landscaping in the park, and providing outdoor lighting and electricity. The project, which started mid-2012, is the first major work done to the house in 30 years. (link)

The renovations cleaned the house up considerably, said Marinaccio.

The foundation put in the request for the grant in the belief that improvements to the home would enhance the property’s looks, create additional security and allow groups to utilize the space more efficiently.

One group that will utilize the space and the new improvements is the San Diego Railroad Museum. Every year the San Diego Model Railroad Museum lays train tracks for the kids to play with outside but always had difficulties trying to hook it up to electricity, now that will not be a problem, said Marinaccio.

In addition, the historical foundation plans on using the electricity outside to put on musical performances in the courtyard, said Marinaccio.

Marinaccio hopes the renovations will make the house more appealing to the public and bring more people to the park.

For more on the William Heath Davis House, please visit gaslampquarter.org.

How does the city of San Diego keep its citizens safe? It may seem like a simple question, but there’s more to it than many may think.

The San Diego Police Department works 24 hours a day to keep the city’s more than one million citizens out of harm’s way.

According to San Diego’s Police Department website, its mission is “to maintain peace and order by providing the highest quality police service.”

San Diego Police Officer Jesse Rippy said citizens primarily benefit from police by preserving life, but also by protecting the general welfare and quality of civilian life by investigating crimes and performing basic first aide before medics arrive at a scene.

The San Diego Police Department is made up of forty different units, each with a specific purpose to serve the city. The units range from air support to canine to special investigations and more.

The San Diego Police Department patrol area encompasses the city’s coastline from the Mexican-American border north to Del Mar. In addition, the area extends east to areas including San Pasqual, Lake Murray and Otay Ranch.

According to the SDPD’s website, “ In addition to the full-service headquarters building the City is represented by nine area commands, divided into 19 service areas, policing 122 neighborhoods.”

Each of the nine “area commands” has it’s own police department, which officers are assigned to.

An officer’s daily routine first includes “loading” the patrol car and then receiving vital updates in the line-up room, Rippy said.

“The line room is a formal or informal briefing of events that have been going on for the days we’ve been off, either in the community or in the police department,” Rippy said. “It gives us ideas of what to look out for.”

Next, officers head out into the neighborhood to do proactive policing until a radio call comes in, Rippy said.

Proactive policing is watching people for criminal activity, Rippy said.

“Certain types of criminals will often do things differently than people around them,” Rippy said. “Say everyone is walking in one direction and there is one guy stopped in the crowd watching one particular person, that’s something that you might want to investigate further.”

According to Rippy, a large problem that the police department faces is some of the public having an “anti-police” attitude.

Civilians either have a pro-police or anti-police stance, and it’s really difficult to reach across the anti-police stance because the misconception that cops are bad is passed down from parents to children, Rippy said.

“Policing works best when people want to improve the community,” Rippy said.

The SDPD website offers ways for citizens to engage in community oriented policing, or citizens handling non-emergency situations on their own. The website sites examples such as joining a Neighborhood Watch program, Citizen Patrol group and filling out forms to report crimes for the police to investigate including embezzlement, abandoned vehicles and financial crimes.

For more information on the SDPD and to find the closest police department in your neighborhood, please visit http://www.sandiego.gov/police.