San Jose Police Chief Paul Joseph stopped in South San Jose for his first 2025 community town hall, taking questions and giving updates on the uphill battle facing the city’s police department.
Joseph told Almaden Valley Community Association members earlier this month the challenges facing the San Jose Police Department stem from the continued decline in officers. He also talked about other issues relevant to South San Jose residents, such as the increased crackdown on sideshows and the police department’s expanded use of technology.
Joseph, a 30-year veteran of SJPD, began serving as acting chief of police when Anthony Mata retired last March. City Manager Jennifer Maguire announced on Oct. 22 she received the city council’s approval to appoint Joseph to the permanent role.
SJPD has roughly 1,000 sworn officers on the job, but Joseph said there are about 120 open positions. It’s the department’s highest vacancy rate since voters approved Measure B in 2012, which reduced benefits for existing and new city workers and led to years of fallout and controversy — including numerous lawsuits and an exodus of police officers.
“The average police department in the United States has 2.2 police officers per 1,000 population. So you can see we’re at about half of that,” Joseph said. “And it’s not just us, but all of the police departments in the United States since 2020 have really been struggling with recruitment and retention.”
San Jose has a population of about 969,000 residents, according to 2023 U.S. Census data.
Joseph said despite high pay and benefits, many perspective recruits don’t see policing as a viable career option. But SJPD is finding social media posts and online ads have been attracting potential recruits.
“This shortage of officers is not because of a lack of support from City Hall. In fact — quite the contrary,” Joseph said. “One of the biggest ironies we face, and the thing troubling me as chief, is we’ve got a city government that would love to get sworn police officers.”
Joseph previously told San José Spotlight city officials agreed to increase job benefits, such as paid parental leave for existing officers and to incentivize others to join the force. SJPD has also pledged to increase representation of women in police recruit classes to 30% by 2030 through what’s known as the 30×30 Initiative.
Recently-elected District 10 Councilmember George Casey told San José Spotlight he’s working with Joseph to address concerns from his constituents, which include sideshow activity and safety concerns regarding homelessness and lack of law enforcement.
“We got the best chief for the job, even before he got hired he was the choice for the rank and file in the department,” Casey said. “You can see why in his interactions with the community.”
Gary Hector, vice president of the Almaden Valley Community Association, spoke during the meeting and said he’s concerned about sideshow drivers using Coleman Road to Almaden Expressway as a drag racing strip. Hector told San José Spotlight neighbors can hear cars from a mile away, and they face increased sideshow activity on weekends.
“Sometimes you can’t sleep because it’s so bad,” he said. “I’ve never seen police monitor that road at all.”
To combat staffing gaps, SJPD is using more community service officers and expanding its technology through automatic license plate readers and use of artificial intelligence to identify potential service calls.
Joseph encouraged South San Jose residents at the meeting to tell friends and family to apply for a position in the police department.
“All of you are more influential with your family members, friends and your neighbors than a recruiter,” he said.
Contact Vicente Vera at [email protected] or follow @VicenteJVera on X.
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