Before scandal, Fresno chief riled officers with plan to upend schedules. What now?

Reality Check is a Fresno Bee series holding those in power to account and shining a light on their decisions. Have a tip? Email tips@fresnobee.com .

Before Fresno’s police chief announced his coming resignation following allegations of an inappropriate relationship, he had big plans to change police patrol schedules to create what he called a more efficient system with faster call response times.

Despite employing the largest-ever police force in the city’s history, with 926 approved sworn officer positions and 860 filled, the city’s patrol staff is relatively understaffed compared to major police departments nationwide.

The proposed changes would take an “excess” of 50 cops working on Wednesdays — which research shows tend to be lower crime day s — and distribute that personnel into more intense weekend and evening shifts when more police are sometimes needed. The innovative schedule is something that “no other police department is using in the country,” Balderrama said during a June budget presentation to City Council.

Balderrama’s proposed reform has the potential to reduce overtime costs , affecting officers’ take-home pay, too. Over the past three years, the city has been steadily reducing its overtime budget and expenses in the police department from $6.3 million in 2022 to a proposed $3.3 million for the 2024-25 fiscal year.

But the chief’s proposed changes were unpopular with rank-and-file officers. The issue was evidently so contentious that it contributed to low morale even before news broke of the chief’s affair with the wife of an officer and former union leader, Jordan Wamhoff, multiple sources told The Bee. The Fresno police patrol schedule was also a big area of contention in the last round of contract negotiations .

It’s not immediately clear how Balderrama’s resignation, effective July 25, might impact any potential plans for reforming the patrol schedule. Deputy Chief Mindy Casto will serve as interim chief while the city conducts a national search.

One thing is clear: Balderrama said during his June budget presentation that changing the patrol schedule was “really my big goal for this next year.”

The city’s personnel team is currently negotiating the patrol schedule with the police union in ongoing contract talks. The last contract expired in June .

The Fresno Bee requested an interview with Balderrama and city officials participating in contract negotiations through City of Fresno Spokesperson Sontaya Rose. Instead, Rose answered The Bee’s questions on the city’s behalf.

She said she couldn’t comment on the specifics of Balderrama’s proposal, but confirmed that the chief had proposed a new model to reduce overlap and the number of officers scheduled to work patrol on Wednesdays.

The existing schedule was negotiated into the Fresno Police Officers Association’s Memorandum of Understanding contract with the City of Fresno several decades ago, Rose said.

“As a result, any changes to this schedule must be made through contract negotiations,” she said.

Brandon Wiemiller, president of the Fresno Police Officers Association declined to comment for this story, citing the ongoing negotiations.

Balderrama said in June he was “very, very hopeful” these changes would be better for officers and the community because with more officers on patrol during higher demand shifts, officers can spend more time on proactive patrol rather than running from call to call trying to keep up, he told the City Council.

“If we are able to negotiate with the union and come out with a more equitable and more efficient patrol shift, that’s going to put more cops on the streets every day, every shift, every district, and you’re going to see more citations,” Balderrama said. “Why? Because cops aren’t going to be just bothered by (going from) call to call to call. They’re going to be free to actually enforce the law.”

The Bee submitted a Public Records Act Request with the city of Fresno for the current patrol schedule and assignments and other records related to the proposed changes. The city is currently reviewing the records for any applicable exemptions and is expected to provide a response by July 31.

Specifics of Balderrama’s patrol idea

Balderrama said a working group was formed to analyze other types of shift schedules that would put more cops on the street on any given day; allow for more time off; increase officer safety and shorten police call response times.

“On Wednesdays, we have a very unreasonable excess of police officers, sometimes plus 50 police officers on Wednesday nights. Not very effective, not very efficient,” Balderrama said at a June 5 budget hearing presentation to Fresno City Council.

As a result, officers tend to take Wednesday off for personal matters, such as birthdays or anniversaries, he said.

Balderrama proposed a “new hybrid platoon shift” that would distribute the overage of approximately 50 cops on Wednesday and disperse them across the rest of the week so that there would be 25 more cops on patrol shift at any given time of the week.

How does Fresno police patrol compare to other agencies?

As of July 2024, there are 324 dedicated patrol cops out of Fresno PD’s 860 sworn officers, according to department spokesperson Lt. Bill Dooley. There are 926 budgeted sworn officer positions in the city’s 2024-25 fiscal year budget .

“It is important to note, however, that officers assigned to ‘Patrol’ are not the only officers that respond to calls for service,” Dooley said in an email. Officers in special units also handle patrol calls for service, he said.

Part of Balderrama’s proposed schedule change would be to get more patrol officers on the street at any given time.

According to a November 2022 U.S. Department of Justice analysis of local police departments nationwide, about 60%, or 6 in 10 full-time sworn officers, had a primary job responsibility within patrol as of 2020.

A 2013 analysis published by the International City/County Management Association recommends as a general guideline that approximately 60 percent the total number of sworn officers should be assigned to the patrol function. (However, experts say there are other methods to determine patrol staffing needs that consider other factors.)

As a minimum, the ICMA recommends at least 32% of a department’s total sworn officers should work patrol.

Fresno’s current dedicated patrol officers comprise about 38% of total sworn officers.

What about Fresno PD special units?

Some officers are pulled off patrol for special assignments, Balderrama said in his June presentation.

For instance, last year, Fresno PD received a state grant to form an Organized Retail Theft task force , which will include 25 dedicated officers when fully staffed, according to his presentation.

“Typically, when we pull people (for special units), we pull them from patrol,” Balderrama said.

He explained that because of the staffing requirements of the grant, the department “owes” 15 police officers to its five policing districts, or three per district, Balderrama said.

“The last thing I want to do is cause a deficit in patrol.”

Dooley, the Fresno lieutenant, said some of these special units include: a traffic unit with 32 officers including sergeants, 12 K-9 officers and 34 school resource officers. Other units/divisions include sex crimes, domestic violence, child abuse and missing persons, narcotics, gun crimes, homicide, street violence, vice, investigations and internal affairs.

How did Fresno’s patrol schedule come to be?

Rose, the city spokesperson, said the Fresno Police Department has used a 4/10 work schedule for patrol officers for many decades. Under this schedule, officers work four 10-hour days followed by three consecutive days off.

“This approach is considered a best practice in law enforcement for maximizing productivity and minimizing officer fatigue,” she said.

Rose said the way law enforcement agencies across the United States implement the 4/10 schedule can vary.

“In Fresno, all officers work on Wednesdays and have varying days off during the week,” she said. “This schedule was originally chosen to allow Wednesdays to be used as a training day.”

In contrast, she said, many other departments stagger officers’ days off throughout the week, ensuring additional coverage, including on weekends.

Fresno Bee Reporter Tim Sheehan contributed to this report.