Politics & Government

San Bruno Will Stop Sharing Top Cop with Millbrae

Cost-cutting move didn't produce desired results. Telford will stay in San Bruno, but give up Millbrae duties.

Millbrae has been sharing a police chief with San Bruno for the last year and half, as a way to reduce costs. But tonight, city council members will discuss a replacement as Police Chief Neil Telford will regain working full-time in San Bruno. 

On March 9, 2010, Millbrae and San Bruno agreed to share the costs of a police chief, each paying Telford $10,631.81 per month – which includes his salary and benefits.

Telford's total salary, including overtime and beneifts totals $251,676, according to records.

Find out what's happening in San Brunowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

However, a recent analysis showed that the shared services model was not producing significant benefits, and San Bruno decided it will end the agreement.

One option is to share services with another city, but the city has found no suitable partners thus far. The others are to pay the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office for police services, or to hire a full-time police chief.

Find out what's happening in San Brunowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“We need to start building up the department,” said Millbrae Police Commander Mark Raffaelli. “We can’t just put an interim chief in there.”

The Millbrae police department employed 20 officers in 2001, but in an effort to reduce budget costs, it currently has just 14, according to staff records.

In a report to the city, Telford proposes increasing the police budget about $410,000 a year to a total of $4.66 million. To accomplish this, he foresees a reduction to other departments’ budgets, as well as eliminating all of the three parking enforcement positions. 

Due to continuous budget cuts over the last decade, police officers are working as much as 16-hour days and thus likely to burn out and make mistakes, according to Telford.

The city council meets at 7 p.m. in the council chambers at 621 Magnolia Ave.


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