Many of the biggest challenges Petaluma Police Chief Ken Savano faced early in his career haven’t changed, he told the Argus-Courier this week, just days before his retirement on Thursday.
Those challenges include domestic violence, lack of housing, mental health, road safety and alcohol-related issues such as drunkenness and public drunkenness, he said. Budgetary constraints are also a constant concern for police departments, he added.
Even so, these days, “we’re providing a much higher level of service to the community as a whole,” Savano said, thanks in part to the expansion of outdoor services – like the one in Petaluma. SECURE programa mental health crisis response team run in conjunction with the Petaluma People Services Center – which effectively takes some of the burden off police officers.
“As a police department, we’re no longer the only ones people turn to when they want this problem resolved,” Savano said. There are widespread efforts to address issues like homelessness, community partners like PPSC and increased investment from the City of Petaluma, he said.
Retiring after 29 years with the Petaluma Police Department, Savano supervised approximately 71 sworn officers and 33 staff members during his six-year tenure as chief.
He lived most of his life and spent most of his career in Petaluma, although he began his law enforcement career in the Sebastopol Police Department’s Explorer Program while he was still in high school, then as a community service officer, police assistant, dispatcher and reserve officer for this city. In 1989, he graduated from the Sevastopol academy, just after turning 18, he said.
“It was clear to me that it was… rewarding and challenging, but on top of that, you never know what’s going to happen while you’re on the job,” he said.
In 1994, he joined the Petaluma Police Department and rose through the ranks. He was promoted to sergeant in 2002, then patrol lieutenant in July 2014. Four months later, he was assigned to supervise another division. In 2016, he oversaw the management of operations covering the east side of Petaluma. He was appointed police chief in 2017.
Major challenges
“From the beginning to the end of my career, in crime, we unfortunately still see a lot of domestic violence,” Savano said. This is why it has always been a priority and a high priority for the ministry.
Other major challenges include violent crime, which has “recently seen an increasing trend,” as well as indicators related to prison realignment and changes in legislation. And property crimes also continued, he said.
Driving under the influence, he said, poses a major challenge not only to the community but to the entire region. He pointed out that recent changes to the law on the transportation of alcohol have had a negative impact on driving habits.
In fact, traffic safety in general is a major topic for local law enforcement, which is part of the reason the department recently joins a voucher program to help drivers cover the cost of broken tail lights, headlights, turn signals and brake lights to improve visibility on the road.
“I mean, even today we lose more community members to fatalities or injuries than to crime,” he said. “It’s almost two to one.”
He emphasized that when police issue citations, it is not to fill any quota, but to improve driving habits and ultimately reduce collisions and improve safety.
Over the years, one of the biggest challenges has been budget constraints, and the department has often had to turn to the community to help cover costs, he said. (The city’s Measure U, a 1-cent sales tax, has helped the city financially since its inception. approved by voters in 2020.)
“We relied a lot on the community” to raise money to buy basic equipment, he said.
Mental Health
Mental health issues among some residents, particularly those experiencing homelessness, are also an ongoing concern in Petaluma and the region.
“We’ve always dealt with mental health, but historically we’ve dealt with it alone,” Savano said. “Mental health is often linked to substance abuse and people experiencing homelessness. And now there are many more resources in the community to help us help others, and especially those who are most vulnerable.
One of the biggest improvements he has seen during his career is the establishment of the Petaluma SAFE Team – SAFE stands for “Specialized Assistance for Everyone” – a mobile crisis response team made up of non-police officers who help law enforcement combat mental health, substance abuse, and homelessness.
Even since it went live in 2020, “we can’t understand how we were providing policing without the SAFE team,” Savano said.
