Carlsbad approves six-member COPS team, reallocates reserves to fund staffing

The Carlsbad City Council voted unanimously on March 25 to establish a Community Oriented Policing and Problem Solving (COPS) team within a new Community Engagement Division, authorizing six full-time positions and short-term budget adjustments intended to fund startup costs.

Police Chief Christy Calderwood described the team as a prevention-focused unit that will include a lieutenant, a sergeant and four officers who will be boat-, bike- and drone-certified and will work alongside police rangers and the homeless outreach team. “A COPS team is a critical need in the department to not only have more resources to address issues as they come, but also be extremely proactive in terms of prevention and handling issues at their core,” Calderwood said.

Assistant Chief Reid Shipley summarized staffing justifications and operations, including the SARA model (Scanning, Analysis, Response and Assessment) for problem-oriented policing and community engagement duties such as CPTED (crime prevention through environmental design). Shipley said staffing would include a CED lieutenant to coordinate events and follow-ups and that selection for the assignment would require a minimum patrol experience—generally three years—before officers could apply.

The council authorized $684,350 in additional appropriations from the general fund for FY25–26 and approved a $2.9 million transfer from the asset replacement reserve to the general fund reserve to cover start-up costs; staff estimated the team’s ongoing salary and benefit cost at about $1,549,092 annually. Chief Calderwood and Assistant Chief Shipley said the police department will monitor success via response-time data and community feedback; the department uses an external survey contractor to gather near-term performance feedback from residents.

Council discussion focused on candidate experience, performance measurement and fiscal prudence; members praised the prevention emphasis and unanimously approved the resolution authorizing the COPS team and the associated budget transfers.