The Police Department has two Assistant Chief positions overseeing operations and administrative functions, with one Assistant Chief of Operations overseeing 2608 FTEs and another Assistant Chief of Staff overseeing 389.5 FTEs, and command positions.

The proposed ordinance would delete one 0395 Assistant Chief position and three 0490 Commander positions and add 7.69 FTE Police Officer III positions, all within the General Fund.

The changes would be funded within the Department's approved General Fund budget. Deleting command positions and replacing them with Police Officer positions would reduce the City’s pension liability over time by $2.5 million to $4 million per person.

The two Assistant Chiefs were added in 2017 to assist the Chief of Police with day-to-day operations and implementation of the 2016 U.S. Department of Justice assessment recommendations. Replacing command positions with civilian positions may be considered as they are less expensive and potentially more suitable for administrative functions.

The Board of Supervisors is responsible for determining the maximum number of each class of employment and fixing rates and schedules of compensation, and approval of the proposed ordinance is a policy matter for them.

The Police Department will have to manage potential demotions as deleting a filled position would result in a demotion for the person currently in that position to a lower-ranked civil service sworn position, such as Captain.