SAN DIEGO -- The logo on the sides of San Diego police cars reads "To Protect and Serve." But two of San Diego's finest are breaking ranks and saying politics and policies make it impossible to fully live up to that motto.

During a recent investigation, 10News reporter Thom Jensen exposed allegations that the San Diego Police Department was manipulating crime statistics to make the city appear to be safer than it really is. Now, some officers are coming forward to talk about what they call a department in disarray.

These department insiders told 10News that San Diego Police is at its limits.

"The biggest thing we face is an increase in calls, an increase in crime and an inability to respond in an effective way," said "X" a San Diego police officer.

However, police Chief Bill Lansdowne said the accusations are not true and officers are fulfilling their mission to "protect and serve."

"What carries this department and attracts so many officers is clearly the reputation of this fine department," said Lansdowne.

But the police department insiders told 10News that their chief's rosy picture of San Diego is not realistic.

"They say we have plenty of cops and crime is down. Both of those statements are false," X also told 10News.

Craig Myrom, a 26-year veteran of the San Diego police force, said he knows he'll take a lot of heat for talking to 10News but he had to do it. The department and the city he loves, he feels, is facing a crisis in policing.

He says citizens complain to him all the time about how long it takes for an officer to respond to a call, if they respond at all.

"We don't respond to as many report calls as we used to," Myrom said.

But there are other problems beginning to surface.

"It's important to me that the people understand that we're losing an entire police department piece by piece," said Myrom.

According to 10News, 130 officers left the SPDP this year to go to other agencies. They are complaining of understaffing, low pay and of being put in danger with little or no backup.

"Morale is horrible. (It's) the worst it's been in my 10 years with the department," Officer X told 10News.

"There's never been a year that's gone by when I haven't heard that 'morale is the worst it's ever been,'" Lansdowne told 10News.

But insiders told 10News the public is in danger because the police are approaching a breaking point.

Take the case of Amanda Grinager, who witnesses say was mercilessly beaten by a bouncer outside a Hillcrest club.

Grinager told 10News that the bouncer clothes-lined her into a headlock and started dragging her. She said she was in the air and then "pile-driven" face first onto the ground.

Witnesses said the bouncer handcuffed Grinager behind her back and then lifted her by the cuffs and slammed her one more time face first into the sidewalk.

She lay faced down in her own blood for two hours..

When an officer finally arrived, Grinager said, ""I asked him, 'Can you loosen the handcuffs?' And he just looked at me and told me to shut up."

Police department insiders said stress on the officers is tremendous and everybody suffers.

"We feel we're being blamed and paying the price for something that's occurred at a much higher level than we are," Myrom said.

However, Lansdowne defends his policies, saying his officers are able to do more with less.

"I wouldn't judge this department from a couple of officers," Lansdowne said.

"He is a very firm boss," said a Lansdowne supporter, Joseph McNamara, a criminology expert who worked with Lansdowne in San Jose. Firm but fair.

McNamara added that San Diego's problem is not unique.

"It's the same problem I had in San Jose. We simply didn't have enough officers to respond to every report of a crime," said McNamara, who works for the Hoover Institution.

Grinager does not think that a lack of officers is a legitimate excuse.

"The whole experience was demeaning and degrading, but insult to injury was the treatment I received from the police department," Grinager said.

The city attorney's office is investigating the beating of Grinager. She filed a lawsuit against the bouncer and the nightclub.

A 10News investigation also uncovers serious holes in the department's patrolling policies.