SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — San Diego police are heading into another weekend with Operation Last Call in effect — and Chief Scott Wahl says the results are already reshaping the downtown environment.
Since the end of August, extra officers have been flooding the Gaslamp Quarter on weekends to cut down on crime and fighting. The operation has resulted in 17 arrests, more than 250 misdemeanors and citations, and 4 guns seized.
In an interview this week, Wahl said the increased presence is doing more than just making arrests — it's changing behavior.
"This adjustment that we put into place has really stabilized things. We don't have big fights. We don't have viral videos, and it's a fun, safe place as it should be for everybody," Wahl said.
When asked whether the numbers reflect more arrests due to more officers or a deterrent effect with fewer incidents overall, Wahl said it's been both.
"Having officers stretched throughout the Gaslamp allows officers to intervene. To a certain degree, it's stabilized things and de-escalated the environment, preventing those big fights from occurring. If it starts (as) a verbal altercation, we can get in the middle of it, and you don't have any fight at all. So to a certain degree, yes, it has slowed things down," Wahl said.
The operation comes at a cost, however. Wahl acknowledged the department is significantly understaffed — 200 officers below budget and 1,000 short of what he says is needed to meet call volume. To avoid pulling officers from other neighborhoods, the department is funding the Gaslamp surge through overtime.
"There's no question, our staffing levels are extremely low... What I'm not willing to do is take our officers in the long term from other parts of our city to try to address this issue. That means another part of our city would be suffering while we're addressing it. What we're doing is spending money on OT to bring in officers to saturate that area. On some nights, we have as many as 35 additional police officers. It's a large footprint down there. And we need that many officers to make sure it stays safe. We think we'll be able to slow that down and reduce some staffing. But we're going to have to have a new norm down there of additional officers than we've historically had," Wahl said.
Wahl said the department is working to hire more officers and return to full staffing, but a wave of retirements over the last few years combined with budget constraints has made that more difficult.
The full interview with Chief Wahl, including a discussion about AI, drones, and more, is available at 10News.com.
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