The San Jose Police Department (SJPD) is the police agency for San Jose, California. The San Jose Police Department is led by Chief of Police Anthony Mata.
The department makes its calls for service available to the public; it is the first American city police department to make all 911 calls available via online CrimeReports.com maps. The 911 call data is updated daily.
History
The San Jose Police Department was founded in 1849. During its beginnings, the most common offenses recorded for the department were public intoxication and vagrancy, according to old jailhouse records. In 1880, the department was averaging 120 arrests per month, and the position of police chief was created. The chief also acted as the superintendent of the city jail, and by the late 1880s, the department had gone from 10 officers to 25. In the early 1905s, as the SJPD grew, more rules and regulations were instituted regarding police officers. Officers now needed to go through field training and revolver training.
The department, along with many others in the nation, changed with the introduction of the automobile and the advent of motorcycle units. The motorcycle unit mainly cited people for speeding and other traffic violations. San Jose was one of the first places to use radio and phone technology to help officers perform their duties. In 1925, the city council released the first rules and regulations manual. It was the precursor to the duty manual that the department currently uses. The San Jose Police Academy first started out as a police college for aspiring officers to earn four year bachelor's degrees with an emphasis on criminal justice. Men made up the entire police force up until 1945, when Ida Waalkes became the first female to be a sworn officer with the San Jose Police Department.
On December 8, 1941, the SJPD created an own Police Reserve Unit which exists until today, making it one of the oldest organizations of this kind in the United States. SJPD Reserve Officers are California P.O.S.T Basic Police Academy certified and therefore receive exactly the same training, including 500 hours of Field Training, as full-time police officers. As level I reserve officers according to § 832.6(a)(1) California Penal Code, they are sworn peace officers pursuant to § 830.6(a)(1) California Penal Code who have the same duties and responsibilities as regular officers.
Today, the unit consists of over 100 reserve officers and is on call 24 hours, seven days a week. Community policing began to be used by the department in the early 1990s, as specific geographic areas were mapped out and assigned. This enabled officers to get to know the people and communities they patrolled, and is partially credited for keeping San Jose one of the safest large cities in America.
In September 2007, the San Jose Police Department began making all its Calls for Service available to the public through a partnership with Crime Reports.com. San Jose was the first American city to make all 911 calls available via online "CrimeReports.com" maps.
Since fall 2014, the San Jose Police Department maintains a uniformed auxiliary police which consists 28 of Community Service Officers (CSOs) who attend a five-week academy. The SJPD CSO is a civilian position; CSOs thus do not carry firearms and do not perform any enforcement duties. Their tasks are limited to response to lower priority calls, which shall give sworn police officers more time to respond to high risk calls.
Uniform and equipment
Uniform
The uniform of the department consists of a dark navy blue shirt for sworn officers, and a light blue or white shirt for differing civilian classifications. On the left side of the chest is worn the departmental badge, or a patch replica on certain items. The badge of a sworn police officer is a silver seven-point star reading "San Jose Police", the officer's rank, and badge number. Gold-colored badges are issued to higher ranking police officers. Civilian staff are issued eagle-top or oval shaped shields depending on classification. The San Jose Police Department patch is worn on both sleeves, with a rocker denoting classification for civilian staff. Pants are regular navy blue uniform trousers with white piping running down the side of the leg.