LOS ANGELES TIMES POLL : City Residents Back Concept of Taxing to Hire More Police

Underlining concern over San Diego’s escalating violence, nearly three-quarters of city residents support the idea of a special tax to hire more police officers, a Los Angeles Times Poll found.

Three weeks before the San Diego City Council is to debate whether to place on this fall’s ballot a proposed charter amendment calling for more police staffing, the Times Poll found that, by an overwhelming 72%-21% margin, San Diegans are favorably inclined toward a tax that would be devoted to that purpose.

In addition, 42% express strong support for such a tax, and only 10% are strongly opposed.

“When you get 72% of the public saying it supports anything , it really underscores the importance of an issue,” said San Diego City Councilman Ron Roberts, one of three council members who last week endorsed the proposed charter amendment. “A lot can happen in a campaign, but this seems to show that we’d be starting out in a pretty strong position.”

The Times Poll is based on telephone interviews conducted Sunday and Monday of 537 adult San Diego city residents. The poll’s margin of sampling error is plus or minus 5 percentage points.

Unsurprisingly, crime-related programs were the most frequently cited budgetary priorities among city residents polled.

Asked to name the top two municipal services or projects that they would most like to see receive additional attention from the city, 22% of San Diegans identified homelessness, followed closely by police and jails (20%). An additional 12% pointed to drug and crime-prevention programs as their top fiscal priority, meaning that one-third of the respondents cited crime-related issues as one of their major concerns.

“I’m not at all surprised, because anyone who’s been walking in the neighborhoods . . . knows that the public’s top priority is crime, and that the chief concern is strengthening police presence in the community,” said Councilman Bob Filner, another proponent of the suggested charter change.

Proposed last week by the San Diego Police Officers Assn., the charter amendment--which the labor union wants the council to place on the November ballot--would force the city to nearly double the 1,850-member police force by the end of the decade, at an overall cost of nearly $110 million.

The measure contains no provision for a tax increase, but would require the council to find the money within the city’s budget to meet annual staffing requirements that would raise the current 1.6 officers-per-1,000 residents ratio to 2.4 per 1,000 by 1999.

Mayor Maureen O’Connor has caustically dismissed the proposal as a “totally irresponsible” plan that would force Draconian cutbacks, if not outright elimination, of a wide range of city services and programs. If enacted, O’Connor warned, the charter amendment could leave San Diego “with police but nothing else.”

Filner, however, argued that the poll--in particular, the 72% support for a possible new police tax--shows that most San Diegans view the issue from a markedly different perspective in the wake of 1991’s record 179 homicides within the city. Any ballot proposal put before voters, Filner added, probably would include a financing mechanism for the recommended police staffing increases.

“These are impressive numbers, but the challenge is going to be to maintain them through an election campaign,” Filner cautioned. “What this shows is that, if the council is united, we’d have a good shot. But, if there’s disunity, or the mayor fights it, we’d have a problem.”

San Diegans’ concern over crime--identified by 24% as the city’s top problem--is considerably higher than that felt by most Californians. In a Times Poll last month, only 9% of state residents cited crime as the most important problem facing California, contrasted with 35% who identified either the economy or unemployment.

Los Angeles Times Poll

What do you think is the most important problem facing San Diego County today?

Crime: 22%

Unemployment: 18%

Growth: 10%

Homeless: 8%

Drought: 7%

Economy: 6% Drugs: 5%

Illegal aliens: 3%

Housing: 2%

Environment: 2%

Education: 2%

Racism: 1%

Traffic: 1%

Other: 8%

Not sure: 5%

Would you be inclined to support or oppose a new tax that would be used solely for the purpose of increasing the size of the San Diego city police force? (Asked of city residents)

Support: 72%

Oppose: 21%

Don’t know: 7%

Do you think the San Diego County jail system is basically sound, or not? (Asked of county residents.)

Not sound: 51%

Sound: 23%

Don’t know: 26%

If the $330 million collected under Proposition A is returned to taxpayers, how should the rebate be handled: reduce the county sales tax by another half-cent until the pool of money is rebated, or give San Diego County residents an income tax credit, or cut property taxes in San Diego County, or have buyers present sales receipts for items purchased while the tax was in effect? (Asked of county residents)

Reduce sales tax: 35%

Tax credit: 28%

Cut property tax: 23%

Present sales receipts: 2%

Other: 2%

None of the above: 4%

Not sure: 6%

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times Poll of 1,308 San Diego County residents, including 537 residents of the city of San Diego.