NBC 7’s Marianne Kushi and Steven Luke talk with SDPD Chief Scott Wahl about how he plans to take on his new role. He answered viewer questions and shared how he plans to deal with staffing shortages, homelessness and community outreach.
San Diego’s new police chief visited the NBC 7 studios on Wednesday morning, answering questions about what changes he wants to make to the department.
Chief Scott Wahl said his main priority is improving the trust the community has in the police department. Without that, none of his goals for the department can be achieved.
“It will always be my number one priority is establishing trust. It’ll never be #2 or #3. It will always be my top priority. It can be lost so quickly and it takes so long to build,” Wahl said.
That’s where the concept of “community policing” comes in. Chief Wahl would like to see more officers in neighborhoods and beach communities, listening to the real issues before it gets to the 911 call.
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“The difference in engagement is I want our officers and command staff listening and listening from a perspective of we’re trying to understand where people are coming from. The experiences they have with our organization and I think if you can just understand where people are coming from and bring a community supportive policing approach moving forward, what that means is we’re taking problems from the community and allowing a voice in how we’re going to solve those issues before we rush in with enforcement. Let’s take a step back and work on other alternatives.”
One of the main issues in San Diego is homelessness. Chief Wahl says having more shelter bed space is critical. He’s in favor of the proposed mega-shelter. He also said he’d like to work with the city attorney to expunge records of homeless individuals after they finish rehab to propel them on a path forward.
“So what I’m trying to do with the reorganization is make sure that we’re collaborative with the resources out there. The different service providers are really doing tremendous work to help our homeless population. We shouldn’t be the frontline when dealing with homelessness, but we’re definitely the bottom line from allowing people to cascade to a point where they’re dying on our streets,” Wahl said.
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None of these changes can happen without more officers. The department has struggled with recruitment and retention. Chief Wahl says he grew up knowing policing was his calling and he wants to attract employees with that same passion and desire to make a difference.
But how do you do that?
“You need to create an environment that people want to be a part of. I’ve always felt that I’m a part of something much bigger than who I am as an individual. I want to make sure our employees feel valued. One of my top three priorities is investing in leadership development. Making sure our employees have the training, the equipment and support they need to do this job at a very high level,” Wahl said.
Chief Wahl was sworn in last week and has been with the department for 26 years.
He’s a native San Diegan and says being chief is a dream come true.
