San Marcos Public Policy Forum featured a presentation from Interim Police Chief Bob Klett.

The forum featured Interim Police Chief Bob Klett detailing the standards of SMPD’s hiring process. San Marcos High School hosted the monthly Public Policy Forum Oct. 9.

Klett discussed the focus on the character of those seeking to be hired as an officer. He said officers with poor moral values rarely slip through the high standards of the hiring process, specifically detailing the case of a single officer who was fired for use of racial slurs. 

Klett said increasing the number of effective officers in the community is a challenge since the background check process and police academy process may take over a year, thus making it potentially difficult to keep up with changes in population trends.

Klett said observable data shows an effective ratio of officer-to-population with the current 108 officers.

“That [ideal] number changes a lot,” Klett said. “It’s based on the population of San Marcos, the daytime population of everyone who visits our malls and stores, downtown and the university. We did a survey of the officer’s allocated time and unallocated time last year and we’re in the right spot with the number of officers we have.”

For information on SMPD’s civilian response training program, visit the CRASE website