Thank you for your interest in learning more about Sanger’s Public Safety Plan

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As you may know, Sanger is one of the fastest growing cities in the county, but our police and fire services have not kept pace with our growth.

• Calls for service to our Police and Fire departments have nearly tripled in 6 years
• There are as many as 10 suspected drug labs operating in Fresno County
• There are 200 felon parolees and 400-500 active gang members and associates in Sanger
• Our nearest emergency room and trauma center is more than 20 minutes away and nearly 90% of the 9-1-1 emergency calls that the Fire Department responds to are medical emergencies—but only 11 of our 21 firefighters are trained as paramedics.

After weeks of planning and input from hundreds of citizens, the City Council is preparing to place  a Police, Fire, Paramedic and 9-1-1 Response and Gang/Drug Prevention measure on the Sanger ballot.  This Sanger Public Safety Measure would provide the funding the City needs to hire more police officers and firefighters and improve their training, which would reduce gang and drug related crime and improve response times to fires and medical emergencies.
We are pleased that our new Public Safety Plan will:

• Reduce gang and drug-related crimes
• Increase police patrols in neighborhoods, parks and near schools
• Hire more anti-gang and anti-drug police officers and expand anti-gang and anti-drug programs
• Improve police and firefighter training
• Hire additional firefighter/paramedics and purchase protective clothing and breathing apparatuses for them 

The Sanger Public Safety Measure includes strong fiscal accountability protections, such as:

• Annual independent financial audits
• Independent Citizen’s Oversight
• Expenditure Plan (Link)
• Guarantee that all new funding would be in addition to – not in lieu of – current budgetary expenditures for public safety
• Revenues will be placed in a separate Public Safety Fund to ensure they cannot be used for any other purpose
• All money will stay in Sanger and cannot be taken by Sacramento
• Food purchased as groceries and prescription medications will not be taxed
• Sunset Provision that ensures the tax expires after 10 years

The Oversight Committee will monitor spending and guarantee that all funds are being spent as promised to the community.  The committee will be appointed through an open application process.  The Mayor will interview applicants and consult both the Fire and Police Chief’s before making a recommendation to the Council, who would then officially seat the Committee.  Like other City Commissions, the Oversight Committee appointment process is governed by the California’s Constitution and Government Code.
We hope you will join us, as we work to make Sanger safer!

Sincerely,

For more information, please visit the following links:
- Take our Community Safety Survey! English | Spanish
- Frequently Asked Questions about Sanger's Public Safety Needs English | Spanish
- Read a Safety Update from your Police and Fire chiefs