Facebook offers to pay Menlo Park $600000 to hire a cop in Belle Haven

Posted: 02/28/2014 07:55:41 PM PST

Updated: 03/02/2014 04:55:33 PM PST

Facebook has offered to pay $200,000 a year for a full-time Menlo Park police officer who would work out of the city's planned substation in Belle Haven, a stone's throw from its headquarters.

The company has pledged to fund the position for three years, and possibly two more, according to an agreement that goes to the Menlo Park City Council for approval Tuesday.

The sworn officer would focus on helping local schools increase their safety and prevent student truancy and on working with the area's large businesses to improve their security, police Cmdr. Dave Bertini said Friday.

He said the officer 'will be in uniform and in a marked patrol car' but won't be assigned to calls or 'be issuing citations and doing traffic enforcement.' As for patrols, 'it's truancy patrol or something like a security patrol at Facebook,' he added.

The officer would also work with schools and businesses to create public safety plans and conduct emergency drills to deal with a violent intruder or events such as a fire or earthquake, Bertini said.

'Let's say Facebook has a need of assistance, or some other large company, and says, 'We want to have drills for an active shooter or a bomb threat. We need you to help us put that together.' They'd have an actual person (to assist),' Bertini said.

The city would be responsible for hiring the officer and picking up the costs for the patrol vehicle and any specialized training that's needed.

Facebook has committed to provide up to $600,000 over three years, enough in the city's estimate to cover the salary and benefits of a full-time officer. That includes any compensation boosts, which according to a staff memo historically amounts to 3 to 5 percent a year.

If approved by the council, the position would be filled 'as quickly as possible,' according to a staff memo. Bertini said an existing officer likely would fill the position and a new officer would be hired later for the department.

Facebook also is giving the city more than $215,000 to help pay the rent and make building improvements for the new substation, tentatively slated to open next month in a storefront space at Hamilton Avenue and Willow Road.

Residents of the Belle Haven neighborhood have a 'much lower socioeconomic status' than those in the rest of Menlo Park, according to a study done by the city in 2010. The crime rate is also higher there than elsewhere in the city, and police have blamed ongoing shootings on gangs.

Facebook is building a West Campus across the highway from its headquarters on the east side of Bayfront Expressway at Willow Road. The new campus is just a few hundred yards from the planned substation.

Email Bonnie Eslinger at beslinger@dailynewsgroup.com; follow her at http://ift.tt/NidOUx.