A Message from Police Chief Andrew Binder: January 2025 Edition

A belated Happy New Year and, now, Lunar New Year! In this community update, I will discuss the Department’s uses of grant funding to combat organized retail theft, address concerns about the Department’s interaction with federal immigration officials, and share some good news about our hiring efforts.

Combatting Organized Retail Theft

As you may be aware, in late 2023, the Department was awarded grant funding from the State of California for the specific purpose of combatting organized retail theft and vehicle theft. Since then, this funding has been used to acquiring new technology and deploying additional officers in our retail shopping corridors.

• Since December of 2023, the Department has been deploying extra officers on a daily basis in our retail shopping corridors (e.g., downtown, the Stanford shopping center) and working with our retail partners to prevent retail theft and apprehend thieves. These extra officers provide a visual deterrent and enable a faster response time when thefts occur. I’m confident it is no coincidence that, in 2024, our retailers experienced a 27% decrease in losses while our officers made 48% more shoplifting arrests (compared to 2023).
• In November of 2024, we added StarChase devices to each of our patrol cars. These devices enable our officers to affix a GPS tracking puck to a stolen or fleeing suspect vehicle and follow from a safe distance, lessening the need for potentially dangerous vehicle chases.
• In December of 2024, the City Council approved the deployment of 10 additional Flock automated license plate recognition (ALPR) cameras. Over the past year and a half, we’ve solved cases, made arrests, recovered stolen vehicles, and located missing people as a direct result of our ALPR cameras; the deployment of these additional cameras in the coming weeks will address high traffic areas where coverage did not previously exist.

Interaction with Immigration Officials

Some members of the community have inquired about the extent to which the Department engages in immigration enforcement or otherwise cooperates with federal immigration officials. Let me be clear: our department policy expressly forbids officers from inquiring about an individual’s immigration status for purposes of immigration enforcement. Moreover, our policy and state law prohibit cooperation with federal authorities for the purpose of immigration enforcement. our officers do work effectively with our federal law enforcement partners on criminal investigations not involving immigration enforcement.

It is important to me that all members of our community, regardless of their nationality or immigration status, feel safe contacting their police department when they need help.

Officer Hiring Success

I am proud to report that, in 2024, the Department hired 14 new police officers! While most of them are still attending the mandatory 6-month police academy or completing our post-academy field training program, I am optimistic you’ll see some new faces on patrol in the very near future. This influx of talent, made possible by the City Council’s continued support, will allow us to better serve you. As an example, in August, I was excited to be able to re-launch the Department’s traffic team.

There is still work to do, but through the efforts of our recruiting team and our training officers, the PAPD family is growing!

In closing…

Remember, we’re only a phone call away if you need us — 9–1–1 for emergencies, or (650) 329–2413 for our 24-hour dispatch center.

Do you have a question or are you interested in sharing your perspective with me? Please send me a note at mailto:andrew.binder@cityofpaloalto.org.

I look forward to hearing from you.

- Andrew

Ways to connect and stay informed with PAPD

We are the only municipal police agency in Santa Clara County with an unencrypted radio frequency, which gives you real-time access to police radio transmissions.

• Read our news releases about significant events in town
• Obtain critical public safety information in a timely way via Nextdoor, Twitter/X, and Nixle
• Check our interactive calls for service map
• Access our Police Report Log
• Examine the data and policing statistical information we release as part of the Police Data Initiative and the Racial and Identity Profiling Act
• Sign up your home’s security cameras with our Neighborhood Security Camera Program