Why this matters:
City liability insurance costs have skyrocketed led by the San Diego Police Department. The City Council wants more scrutiny, and accountability.
The San Diego City Council is going to be keeping a much closer eye in the coming year on the spiraling payouts stemming from claims and lawsuits – especially those against the San Diego Police Department.
In June, a council committee added a condition to an obscure city document called “Statement of Budgetary Principles” requiring the Risk Management Department to update the council next year on how much the city paid out in insurance claims and judgments from lawsuits.
The new language included a specific carve-out that requires details on “expenses and claim count information for San Diego Police Department related to settlements and judgments.”
That’s largely because the city has paid out $116 million in claims and judgments against the police since 2017, according to data collected by the Risk Management Department and presented at the meeting — more than any other city department.
That figure includes two massive payments the city approved within weeks of each other in December — one for $30 million to settle a case where 16-year-old Konoa Wilson was shot and killed by an officer, and $10 million representing the city’s share of a $31 million settlement to the relatives of Arabella McCormack who was abused and killed by her parents in 2022.
The city analysis compiled showed that the Transportation and Stormwater departments accounted for $106 million in payouts — with three times more claims as the police.
The next eight departments combined totaled $119 million, slightly more than the total police payments.
The police department has a $718 million budget this year, the largest of any department in the general fund.
Committee Chairman and Fourth District Councilmember Henry Foster III said during the meeting that the data on payouts stemming from the police department pointed to larger issues of accountability.
“What I see is a pattern. What I see is continued misconduct,” he said. “I don’t see the corrective efforts that are needed to bring things in line.
“Quite honestly, we need to do better. We need to see some accountability.”
SDPD Capt. Mike Ramsey, head of the training division, said the department has made “significant investments” in training, supervision and other areas over the past year.
They include doubling the size of the division, increasing de-escalation training and training for supervisors.
“The department’s continued investments in these areas will play a critical role in liability mitigation for the city,” he said.
In an interview after the hearing, Foster said while training is important it’s also critical to examine what happens when the training isn’t followed or fails.
“I understand the importance of training,” he said, “but we also need to make sure we have a way to check to see if the training we are providing is adequate. Is it working? And if not, we need to be in a position to address that so we can mitigate these circumstances.”
The data presented at the meeting showed civil rights violations and police shootings were the two leading categories of insurance payouts over the past decade. The two categories accounted for more than $75 million in liability payouts.
While the police costs might be the biggest the city faces, the data showed overall insurance costs — claims paid and insurance premiums — have skyrocketed from a little more than $30 million in 2018, to more than $80 million this year.
Just 15 years ago the city paid a $5.9 million premium as part of its membership in PRISM, a statewide risk-pooling authority made up of thousands of public agencies.
Last year that number rose to $35.4 million.
The city’s self-insured retention costs — a kind of deductible the city pays before insurance kicks in — has also increased. In 2017 that cost was $2.5 million. This year: $7.5 million.
Risk Management Director Angela Colton told the committee increasing insurance costs are a statewide problem and not unique to San Diego. Among the steps the department is taking is using AI for data analytics, adding staff to resolve claims faster, and working with PRISM on tort reform — making changes to the laws under which people can sue.
That last step did not sit well with Foster. He said instead of pursuing legal changes making it harder for people to sue the city should focus on fixing its own internal practices.
The hearing was a long time coming, Foster said after the meeting. He initially asked for a presentation on the city’s claims and judgments early this year, he said.
But both the Police Department and Mayor Todd Gloria’s office initially resisted the request. He said it was only when he forced the issue by saying he would docket the item himself that they agreed.
Type of Content
News: Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
