The first six months on the job is going well for Nevada City’s new police chief. But, speaking recently on KNCO’s “On the Town”, Dan Foss says, like many law enforcement agencies around the state, his department struggles to maintain adequate staffing…

click to listen to Dan Foss

Foss says when he started his career there was an abundance of officer applicants and very few jobs. Now it’s the opposite. According to a report from Cal Matters, the Commission on Police Officer Standards and Training certified an average of 32-hundred officers a year. In 2022, it was only 24-hundred. The report says the bigger spotlight on police brutality and shootings of unarmed suspects has discouraged applicants, among other factors. Meanwhile, Foss says the department recently purchased a mini-horse, Sunny, who debuted at Victorian Christmas. He says that should help people relax more around officers…

click to listen to Dan Foss

Foss says the Nevada City Police Department is also reinstating its K-Nine program. And it’ll be a bloodhound.