Westminster : Official Review Gives Police High Marks

In its evaluation of police operations, the city’s Financial Review Committee gave the Police Department high marks for efficiency but recommended that officials hire more reserve and apprentice-level officers to cut costs.

“Overall, they’ve done very well,” said committee Vice Chairman Art Gandy. “They’ve taken corrective action before the committee began to investigate.”

The 10-member committee was appointed by the City Council to evaluate each city department in terms of program efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

In a report delivered to the City Council this week, the committee noted that the Police Department, which had a 1992-93 budget of $12.5 million, has come in $200,000 under budget the last two years. The report also commended the department for paying for parking enforcement through narcotics seizure funds, which generated more than $500,000 in general fund revenue for the city, and for adding police services through outside funding sources.

“Without innovative management concepts, grants and other sources, police services at existing levels could cost millions more,” the committee’s report states.

The committee also found that the fire and police departments cannot radio each other from fire trucks and patrol cars, prompting a recommendation to consolidate the city’s communications systems.

The committee also found that the revenue generated from animal licensing fees does not pay for the cost of running the animal control unit. The committee suggested licensing pets such as cats, which would generate more revenue for the city.

“Cat lovers would go through the roof, but people have a lot of cats, and they’re not licensed,” Gandy said. “But the animal control people still have to get the cat out of the tree, and they get no revenue from that.”