IRVINE : Police Department to Hire 5 New Officers

The Police Department, which is down 10 officers, should be back to full strength within a year, said Chief Charles S. Brobeck.

The City Council last week authorized the department to hire five new officers. Brobeck hopes the council will also allocate funds to hire an additional five when it approves a fiscal 1994-95 budget in the next few months.

The addition of 10 officers would bring the number of sworn police personnel to 129.

The department has a list of qualified applicants and is completing background checks on those being considered for the first five slots.

Once the five officers are selected, they will go through field training and should be ready for duty in the fall, Brobeck said.

The annual cost of each new officer, including salary, benefits, equipment and workers’ compensation insurance, is about $91,000. The five new officers will be funded in part by proceeds from Proposition 172, the 1993 ballot measure designed to increase funding for fire and law enforcement agencies. City officials are not sure exactly how much the city will receive in Proposition 172 funds.

The 10-person vacancy in the Police Department developed over the last year as officers left and the city did not have the money to immediately replace them.

As a result, Brobeck was forced to redeploy officers from investigative and support units into the patrol bureau to keep street service at normal levels.

Brobeck said he might not return all personnel to support duties once the new officers come on board. Instead, the patrol bureau could be expanded and the extra officers might be used to form special units to deal with specific crime issues, such as drunk driving, he said.

More changes in police deployment are expected in the next few years as the department organizes a community policing program. Such a program would tap the resources of Irvine residents and businesses to identify areas in which the Police Department could be more efficient and effective.