NEWPORT BEACH : Patrol Positions Cut in Police Budget Plan

Seeking to cut into a $3-million city budget deficit, Newport Beach officials have proposed the one thing sure to provoke skepticism around town--eliminating police officer positions.

“I know it is disconcerting to the public to see public safety cut,” said Newport Beach Police Chief Bob McDonell. “It is not easy for us either, but you have to work with what you’ve got.”

The Police Department plans to reduce its staff of sworn officers by five positions to 133 to cut its overall budget $600,000 for the upcoming year. The positions slated for deletion are currently vacant.

City Manager Kevin J. Murphy, who is responsible for the budget, said that “our goal is to make cuts that do not affect front-line services.” McDonell said the reduction should not slow police response to emergency calls.

“But I do not want to create the impression that these cuts are easy,” McDonell said, noting that they come on the heels of three straight years of budget cutting that has reduced police staff by 22 positions without taking any officers off the street. This is the first year the cuts will reach patrol positions.

“We have looked internally and have rolled back as far as you get,” McDonell said. “The only place (left to cut) is in the field deployment arena and some detective positions.”

For the 1994-95 fiscal year, three patrol officer positions will be eliminated, as well as two of the civilians who work the department’s front desk. By mid-1995, a sergeant in a detective division and two more officer slots will be vacated to allow the Police Department to fill the positions of records supervisor, communications supervisor, custody officer and manager of the department’s shooting range.

As the Police Department wrestles with the changes, other municipal departments are absorbing even deeper cuts. On May 1, the city laid off six workers, including two in the Fire Department. Thirty-three other jobs will be eliminated through attrition and early retirement, including Marine Department director, senior building inspector and fire prevention specialist.

“We have to find ways to save money,” Murphy said.

The cuts come at a time when the rate of violent crime in Newport Beach has remained steady.

The Police Department has for much of the past two decades operated with less than a full complement of staff, according to the city’s personnel records. Because of poor pay and high turnover, Chief McDonell said, the department was forced to make do despite 20 vacant positions.

Last year, the city granted its police officers and most other city workers a hefty raise to elevate their salaries from among the lowest in the county to among the highest. As a result, the department’s ranks have stabilized so that fewer officers are in training and more are actually out on the street.

“We have all our slots filled,” McDonell said. “Our goal is to be efficient as possible.”

The City Council has begun reviewing the proposed 1994-95 budget and may vote on it later this month or in June.