Police Warn Against Further Reductions

Two police officers warned city leaders that Police Department staffing cuts in the city’s new $199-million budget could threaten public safety.

“In the last five years, we have cut 14 sworn positions in a city where we should have increased at least 14, if not double that in the last five years,” Sgt. Tom Donnelly told council members Monday night.

Sgt. Ed Deuel told council members that overloaded police officers often can’t respond to routine calls such as home burglaries. When crime reports are taken by “field service” personnel, officers frequently are too busy to review the reports in depth, Deuel said. And detectives have a 60- to 80-day backlog of cases to be investigated.

“The bottom line is we don’t have enough cops and support positions right now in the Police Department to do the job,” Deuel said.

The 1996-97 spending plan adopted Monday night includes a $900,000 increase in Police Department spending compared with the previous year, from $31.8 million to $32.7 million, according to City Administrator Michael T. Uberuaga. Even so, the city is eliminating two sworn officer positions and one civilian job because of rising operating costs. The department also will lose another police officer whose position is funded by federal narcotics forfeiture funds, which have been declining in recent years.

Councilman Peter M. Green suggested that the city’s efforts to retain the title of safest city in America may be unrealistic.

“It’s almost inconceivable that we achieved that level, when you consider that we’re surrounded by a large metropolitan area,” Green said. “Maybe we should have let Minot, N.D., have that title--they’re surrounded by wheat fields.”