Police Funds Will Go for Office Workers
Saying clerks, dispatchers and record keepers are needed more desperately by the Police Department than new officers, the City Council voted this week to hire 17 civilian employees with its share of a $100-million state fund.
Police Capt. Frank Fleming said the jobs are “critically important” because no new support positions have been added to the Police Department since 1993, while 36 new officers joined the force in the same time period.
“All of these new officers are creating a workload we can’t keep up with,” Fleming said Tuesday. “We don’t want them doing clerical stuff. We want them on the street where they belong.”
The new positions, which will initially cost the city $680,119 a year, will be funded by the state’s Citizens Option for Public Safety or COPS program, which was created by the Legislature in January. Program funds have been allocated to cities throughout the state based on population.
“The money is really going to let us fill some holes,” Fleming said.
The City Council unanimously approved the department’s hiring proposal for 13 full-time and four part-time support positions, including dispatchers, detention officers, forensic specialists and evidence clerks.
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