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providing support to victims. As workload continues to increase, investigators <br />become simple paper pushers, processing the cases on patrol arrests. Only <br />cursory examination is made of most felony cases and only the most serious of <br />crimes are investigated in depth. <br />Reductions in the Narcotics unit should only be considered if elimination of <br />the unit is considered. Narcotics investigation is dangerous enough to require at <br />least two officers involved in every field activity. Three officers currently assigned <br />is the minimum number to ensure at least two officers are available at all times <br />for field activity. <br />Reductions in the grant funded positions will see a reduction in the current <br />benefits of their use and will likely result in a higher crime rate as the individuals <br />who would have been intercepted by these officers and arrested will continue to <br />commit violations without being caught. Efforts of the other units of the <br />department will have an impact on these suspects but agencies that have <br />proactive deployment groups that can work on self-initiated investigations enjoy a <br />lower crime rate. <br />Elimination of the Warrant Officer position can be done by moving the <br />responsibility for that function to patrol. However, as indicated earlier, the patrol <br />officers have very little time available or expertise in conducting warrant <br />research. Elimination of this position in other cities has resulted in increasing <br />numbers of outstanding warrants which deprives the City of revenue and make <br />the issuance of citations somewhat meaningless. <br />Page 50 <br />