22 - POLICE DEPARTMENT STAFFING AND OPERATIONS

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Item No. 22 memorandum TO: City Council John Godwin, City Manager FROM: Bob Hundley, Chief of Police SUBJECT: POLICE DEPARTMENT STAFFING AND OPERATIONS DATE: January 20, 2016 BACKGROUND: At the June 15th 2015 Council meeting, Council Member Plata and Mayor Hashmi inquired about the morale of officers, retention of officers and procedures in place in the operation of the police department. Suggestions for improvement in certain areas were made. STATUS OF ISSUE: First and foremost, it is appreciated that the council has genuine interest and concern about the public safety of the city and the police department. Law Enforcement in general is in transition at this time, looking for better methods of not only providing safety for our citizens but also providing service in more of a guardianship role. I think that the criticisms of police officers around the country has had an effect on overall morale but at the same time, local support of our officers has been overwhelming and appreciated. So what have we done since the June meeting? With the adoption of the 2015/2016 city budget, an increase in salary for officers was appreciated and needed. This increase has helped the officer's morale. I think it is very important for council to know two former officers have returned to the department. These officers left for DFW area police agencies and the salary increase is one of the reasons we were able to attract them back home. By hiring these officers, there was an immediate impact to staffing as there was no lengthy training time needed. As officers are being hired and completing training, some of the short-handed shifts are getting some relief, but not all. We are currently operating with seven officer positions not available for full duty. Our present staffing is detailed below: • 3 Recruits in the basic police academy expected to graduate in April. • 2 Officers are in the Field Training Program with one completing training by mid -March and the other by May.