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Thursday, June 29, 2006
Auburn chief shuts down Detective Bureau

Lack of money puts investigations on hold until July 1

By Bill Fortier TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
AUBURN— A lack of money has closed the Police Department’s Detective Bureau until Saturday.

Police Chief Andrew J. Sluckis Jr. said the bureau closed down earlier this week and will reopen Saturday, the first day of fiscal 2007.

Chief Sluckis said Detective Sgt. Jeffrey A. Lourie and Detectives Vincent Ross and Eric Dyson are on day-to-day police duty until Saturday. “All the investigations the detectives have been working on are put on hold,” Chief Sluckis said on Tuesday. The Detective Bureau has been investigating about 60 cases, Chief Sluckis said.

If a major crime such as a murder, bank robbery or sexual assault, or an unattended death occurs before Saturday, the case would be referred to state police detectives attached to the district attorney’s office.

Chief Sluckis said a similar shutdown occurred at the end of the last fiscal year, although Assistant Town Administrator Edward J. Kazanovicz said yesterday he did not recall that.

A telephone call to the state Department of Public Safety seeking comment on whether other police departments have temporarily closed down their detective bureaus because of lack of funding was not returned. A telephone call to the district attorney’s office seeking comment on the matter also was not returned.

Town Administrator Charles T. O’Connor Jr. said the police chief’s position in Auburn is considered to be a strong police chief under state Civil Service guidelines, which means Chief Sluckis has the authority to make adjustments concerning the fiscal management of the Police Department. “It’s for a short duration,” Mr. O’Connor said.

Voters at last week’s special town election passed a $1.3 million Proposition 2-1/2 override question that includes a $400,000 infusion of cash for the Police Department. That money will be used to add five patrolmen and a sergeant to the department, and one of the new people will be assigned to the Detective Bureau, Chief Sluckis has said.

“I’m hoping with the passage of the Proposition 2-1/2 override and six new people, this will be the last time we have to do this,” Chief Sluckis said. It is expected that the new positions will be filled by early fall, Chief Sluckis said.

“We only have so much money to work with,” he said, adding that the decision was made to cover day-to-day police operations until Saturday. Chief Sluckis said recent cases involving detective work include last week’s home invasion on Bylund Avenue, a bank robbery and a stabbing. “All those things require a tremendous amount of time and attention, where a detective drops what he’s doing,” the chief said. Frequently that means extra hours or detectives being called in while off-duty, and that translates to overtime, he said.

Mr. Kazanovicz said $47,775 in overtime transfers to the Police Department has been approved by the Finance Committee. He said the panel was scheduled to act on another requested $6,911 overtime transfer at last night’s meeting that would bring the amount of money spent on police overtime during the current fiscal year to $214,686. The amount of money in that account at the start of the fiscal year was $160,000, Mr. Kazanovicz said. He said $211,000 was spent in the police overtime account in fiscal 2005.

Mr. Kazanovicz said there is $8,100 left in the Police Department overtime account for the last week of fiscal 2006. The town has $92,229 in snow and ice removal bills from this past winter it has to pay, Mr. Kazanovicz said. “Things are really tight this year,” Mr. Kazanovicz said.

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