Lexington Police Chief Christopher Casey said morale is pretty low in the police station.
"We are all devastated by the vote to lay off twelve police officers. ... In an instant the police department has been gutted. ... We have been handcuffed in our ability to provide the public safety services that our residents have come to expect. ... Morale is through the floor," he said yesterday.
Casey said he and the captains spent until midnight on Monday informing the 12 officers of their layoffs, effective June 11.
"They are stunned and in shock, as are others throughout the town who have been given pink slips," he said.
Of the 12 terminated, eight either have lived or do live in town. Those laid off were the last 12 hired, some of whom had up to five years of service. The loss of these officers brings the force number down to 38, which is where it was in 1966, when only 4,000 calls for service were requested. In 2002, nearly 14,000 came in, Casey said.
The next step?
"We're in a transition. We have a planning team that has put together contingency plans on how to staff shifts and how we triage calls. ... This will be one of the most challenging times for the police department, probably in its history, but we'll do the best we can," Casey said.
However, the impact of the override's failure is a lot larger than just individual positions. In addition to 12 police officers being reduced, which is 23 percent of the department, the detective bureau will be reduced from eight to two, there will no longer be school resource officers, foot patrols will be reduced, and according to White, the drug task force will be "severely curtailed."
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