WORCESTER— The city wants to increase the size of its next police recruit class by 10, from 18 to 28 members, to offset projected vacancies that are expected in the Police Department by Sept. 30.
City Manager Michael V. O’Brien said he is looking to increase the size of the class, which is scheduled to begin training in May, through a $400,000 grant the city is in line to receive from the governor’s Municipal Police Officer Hiring Incentive.
The grant allocation is based on the city’s population, violent crime rate, property crime rate, percentage decrease in officers for any given period, and the number of officers per 1,000 residents. The City Council Tuesday night authorized the city to apply for $400,000 from the program.
Police Chief Gary J. Gemme said 20 police positions are vacant and eight more vacancies are expected to occur between Nov. 1 and Sept. 30, bringing the total number of vacancies to 28.
The fiscal 2008 budget funds 472 police positions. In addition, the Police Department’s table of organization has another eight positions that are authorized, but not funded in the budget, for a total of 480 authorized positions.
“This grant provides the financial means for me to authorize the filling of these eight positions, plus an additional two positions, as part of the planned Worcester Police Department recruit class,” Mr. O’Brien said. “The chief and I are in agreement that the best application of these potential one-time funds is to increase the size of the planned recruit class and then, through attrition (retirements), return to the current funded position level of 472 over the period of May 2008 through fiscal year 2009.”
Chief Gemme said the grant is not intended to be a permanent subsidy and, as a result, communities are required to present a plan on how they are going to retain the officers after the one-year grant expires Dec. 31.
“This grant offers us a unique opportunity to fill unfunded police officer positions during fiscal 2008 and continue to provide for those positions in fiscal 2009 with limited funding from the city,” Chief Gemme wrote in a report to the City Council. “Since we do not anticipate an additional recruit class to occur during fiscal year 2009, the costs for providing these salaries in the second half of fiscal 2009 should be absorbed through attrition.”
Mr. O’Brien said having a larger police recruit class will enable the city to avoid “deep dips” in police staffing levels that often occur when there are prolonged periods between recruit classes.
“These actions will ensure the appropriate number of personnel available for deployment by the chief, especially during the peak summer months, for a longer period of time,” Mr. O’Brien said. “The chief and I have determined this proactive approach will mitigate the need to plan for a police recruit class in fiscal year 2009.”
Upon awarding of the grant, the manager said, the 10 positions it will fund will boost the Police Department’s complement to 482, two more than its authorized complement. He said that will require the City Council to temporarily override the Police Department’s table of organization. He said the total complement of police officers will return to 480 by the end of December because of two mandatory retirement.
Posted by: Macop
Why don't they just take a few laterals?
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