The chief then explained a number of factors contributing to the
need to hire a new officer at this time.
-
There are no longer
shift overlaps where officers have a chance to write reports.
-
It is now all
eight-hour shifts.
-
There has been an
increase in calls and arrests.
-
Vacation scheduling
has started.
-
One officer is
leaving soon to work for the state.
-
One officer is going
to training and then will be deployed to Afghanistan this month.
-
One officer is on
light duty through July, possibly early August.
-
There is a Police Training Institute to
train a new officer that starts June 22.
The next training time is not until Aug. 24. "That's a
considerable delay," the chief said.
In addition, he had prepared overtime figures from the months of
April and May, as well as projections for June and July for aldermen
to review.
"I understand that the city normally does not hire a new officer
before another is off the books. But I'm asking you to reconsider
that in this situation," he said.
When Mayor Beth Davis-Kavelman asked for discussion, Verl Prather
led aldermen in supporting the request, "Yes, mayor, I realize the
policy in the past, but if we take all these things into
consideration, we should go case by case. I will be voting to
support this."
Erlenbush said that they do not have a candidate yet. "We're
still doing background checks," he said.
[By JAN YOUNGQUIST]
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