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FL City Council gives green light to staff up police force |
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Wednesday, 09 April 2008 |
Jennifer Larson
Staff Writer
The Forest Lake Police Department got the green light to staff up its force but determining a funding source within the budget for new hires has yet to be located.
The Forest Lake City Council tentatively approved hiring two more officers in 2008 during a special workshop on March 19. They were approached by Police Chief Clark Quiring with the request.
He told the council the calls for police service increased 4 percent from 12,078 in 2006 to 13,272 last year despite the number of officers remaining at 24.
Quiring had included a 25th officer for the current fiscal year but the council had cut it from the 2008 budget when they adopted it in December.
“This is the fourth time I’ve talked about this” Quiring said, noting he is looking for some kind of direction from the council.
City Administrator Chip Robinson said they could re-examine this year’s budget to determine if there is any funding source available to hire two new officers this summer.
He also noted that the council could include additional officers in the city’s 2009 budget. Robinson said he would present a plan to the council at its regular meeting on April 14.
Factors
Quiring listed several reasons to support his request.
Some of those include the size of the city – Forest Lake is 36 square miles making it more area to patrol than many other cities that have larger populations as well as the city being divided up by five lakes, which can make it more time consuming to get to calls.
“We need to respond quickly,” Quiring said.
In addition, he noted that Forest Lake is the intersection for four major roadways – meaning there is not only a large volume of traffic to deal with but it also increases the number of accidents.
Quiring said the police department is seeing an increase in the number of serious drug cases. He said a goal outlined in the 2008 budget is to have more non-enforcement contact with the public, which will help officers to be more proactive instead of reactive as the force is currently.
And the community is anticipated to continue growing over the next 10 years, Quiring said. He explained that there are plans for more than $90,000,000 of new commercial projects in 2008, many of which have a mulit-housing component.
When construction of those commercial projects begin, Quiring added that they will have to police it for vandalism and thefts.
To top it off, he said three veteran officers are expected to retire in the coming year, one officer is taking a maternity leave and another has been called for National Guard duty overseas.
Council input
“I think it would be a good time to add an officer based on what you’re telling me,” said Mayor Stev Stegner.
However, he said the police department has performed well but said a 4 percent increase in service calls does not justify adding more officers to the force.
Stegner said at least one more officer could be hired to prepare for the expected absent officers and the retirements. He added that the city must stay within its current budget, which could mean cutting another item or finding revenue for the new officers.
Councilwoman Judy Bull questioned if there would be funding to hire two new officers.
“I know there is a need, but we made some tough budget cuts this year,” she said.
Councilwoman Susan Young favors hiring two more officers this summer to prepare for the loss to police department staff. She figured that two new officers serving half a year would cost the city around $70,000.
“We just need to figure out how we’re going to pay for it,” Young said.
She noted that if the council beefs up the force in 2008, they won’t have to worry about bringing on four officers all at once. Young said she is a proponent of a succession plan for the police department.
“I’d like to be a little bit ahead of the curve,” Young said.
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