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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFS 2011-08-11 Item 2F - Proposal - Additional Police StaffingCity of Tukwila Jim Haggerton, Mayor INFORMATIONAL MEMORANDUM TO: Mayor Jim Haggerton Finance and Safety Committee FROM: Mike Villa, Chief of Police DATE: October 31, 2011 SUBJECT: Community Oriented Policing (COP) Bicycle Team ISSUE The Police Department would like to add three full time police officer positions to our current staffing —two Community Oriented Policing (COP) Bicycle Officers and One TAC Team Detective. The purpose of these officers is to enhance safety on Tukwila International Boulevard (TIB) through increased police visibility, proactive enforcement of laws, and problem solving with community stakeholders to reduce and prevent crimes. BACKGROUND In 1996, the Police Department implemented a COP Bicycle Team on TIB. It was an effective tool in uniting the community along the corridor and driving down crime. City -wide violent crime dropped 27% from 1996 to 1997. The team grew to four officers, but with competing interests and demands, the department could not sustain the team and the members were absorbed into patrol and other units. This was in part due to a decrease in staffing. From 2001 to 2003, the department went from 71 officers to 68 officers where it remains today. The Tukwila Anti -Crime (TAC) Team absorbed two of the original bike positions. This team is dedicated primarily to city -wide gang, narcotics, gambling, and vice enforcement. However, the TAC Team resources have decreased over the last several years. From 2005 to 2010 we did not fill the TAC Team uniformed officer position due to patrol shortages and that position was dissolved by the end of 2010. We then eliminated a TAC Team detective position in 2011 due to budget reductions. The reductions in these assets have decreased our enforcement and problem solving capabilities along Tukwila International Boulevard. DISCUSSION Tukwila International Boulevard and its surroundings continue to be an area in which we see a greater level of crime than other areas in the city. In the last 36 months, there were 322 narcotics investigations, 231 prostitution cases, and 143 robberies. We average four robberies a month in the area from Southcenter Boulevard to S. 130 Street and 42n Avenue S. to the west city limits. So far this year there has been a decrease in narcotic and prostitution cases. However, this decrease is mostly reflective of our lack of enforcement activities due to staffing. Reports from our patrol staff is that the activity level has either remained the same over the past year or slightly increased. Citizen reports tend to reflect an increase in open drug transactions, pan handling, loitering, and prostitution, as well as a general feeling of a lack of personal safety. :A INFORMATIONAL MEMO Page 2 Since the annexations in the early 1990's we have lacked the consistent resources necessary to adequately address the criminal issues along that corridor and at the same time maintain expected levels of service throughout the city. A staffing analysis conducted by the department in 2008 and again in 2011 revealed that our department was significantly understaffed. One measure that compared crime rates indicated that we should employ 90 officers to provide similar levels of service as our surrounding jurisdictions. In addition to the above, although our authorized staffing level is 68 officers, only 59 of those are deployable at this present time. There are three officers in training, two on military leave, and another four on leave for other purposes. Unfortunately, this disparity between authorized staffing and actual staffing has been a constant reality for many years. It is not uncommon to have officers in training, on medical leave or military duty, or out for some other administrative purpose. A contributing factor to the aforementioned is that we experience an average attrition of three experienced officers per year. I anticipate that number will increase with our increasing average age and tenure of officers. We lose another 1.5 officers during their initial training per year. As it takes approximately one year to hire an entry level officer from time of interview to working solo we regularly have two to five officers in background or training. These officers are counted as part of our regular staffing. Since May of this year, we have implemented a more aggressive hiring strategy of pipeline officers unfunded positions —in hopes of getting ahead of this curve. Without hiring pipeline officers we will never get close to a full complement. There are long- standing crime issues on TIB and our department lacks sufficient staffing to address the issues. There are three strategies that we recommend. (1) The first strategy is to continue to hire the four pipeline officers as mentioned above. This strategy is already in progress. (2) The second strategy we could implement as early as the first quarter of 2012 and is a two person bike team on TIB. (3) A third related strategy is to refill the TAC team detective position that was cut from the budget at the beginning of 2011. Our decrease of proactive enforcement of narcotic violations and prostitution is a direct result of that prior reduction in staffing. FUNDING In order to implement, we would need to fund salaries, benefits, and overtime for three full time officer positions. The department would absorb all the other ancillary costs associated with these positions. Salaries and benefits for one officer for 2012 is estimated at $105,000. Overtime should be budgeted at $10,000 per officer. Total cost in 2012 is estimated at $345,000. This is the cost if the officers are hired on January 1, 2012. We are proposing to fund the officers with both savings from the 2011 Police Department budget and with a 2012 adjustment within the PD budget. A $220,000 departmental budget savings is expected in 2011 that will be used to help fund these positions in 2012. In addition, we anticipate a savings in 2012 of $125,000 from the jail budget. This amount will be moved to salaries and benefits as a budget amendment. WA2011 Info Memos- CouncihPoliceStaffing.doc 88 INFORMATIONAL MEMO Page 3 It is our intent to continue these positions into and beyond 2013. We recognize that the city will need a sustainable funding source funding the police department at 71 officers. In addition, beginning in 2014 we will begin to fund the three COP officers hired in 2011. The COPS Office is currently reimbursing us for their salaries and benefits. We are committed to fund those officers for 12 months after the grant expires. Although it is the city's intent to fund these officers past 2014, we will need to evaluate at that time. RECOMMENDATION I recommend approval of three full time police officer positions as stated above. Carry over and an amendment within the Police Department budget will fund these positions in 2012. City Administrator David Cline and Mayor Jim Haggerton fully support this proposal. The Council is being asked to consider this item at the November 14, 2011 Committee of the Whole and November 21, 2011 Regular Meeting to authorize the hiring of three full -time police officers in 2012 and authorize the funding to be included in the year -end 2011 -2012 budget amendment. I appreciate your consideration. Please let me know if you need anything else. WA2011 Info Memos- CouncihPoliceStaffing.doc 89 x