Phoenix police chief announces plan to put more officers on the street
Dec 5, 2016, 5:02 PM
(Facebook Photo)
PHOENIX — There will soon be more police officers hitting the streets of Arizona’s largest city after its chief decided she wants more badges on the ground.
In a statement, Chief Jeri Williams said she wants to better first responder functions, which is why she is reassigning 169 officers to patrol duty.
“This plan is a delicate balance of utilizing officers and detectives from the entire department while minimizing impact to other workgroups,” she said in the statement. “The goal is to ensure we maintain expected levels of service to the community and improve response times.”
Williams’ announcement came hours after Phoenix Law Enforcement Association President Ken Crane said the city’s police department has a manpower and staffing crisis.
“Staffing is decimated, overtime costs are skyrocketing, employees across the department are overworked and experiencing burnout, which creates a domino effect leading to a drastic decrease in the morale of the organization,” Crane said at a news conference.
Five months into the fiscal year, Crane said the police department has already spent almost $10 million out of its allotted annual overtime budget of $11 million. He called on residents to demand city leaders find funds necessary to end the crisis.
In her statement, Williams said her department is “doing everything we can to protect our residents, protect our officers, and maintain our healthy police department within our resources. The mayor, city council and city manager have consistently provided support to ensure we hold true to our mission.”
Crane said police manpower was at its peak in 2008 with 3,388 sworn officers before a six-year hiring freeze took place.
“Our current level of sworn personnel is 2,722,” Crane said. “The reality is we need to get back to at least the original 3,388 to adequately staff the two new precincts paid for by the taxpayer via a bond election several years ago.”