Citizens group: Phoenix residents must fight, possibly pay, for additional police

PHOENIX — A citizens group said Phoenix can take several simple steps to alleviate some of its police manpower issues on its way to solving the larger problem.

“They have a number of different choices – fees, taxes,” Neal Haddad with Citizens for Phoenix said. “That’s up to them. That’s why we elect them. That’s why we hired the city manager.”

Haddad said Phoenix residents who are concerned about paying for more police officers should ask themselves one question: “Am I willing to accept a seven-minute response time if somebody’s breaking into my house?”

Recently, 170 detectives and sergeants from specialized units, such as property crimes, were reassigned to street duties to help with a manpower shortage.

“This plan is a delicate balance of utilizing officers and detectives from the entire department while minimizing impact to other workgroups,” Chief Jeri Williams said in a statement earlier this month. “The goal is to ensure we maintain expected levels of service to the community and improve response times.”

Haddad and the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association said, because of a six-year hiring freeze from 2008 to 2014, the hiring rate hasn’t caught up to attrition — the number officers resigning, retiring or otherwise leaving the department.

PLEA said, until the city catches up with new hires, the city council will have to approve a larger overtime budget. The group said the city has already spent $10 million of the $11 million it allotted for overtime expenses this fiscal year.

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