Making Up for Officer Shortages
Via KXAN.com:
Facing recruiting challenges and a shortage of more than 100 positions, the Austin Police Department will be moving detectives and other non-patrol officers to the streets to boost the available manpower to respond to 911 calls.
“Nothing we do is more important than responding to 911 calls” said APD Commander Joseph Chacon.
As the population has exploded, the city and the department have struggled to fund and fill positions to keep pace. By asking detectives to work patrol for seven days at a time every four months, Chacon said it is a stopgap measure that helps serve the public’s safety and increase the amount of officers on the street with only a minimal impact on investigations.
“By taking them out for a short period of time, it does not negatively affect caseload for that one week,” said Chacon. “They can schedule their work, their interviews, their case flow around that week.”
But the Austin Police Association does not believe the move is the best way to bridge the staffing gap. Association President Ken Casaday called for better patrol staffing after criticism of recently fired officer Geoffrey Freeman in the deadly shooting of David Joseph. Though he is happy the department is addressing the patrol staffing issue, he said overtime pay for officers already working daily patrol would be the least disruptive and most efficient method.
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