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<br /> <br />City of EII< River Item Number <br />REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION 5.9. <br />Agenda Section I Meeting Date Prepared by <br />.t\dminis tra cion June 5, 2006 Lori J ollnson, City ..r\drninistrator <br />Item Description Reviewed by <br />Request .L\dclitiol1al Police Officer and Options for [\dditional <br />Co'verage <br /> <br />Introduction <br />The police departlnent llas recel1tly experienced an increase in acti\Tity tllat is compoul1dlllg tlle <br />departlnel1t's existing staff shortage. Police Cluef Beahel1 and I request consideration of adding all <br />additional officer as soon as possible so tllat all shifts are adequately c01lered. <br /> <br />Discussion <br />It llas been tluee years since any additions \vere lnade to tlle police force. In tllat tline, dle City's <br />population has grO\Vl1 by sev'eral tllousand people and dle type of acti"vity tlle police departmel1t deals <br />\vitllllas cllanged sigr1ificantly. For tlle past tluee budget years, dle Police Cluef 11as requested additiol1al <br />staff to 111.eet serv'.ice del1lands. TIlese requests 11a\Te 110t been filled. Instead, in 2004 a t\velv.e-llour shift <br />schedule \vas itnplelnented becallse it allo\vs for lnore officers on duty at tlle sal11e tUne. Tlus \vorked <br />\vell and delayed tile need to lUre additional patrol officers. HO\Ve,\Ter, e\Ten 'v~itll tills sclledule in place, <br />tllere are times ,vllen tllere are not enough officers to cO\Ter all sllifts. <br /> <br />Currently, at a rnll1llnll1TI tllere are dlIee officers on at all tllnes. Ho\ve'ver, if an officer is sick, on <br />'vacation, in court, or in training, it is increaslllgly difficult to get anotller officer to CO\Ter because tlle <br />officers are already required to put in a considerable amount of ov'ertline. It is critical to ha\le at least tlle <br />11lliul1.1uln coverage of tllree officers per shift in case of a lnajor incident so tllere are enougll officers to <br />respol1d to otller calls tllat occur at tlle salne Wne. <br /> <br />Chief Beallen llas identified several \vays to address tile staff sllortage III tlle sllort terlTl. 1. TIle use of <br />cOlnpensatory titne 11as been efuuinated and 'vacation wne requests are not being allo\ved unless sl1ift <br />cO\Ferage is in place. 2. Resel\ies l11ay be used to assist on some shifts to 11andle routine, lninor calls. 3. <br />TIle Captains al1d Chief \vill take sllifts as needed. 4. i\ contractual arrangelnent \vidl anotller la\v <br />enforcelnent agency l1.1ay be needed to pro\lide back-up cO\Terage for unexpected absences. <br /> <br />.i\ltllougll tllese \villllelp for a \vbile, dley are not long-term solutions. Based 011 tlle industry average of <br />1.5 officers per 1,000 in population, Elk River is about five officers sllort. TIle long-tefln solution is to <br />add all additional officer to co.ver tlle increasing demands for service. <br /> <br />The request for an additional officer is being mo'ved up froln the 2007 budget to llelp deal \Vitll tlle <br />current staff sllortage. ..c\.dditional staff requests in tlle 2007 budget otller tllan a police officer include an <br />entry-level laborer in tlle street department, increasing a part-titne recreation adtnifllstration coordinator <br />position to full time, and adding additional seasonal staff in tlle street depart1nent. If only one POSitiOl1 <br />can be funded, I recoln1nend tllat it be a police officer. <br /> <br />s: \ Council\Lori\200Cl \police addl sraff.doc <br />