Crime & Safety

Police Layoffs Could Mean End to D.A.R.E, Other Programs

Both the Summit PBA and FMBA still have not received a decision from the city to accept or reject proposals for givebacks and concessions.

The Summit police and fire unions are still waiting on an answer from the city as to whether or not Common Council will accept their proposal for $100,000 in salary and benefits give backs as well as a salary freeze.

PBA Local 55 and FMBA Local 54 have made this proposal in an effort to help the city close a more than $1 million budget gap as a result of the loss of a significant portion of state aid and council's goal to keep the tax levy increase to 2 percent.

Michael Freeman, the state delegate to PBA #55, said that after a meeting with City Administrator Chris Cotter on Thursday he learned that the city has not yet reached a decision on the unions' proposal. 

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"The finance committee is stuck on a number that can only be reached by cutting police and fire positions." Freeman said. "That bodes well for the members of council that have chosen to make layoffs a priority, without regard for the resulting cut in services."

If the council were to accept the unions' proposal for wage freezes and salary giveback, they would have to promise there would not be any layoffs. In fact, Freeman said, the council would have to approve the replacement of two open positions in the police department.

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"This provision is included in our proposal simply because the council members who are proposing layoffs, have no viable plan for the City after the layoffs are made," he wrote in an e-mail. "Currently, the police overtime rate is $11k/month to cover those open spots. As the year progresses and vacations are also covered, that number will skyrocket. To date, we've already surpassed the annual salary of a new officer. This is simple math."

But worse than the overtime costs the city would incur, Freeman says layoffs would have a drastic effect on the police department, including re-assigning one officer from Traffic/Special Services Bureau and one officer from Detective Bureau to the Patrol Bureau.

In laymen's terms, Freeman said this would mean the likely end to police officers filling in for crossing guards and setting up radars in residential neighborhoods to slow traffic. It would also likely mean the end of the D.A.R.E. Program, Adopt-A-Cop, Crime Prevention/Neighborhood Watch and car seat inspection programs.

In addition, the juvenile bureau would have to be integrated with the Detective Bureau to handle the current caseload.

"Major crimes would continue to get top priority, but lesser offenses would be re-prioritized more frequently," he said. "That would be the only way to cut the overtime budget and maintain the primary goal of law enforcement, which is to preserve life and protect property. All of the other services that are non-essential to that goal would be jeopardized."

Freeman said the suggestion by many council members that Police Chief Robert Lucid work part-time and be shared with Springfield is an illegal one.

"It is disheartening to know that some members of Council have been very vocal about their desire to cut police and fire, but they have no true plan," he said. "I can only assume that this delay in making a decision is the result of their inability to assess the worth of the deal."

Freeman said under the current proposal from Cotter residents would see a property tax increase of approximately $200. Each member of the PBA has offered to give back five times that amount, approximately $1,000 a year in salary and benefits.

"This strategy takes into account that the reduction of staff will be extremely damaging to our ability to deliver police services and it will be a permanent disability," he said. "Common Council needs to let the citizens of Summit know that they understand that, and are willing to accept the consequences."


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