HUNTINGTON -- The Huntington Police Department has nine administrators working inside the police station, according to data provided by the Police Department.
The nine administrative positions include four captains and five officers. The captains oversee one bureau each. The lower-ranking positions supervise the records desk, along with other duties, such as handling payroll, budgeting, training/recruiting, purchasing and community programs.
Those administrative positions account for about 10 percent of the department's sworn officers.
The department's civilian staff includes clerks, secretaries and janitors. The number of civilian positions fell from 22 in 1984 to 7 in 2008.
At a March budget meeting, City Councilman Jim Ritter supported Police Chief Skip Holbrook's call for a 100-officer force, but the councilman questioned if there are too many administrators staying in the office and not enough police on the streets.
Holbrook told The Herald-Dispatch that his department operates with a shoestring number of administrators, but he says he will use them on the street when needed.
"In critical situations -- adverse weather or a critical incident -- we have cleaned the rank and file out of the department to assist, and we always will," he told City Council.
Holbrook agreed with Ritter's position that a civilian should be hired to handle payroll for the department, but restructuring that position would require a new court decision.
In June 2002, Circuit Judge John L. Cummings ruled in favor of the police officers' union in a post-layoffs lawsuit. The judge said the union's collective bargaining agreement barred the city from placing a civilian in the payroll or purchasing clerk's position because the jobs were previously performed by sworn officers. It resulted in two civilians losing their jobs, and an officer was assigned to handle both duties.
Huntington Police Lt. Hank Dial agreed that a civilian would better fit the position, but he commended the officer handling both tasks. Since Holbrook took over, Dial said there has been greater emphasis placed on controlling equipment and supplies that come in and out of the department.
"Now, (other officers) have to come through that officer to get equipment issued to them," he told City Council. "It's why we're having some savings in equipment lines."
Community policing expert David Hayeslip works at the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C. He said hiring more civilians could be cheaper and require less training, but he said the department's payroll increases either way. He added that some administrative tasks require a sworn officer.
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