Police staffing remains big issue

HUNTINGTON -- Many city leaders agree that more police officers are needed to battle Huntington's increasing crime rate.

Others argue that better management and fixing contractual agreements will provide greater efficiency, leading to a better department and a decreased crime rate.

Police Chief Skip Holbrook has taken steps to restructure the department and increase its efficiency, but the manpower problems remain.

Finding enough money to hire more officers is a struggle in Huntington. It's a city where voters are increasingly concerned about public safety, and volunteers are collecting money to help the department purchase equipment.

"We're not happy with the level of service that we are providing at times," Holbrook said. "It's the only level of service that we can provide, but I agree that is not where we need to be."

The violent crime rate in Huntington has increased 24.2 percent since 2003, according to the FBI's Uniform Crime Report. Federal statistics indicate more crimes per capita occur in Huntington than in some the nation's largest cities, but Huntington has fewer police department employees than other cities its size.

The community has taken note. About 48 percent those responding to a recent, unscientific survey at www.herald-dispatch.com listed crime as their chief concern in the upcoming citywide elections.

The city's upcoming budget adds six police officers, but training those officers will take time and the overall staffing level still falls 13 shy of Holbrook's desire for a 106-person force. He believes that many officers are needed to serve the city effectively. He said it would allow the department to add detectives and add to patrol shifts.

But the city's budget is very tight, and finding enough money is difficult. Employee health insurance and pension costs consume large portions of revenue, and leaders are faced with a declining population and shrinking tax base.

Troubled finances led city leaders to lay off 16 officers in July 2002.

Holbrook said fixing the city's finances is "out of his food chain." All he can do is make an argument for his department and lay out a plan for how he will use the additional manpower.

Holbrook said solving crime is more difficult without enough officers. It also reduces the department's visibility in the community and virtually eliminates many crime prevention strategies.

"We're chasing our tail on the radio all the time," he said. "We're just running over here and putting our finger in this leak and doing the same. It's just a very frustrating proposition from our standpoint. That's why we want more police officers. It is not so we can sit around. It is so we can truly problem-solve."

Holbrook is trying to reduce costs and increase efficiency. His actions include increased emphasis on tracking overtime, along with re-instituting a traffic unit and developing a tele-reporter system to document smaller crimes. Those actions are beginning to turn public perception and improve morale within the department, but the manpower problem remains.

Dr. Jeff Leaberry said its no secret that his town needs help. The Huntington resident joined a committee aimed at raising donations to support equipment needs within the Police Department.

"We are now subject to big-city crime that we've never seen before," he said.

Leaberry is a supporter of Holbrook's performance and has friends on the department. His property was broken into twice a couple years ago. He was satisfied with the department's response both times.

Low manpower fuels frustration

The Huntington Police Department currently has 87 budget positions. One spot is vacant because of military service.

The other positions are assigned to bureaus throughout the department: 57 in patrol; 12 in criminal investigations; six in administrative; five in special drug investigations and four in professional standards/forensics. Each of the officers are hourly employees.

Holbrook refers to the Patrol Bureau as the "backbone" of his department. It also illustrates the department's manpower issues.

In 2007, the bureau answered 44,047 calls for service. That is almost one call per resident in Huntington, and an average of about 120 calls per day.

It encompasses three patrol shifts, along with separate Traffic and K-9 Units. Each patrol shift consists of seven to nine patrol officers. The shift is divided with one officer working each of the department's six zones. That leaves one to three officers to roam and provide extra assistance where needed.

Holbrook said manning each patrol zone is more difficult than it sounds. Regular days off, vacations and sick time frequently leaves each shift with only two cover cars. Sometimes there is only one.

Manpower shortages accounted for about 20 percent of all overtime between July and December 2007. Huntington Police Lt. Hank Dial told City Council that shortages on the three patrol shifts account for most of that overtime in the bureau, which tallied 2,917 hours in six months. It equals 112 overtime hours each week or two hours per week, per employee for the estimated 50-person patrol unit.

Another view of the 2,917-hour tally is this: It's equal to almost three full-time police officers working a 40-hour work week, not including worker's compensation costs or benefits such as health care expenses.

A lack of manpower on each shift can result in delays for the public and force Holbrook's officers to run call to call. He said public frustration builds when lower priority calls have to wait, while the patrol officers respond to an in-progress and often more serious situation.

"We are stretching everything in every different direction we can, but if people get a bad taste in their mouth or they are not informed, it just causes that perception to go in the tank," he said.

Low manpower in the Criminal Investigations Bureau can provide more fuel for frustration. For instance, the patrol shift will take a report about the lower priority larceny or breaking and entering call. The report is then forwarded to the overworked investigations bureau, where three property crime detectives are tasked with investigating crimes such as burglary, breaking and entering, fraud, and identity theft.

The police department reported 3,834 property crimes in 2006, according to the FBI statistics.

Holbrook said his detectives are forced to prioritize each case based on various factors, including its solvability. That is one area in which Holbrook said his department must improve.

"We have to do a better job of communicating what we can and can't do," he said. "We need to limit people's expectations in certain situations with what the reality of the situation is. These CSI shows kill us, because everybody expects everything to be solved tomorrow."

Holbrook said that is especially true with property crimes. Often these crimes are not solvable immediately, if ever. Sometimes, a break will come when police make an arrest weeks or months later.

Community policing expert David Hayeslip, who works at the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C., said lengthy response times can cause a ripple effect in public perception.

"It creates a political problem, and it creates some doubt whether it's worth calling police in the future," he said.

A shooting death in February at 156 Cedar St. provided an example of the manpower shortage and the risk involved in each decision. The homicide followed a woman's 911 call that reported a domestic argument. She waited an hour for police and then killed the man involved in the dispute. Her attorneys argue the shooting was a matter of self-defense.

Holbrook has said his officers did not receive details about the threatening nature of the situation. That resulted in it being deemed as a lower-priority call.

"Obviously if there had been a greater staffing level, then there would have been somebody available to respond more promptly to that call," he said.

Holbrook plans to use the additional officers in the upcoming budget to form a special emphasis unit. That unit will be deployed to specific areas of need within the city, such as a rash of burglaries, random assaults or drug activity.

"When you do not have the ability to put a group of officers on a problem, how are you going to solve the problem," he said.

City Councilman Garry Black questioned Holbrook's strategy at a meeting in March. He suggested the six officers could be used to bring the patrol shifts up to an acceptable level.

Holbrook said the special emphasis unit will support other units within the department, much like the K-9 and Traffic units. He said they will work various hours and in pairs.

"I think it is critical to what our mission is," he said of the special emphasis unit.

The need to be proactive

City Councilman Jim Ritter asked Holbrook about the department's involvement in the community. He asked if the officers could do more, such as providing anti-drug presentations at local schools.

Those are the types of community activities that Holbrook supports, but he told City Council that inadequate staffing makes it difficult to take an officer off the road.

"That's why we must grow," he said. "We need to return to a true form of community policing, where officers have the opportunity to stop and get out and interact with the community they are serving. ... That is what will return us to a much more livable city."

In a later conversation with The Herald-Dispatch, Holbrook said he wants to build up the patrol units so individual officers can have long-term assignments in specific neighborhoods. That would result in the officer developing a direct relationship with people in the neighborhood.

Because of low manpower, administrative officers are tasked with the responsibility of attending community meetings.

"We're at minimum staffing on that shift, so somebody's got to do it," he said.

Hayeslip said research shows that hiring more officers does not necessarily mean a significant drop in crime. However, he said community policing produces great results. He agreed that having the beat officer involved is most effective because he or she knows the community best.

"They walk the beat, they get out of their cars and they meet the shop owners," he said. "They are the ones that really know the citizens. They know the good guys and the bad guys. They are the first ones that understand a problem and can work with the community to identify what those problems are."