AUSTINTOWN Police layoffs, budget cuts prompt fears of more crime

Without a levy, the township can't rehire laid-off officers, the clerk says.
By IAN HILL
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
AUSTINTOWN -- Police Chief Gordon Ellis is concerned that because of layoffs and budget cuts, his department may not be able to prevent crime from taking hold in the community.
Ellis said cutbacks have left his department without enough officers to provide "proactive" services, such as surveillance of suspected areas of drug activity and prostitution. In an effort to save money last year, township trustees laid off two officers and chose not to replace three who retired and two who are out on long-term disability.
The department now has a total of 36 officers, not including the chief; In 2002, the department had 42 officers.
"We're reacting to everything now," Ellis said. "There is not one study ... that will tell you that we are not woefully understaffed."
FBI reports show that there is an average of about two police officers for every 1,000 residents in American communities. In Austintown, there is 0.94 of an officer for each 1,000 residents.
Crime increase
As the number of officers decreased, crime in the township increased. The department's annual report shows that police received a total of 29,545 calls in 2003, which was 1,768 more than they received in 2002.
The annual report also shows that police received a report of a burglary about once every two days in the township, for a total of 155 reports last year.
Police also made 1,083 arrests in 2003; they made 861 in 2002. The report shows that police made an arrest for a felony crime once every day-and-a-half, for a total of 210 arrests.
Ellis said without officers to provide proactive services, crime may establish itself in the community. For example, crack houses could spring up in the township, he said.
Trustees have placed a 2.5-mill levy for police on the March ballot. If approved by voters, the levy will create about $1.4 million each year for the department.
The levy failed by about 900 votes when it appeared on the November ballot.
Financial woes
The township ended last year with a deficit because of increases in the cost of insurance, workers' compensation and wages, and decreases in revenue. It also was still feeling the financial effects of an unexpected $460,000 tax refund it had to pay to Phar-Mor in late 2002.
Township Clerk Michael Kurish has predicted the township will end this year barely in the black, in part as a result of the layoffs and budget cuts.
Kurish stressed, however, that the township won't have enough money to rehire laid-off officers unless the levy is approved.
But levies aren't the only source of money for the department. The annual report shows that in 2003, police received $58,565 from drug seizures and $10,165 from seizures in drunken-driving cases.
Grants
Police also were awarded $165,524 in grants last year, making 2003 "the most successful year this department has ever had with grant funds," Ellis said. He noted that most of the grants were for specific programs, such as Drug Abuse Resistance Education and the juvenile diversion program, and that the grant money doesn't typically pay for department operations.
The grant awards included $75,000 in federal funds that must be used to hire an officer for four years. Under the terms of the grant, the money pays $25,000 toward the officer's benefits and salary in each of the first three years; the township must pay for the fourth year.
Ellis said the township hasn't decided if it will accept the grant because it does not know if it can afford to pay the rest of the officer's salary and benefits in the first three years, much less all the entire salary and benefits in the fourth year.
The average total pay and overtime, not including benefits, for a patrol officer is about $40,000.
A teen suspected of stealing car stereos told police in November that thieves favor Austintown and Youngstown over Boardman because there are fewer police in Austintown and Youngstown. At the time, The Vindicator reported that crime had decreased for the period between April, when the layoffs took effect, and October.
The annual report, however, takes into account the entire year, and shows that crime has increased. Ellis noted that the increase reflects a national trend in crime.
The most recent information from the U.S Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics shows that in 2001, reports of crime increased in the country for the first time in a decade.
hill@vindy.com