Memo warns of risk Patrolman: Shortage puts lives in danger

Cops can't be hired while other departments have workers laid off.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A patrolman's memo that cites "dangerous conditions" for officers working the late shift one man to a car has merit but also exaggerates, a police official says.
"This situation has already led to the injury of several officers and will no doubt cause further [injuries], hopefully none fatal," Patrolman Robert Giovanni wrote in a memo distributed to the police chief, the mayor and the Internal Affairs Division. "Backup officers are miles away when officers are in need of assistance."
The memo was prompted by a July 4 fireworks riot on the South Side that left five city officers injured. The crowd at the illegal fireworks display, estimated at 200, failed to disperse when ordered shortly after 11 p.m. when they clogged the Market Street-Chicago Avenue intersection.
Giovanni said in his memo that the 10 officers on duty who converged on the scene called for and received assistance from police from Boardman and Austintown, Youngstown State University, St. Elizabeth Health Center and Mill Creek Park. Three of the five people arrested are charged with one or two counts of assaulting a police officer.
Boardman had more officers on the road that night than did Youngstown, Giovanni said in his memo. He said city police were injured before backup arrived.
Number on duty
Boardman Police Chief Jeff Patterson said that before 11 p.m., the township had nine officers and one lieutenant on duty, one man per car. After 11 p.m., the number dropped to a lieutenant and seven officers on patrol, also one per car.
When Youngstown called for help, Boardman sent five cruisers, Patterson said.
Lt. Robin Lees said Giovanni's memo has merit but exaggerates, too. The city had 11 officers on patrol, two sergeants and two traffic cars working 10 p.m. July 4 to 6 a.m. July 5, Lees said. All the officers worked one man to a car.
Lees said Police Chief Robert E. Bush Jr. "is aware that we've had significant reduction in staffing in the blue division." Lees said police can't be hired until employees on layoff are called back.
Roughly two dozen city employees, many from the street department, remain laid off.
"We're told the revenue's not there to hire police," Lees said.
Lees said Bush intends to meet with all turn commander captains this week to discuss Giovanni's complaint. The chief will look at the way days off are distributed and officers deployed.
On average, police respond to about 100,000 calls for service each year. Lees said the chief is looking into having some reports, such as minor thefts, be handled by clerks at the station.
Patrolman Kevin Bokesch, Youngstown Police Association president, described the way the crowd at the illegal fireworks display turned on the officers as a "scary situation." He said 10 officers split up -- one cruiser each -- is still 10 officers, but it looks like more because the officers aren't doubled up.
A suggestion
Bokesch suggested that officers now assigned to specialized units be temporarily brought back to the patrol division.
Bokesch said the police department hasn't hired in roughly three years and, overall, is down about 30 officers who haven't been replaced. He agreed with Lees that the department can't hire until laid-off city workers are called back but wondered how the Youngstown Fire Department managed to hire.
YFD did hire in 2003, but the number wasn't immediately available. Fire Chief John J. O'Neill Jr. could not be reached.
"The answer is more officers," Bokesch said. "We need more people out there."
Giovanni's memo points out that when officers respond to a major crime, such as the fireworks riot or the homicide last week on East Philadelphia Avenue, other sections of the city are left unattended for hours.
He said the police department and the city are responsible for causing injury to officers who are forced to work in unsafe conditions caused by short staffing.
meade@vindy.com