State, not police, ends grant

A fact finder sided with the patrol union on who should get first dibs on overtime.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- A grant aimed at stopping underage people from buying alcohol won't be renewed because the state halted the program, not because the city wanted to keep patrol officers from working overtime, the police chief says.
A few days after the release of a fact finder's report recommending that patrol officers get first dibs on grant overtime, the police department announced that the Cops in Shops grant wouldn't be renewed for 2005.
"So far, it has not been renewed [by the state]," said Chief John Mandopoulos.
It wasn't the department's decision not to pursue available money, he said.
A Sept. 9 memo from Capt. Tim Bowers to all police officers says that all of the $16,000 overtime from the Cops in Shops grant for this year has been used.
"If any officer intended to work this grant in the future he/she should disregard. The grant is over," Bowers wrote. "This grant will not be renewed next year."
The memo doesn't give the reason.
Bowers handles grant applications for the police department. Cops in Shops is a program aimed at stopping people younger than 21 from buying alcohol.
State program to end
Fred Stratmann, a spokesman for the Ohio Department of Public Safety, which administered the Cops in Shops grants, said the program concludes at the end of September.
"The feedback we were getting especially from smaller jurisdictions was that it wasn't working all that well," he said.
When an officer shows up at a convenience or liquor store in a town with only a few officers, young people looking to buy alcohol would likely stay away, Stratmann explained.
Atty. S. Randall Weltman of the Ohio Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, which represents the patrol officers union, wrote a letter to Mayor Michael J. O'Brien asking for the reasons for the decision not to renew the grant.
"Captain Bowers' correspondence confounds the police department's patrol officers," Weltman wrote. "The captain's failure to explain why the grant will not be renewed leaves the patrol officers with the impression that the reason stems from hostility/jealousy created by their fact finder's recommendation that such grant work first be offered to patrol officers."
The chief said that's not the reason.
"We'd be going after every penny we can get," Mandopoulos said.
Fact finder's recommendation
The fact finder's report released Sept. 3 on the patrol unit's contract, which was subsequently rejected by city council, sided with the union that patrol officers should have the right of first refusal on special details.
For the past few years, the city has received grants for traffic details, school safety, Cops in Shops and DUI task force participation that are offered to all members of the department using a bid system.
The special duty allows officers to receive overtime pay.
The union argued that the duties involved are those usually performed by patrol officers and that the bid system allows ranking officers to perform bargaining unit work.
It also contended that the work isn't evenly distributed, and some ranking officers receive preferential treatment in the assignment of extra work.
Mandopoulos testified before the fact finder that his administration worked to get the grants and that all members of the department should have equal opportunity to work the details.
Sided with union
The fact finder agreed with the union and recommended that patrol officers be offered the right to work the special details first. If an insufficient number of patrol officers bid on the work, all members of the department will be able to bid for the extra duty, he said.
O'Brien said that the city would pursue the grant if it were available.
"It's a worthwhile program and we wouldn't jeopardize that," he said.
Stratmann said that although the Cops in Shops program is done, the public safety department's Ohio Investigative Unit will continue to perform enforcement, including against sales to minors, as part of its duties.
The department's Safe Communities Program will take over education and prevention aspects.
denise_dick@vindy.com