WARREN POLICE Union, city state positions on staffing

The union disputes the relevance of data used to make the recommendation.
BY AMANDA GARRETT
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- The city's civil service commission will decide by mid-August whether to abolish two sergeant positions from the police department, chairman James A. Fredericka said Monday.
Abolishing these posts will make the department run more efficiently and economically, city officials said.
Police union representatives, however, said those reasons are based on old and faulty data. The abolishments would also lower morale and cause lawsuits against the city, union lawyers said.
Representatives from the two unions met with civil service commission members and city officials Monday to appeal a request made in May by Safety-Service Director William D. Franklin to eliminate the two positions.
The proposal would reduce the number of sergeants from the current 15 to 13. The city would then add two additional positions for patrolmen.
Now is a good time to abolish the sergeant positions because no promotions are pending, Franklin said.
Both parties will have until July 26 to file briefs on the issue. The parties will then have seven days to respond to the other's briefs, Fredericka said. After reviewing the briefs, the civil service commission will make its decision in August.
The abolishments will make the department more efficient and economical, human resources director Gary C. Cicero said. The city needs more efficient supervision -- not more supervisors, Cicero said.
"This is not taking away two positions," he said. "It's taking two officers away from desks and putting them on the streets."
Disputed data
Also, there is a lack of work for the current number of sergeants, Cicero said. Some of the sergeants watch television during part of their shifts because they have nothing to do, he said.
To back up its claims the city cited a 2000 state audit. The audit recommends "one rank officer for approximately every 3.6 officers." The city currently has one rank officer for approximately every 2.3 patrol officers.
According to the audit's recommendations, the department should be reorganized to have fewer rank officers and more patrol officers, Cicero said.
Cicero also said that examples of police time sheets show that there are frequently three or four rank officers in charge of six or fewer patrolman. The time sheets the city used were from April 25 and May 1, 2, and 3 of 2006.
The 2000 audit shouldn't be used to make a decision about police staffing because the audit is six years old and primarily measured finances, said Randy Weltman, lawyer for the Ohio Patrolman's Benevolent Association.
The police unions would like to see a study based on accepted standards of criminology, he said.
The abolishment would affect morale in the department because it would take longer for officers to advance in pay and status, said Michael Diotrowski, lawyer for the Fraternal Order of Police.
"Effectively, this would say, 'None of you are going to be promoted for several years,'" he said.
Also, much of the 15 percent the city estimates it will save in salaries will be eaten up by lawsuits and appeals made by officers, Diotrowski said.
The unions plan to file a lawsuit if the abolishment is put into effect, Weltman said.
agarrett@vindy.com