Austintown adds three new patrolmen

Two of the officers are from Canfield; one is from North Jackson.

By JEANNE STARMACK

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

AUSTINTOWN — The police department is beefing up its force with three new patrol officers.

Trustees are planning to hire them at their meeting Monday.

They are Valorie S. Saluga, 30, of Canfield, who is now working full time with Canfield’s police force; Chad E. DeBarr, 28, of Boardman, who is now a part-time officer with Canfield’s force; and Chris A. Pasvanis, 41, of Youngstown, who is now employed full time with North Jackson’s police department.

The hires will boost the department from 36, including the chief, to 39 officers.

The Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police says the average ratio of police to residents for Ohio is 1.7 officers for every 1,000 residents. According to that formula, Austintown’s 38,000 residents would be served by 65 officers.

The most officers the department ever had was 43, said Lt. Bryan Kloss. The department has not replaced people as they retired or left in the last four years, he said.

Levy helped

Since the passage of a police levy last November, the department has been able to hire more officers and buy new police cruisers.

Kloss said he doesn’t think the money is there, though, to bring the department back up to a staff level of 43 officers.

One new officer since the levy’s passage, Jeffrey Churilla, was hired in November.

Saluga, a 1999 graduate of Westminster College, has been with Canfield since 1999.

DeBarr graduated from Mount Union College in Alliance in 2004. He worked for a security firm, and has been with Canfield since 2005.

Pasvanis has been with North Jackson since 1998. He also was a reserve deputy with the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Department for three years.