Warren safety forces scramble to save jobs

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Warren Fire Chief Kenneth Nussle

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Warren police chief John Mandopolous

By Ed Runyan

The Parkman Road and Atlantic Street fire stations are likely to close on a rotating basis.

WARREN — About half the city’s detectives will become patrolmen and some officers will pull double duty in the Warren Police Department starting Jan. 1, police Chief John Mandopoulos said.

Adjustments are still being made that could reduce layoff numbers by two or more, Mandopoulos said.

The 2009 budget city council approved Wednesday calls for the police department to shrink from 81 officers to 61. Except for one detective, all of the 20 police department layoffs will come from the ranks of patrolmen, the chief said.

Six of the 12 detectives probably will move from detective to patrolman, though the captain and lieutenant, environmental officer, forensics detective and two other detectives will remain as detectives.

Detectives Wayne Mackey and Jeff Hoolihan likely will remain in the detective bureau until they finish up high-profile cases they are working on, such as the Freddie’s Diner homicide from earlier this year.

In addition to moving detectives to patrolmen, some officers are likely to pull double duty, such as Sgt. Larry Salvato, traffic commissioner, who will handle traffic commissioner duties while also working as a patrolman, Mandopoulos said.

With fewer detectives, the department probably will view more crimes as unsolvable than now, meaning they will be placed in the pending file rather than actively investigated, he said.

Mandopoulos said he is having talks with the blue union, which represents the patrolmen, and gold union, which represents captains, lieutenants and sergeants, to see whether they will accept a wage freeze for 2009.

Such a freeze could eliminate layoffs of two or more of the 20 officers scheduled for furlough, Mandopoulos said.

The chief said the number of patrolmen on each shift could decline from current rates by about two. For instance, the department tries to operate with at least five or six officers at a time now, but that figure could drop to as few as three after Jan. 1.

He is proposing a couple of revenue options to improve the city’s bottom line:

- Charging a fee and regulating taxi cabs for the first time.

- Approving the traffic-camera proposal of Councilman Bob Dean, D-at large, to slow speeders in school zones.

- Charging a civil fine to dog owners whose canines create a nuisance requiring an officer to be called.

Fire Chief Ken Nussle said he is still hoping to keep two fire stations open with the 11 fewer firefighters he expects to have Jan. 1.

But instead of closing the Atlantic Street fire station completely, he said the more likely scenario will be to close the Atlantic and Parkman Road stations on a rotating basis.

That way, neither station will fall into disrepair, and no preference will be shown to either side of town, Nussle added.

runyan@vindy.com