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Youngstown police chief unveils accountability plan
YOUNGSTOWN
Police Chief Rod Foley unveiled a plan that shifts more officers to patrol, reduces overtime, addresses ways to improve slow response time, gets officers more involved with block-watch groups and increases enforcement on quality-of-life violations.
Foley outlined his plan Monday to city council’s safety committee.
“It’s about service; we’ve lost that over the years,” he said. “We need to get back to focusing on service. It will take time.”
In addition to the proposal, Foley said he plans to hire new officers in the coming weeks. The number depends on the city’s finances.
Foley wants eight. Mayor Charles Sammarone said at least five would be hired, and there’s a possibility that Foley’s target of eight could be met.
More accountability is part of Foley’s plan, which also includes GPS monitoring devices in every patrol car. The devices should be installed in all the cars in the next two to three weeks.
The devices are there largely to monitor response time, and will help increase the safety of officers because the department will know where they are, Foley said.
Reached by telephone Monday by The Vindicator, Sam Moska, president of the Youngstown Police Association, the union that represents patrol officers, said his membership is on board with Foley’s plan, even the reduction in overtime.
“It should have been done a long time ago,” Moska said.
Some officers are “hesitant to know they’re being tracked” with GPS devices, Moska said. “But it’s more for safety. Guys have to get used to it.”
By moving nine officers to patrol from the community-policing and street-crimes units, both units were eliminated; there are more officers on the street, and there has been a significant decline in overtime, Foley said.
The department reduced its overtime cost in Foley’s first two-week pay period as police chief to $15,517.70 from $42,778.56 during the last two-week pay period of former Chief Jimmy Hughes.
With more fine-tuning and the addition of new officers, that number should drop further, Foley said.
Foley started interviewing about 10 to 15 candidates, who scored the highest on written and physical civil service tests, on Monday. At least five and as many as eight will be hired in a few weeks. The department currently has 144 officers.
The money saved by cutting overtime and an $87,000 grant from the state will offset the cost of hiring new officers, Foley said.
Also, at least seven officers will be retiring by May 2012. If only seven leave, that’s a savings of about $650,000 annually, Foley said. Hiring eight officers, who would be paid less than those leaving, would cost about $440,000 annually in salary and benefits, he said.
Among Foley’s proposals unveiled Monday included a computer system to track complaints received by residents, creating a civilian response system for minor service calls to be handled over the telephone by police clerks, and having patrol officers attend block-watch meetings to improve relationships and to better handle citizen complaints.
Also, officers will be more visible in the neighborhoods and downtown, he said.
Members of city council’s safety committee praised Foley’s plan.
“This is a very workable plan,” said Nate Pinkard, D-3rd, chairman of the safety committee and a retired Mill Creek Park Police Department police chief.