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Cops to form special unit
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
City police will be adding new officers this summer and starting a new unit.
Chief Robin Lees said Monday that the department will be giving an entry-level civil-service exam June 14 and that the department hopes to add up to a dozen new officers right away — and maybe up to 20 from the list created by that test.
The department also is creating a new unit in which one officer will be assigned to each of the city’s seven wards and will concentrate duties exclusively on that ward.
The department also added a new detective sergeant to its ranks Monday as Brent Gaitanis was sworn in to replace Detective Sgt. Anita Davis, who retired Friday after 35 years on the force.
Gaitanis has been a city police officer since September 2000, and before that, he was an officer for six years in Campbell. He also is a native of Campbell.
Lees said the department needs to add new officers because of a wave of retirements this year, along with two other officers who have left for jobs with other law-enforcement agencies.
Lees credited city council with the hires, as he said it agreed to earmark some Community Development Agency money that can be used for police operations. The department also is able to hire because it has reduced the number of captains and is using those savings for the new officers.
Lees said the new unit, the Community Policing Unit, will be staffed by veteran officers who want to work the detail. He said their duties will be exclusively devoted to the ward they work in, whether it be crime or blight issues, and they will be working closely with the council member for that ward as well as its block watch and other neighborhood groups.
In the past, such efforts also have had officers answering 911 calls, but Lees said what ends up happening is the officer is stretched between both duties and can perform neither one well. This time, they will not be answering calls for service so they can concentrate on the ward to which they are assigned.
New officers will be brought on, and when they are up to speed, other officers then can move to the wards, Lees said.
Lees said he hopes to have the new unit up and running by October.
Since 2008, when former Chief Rod Foley took over, the department has added 28 officers, including 10 last year. Four of those new hires came in November.
Lees was appointed chief by new Mayor John McNally at the beginning of the year. Foley returned to the rank of captain, where he is in charge of the department’s day turn patrol.