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Community police unit names members
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Police Chief Robin Lees expects the department’s new Community Police Unit to begin operations Monday.
The unit was to begin work this week, but the start was delayed because several new hires who will be replacing patrol officers staffing the new unit are undergoing Crisis Intervention training with the Mahoning County Mental Health Board. That training was expected to be completed this week.
Lees said, however, officers who are assigned to the new unit will be attending community events this week if their schedule allows.
The new unit will feature one officer assigned exclusively to each of the city’s seven wards. The idea is to have a “go-to person” for residents and community groups and have that officer focus their priorities specifically on their ward rather than answering calls on a patrol beat.
Additionally, the seven officers who will make up the new unit have also been selected. They are Joe Moran for the 1st Ward; Jose Morales Jr. in the 2nd Ward; Barbara Copeland in the 3rd Ward; Melvin Johnson in the 4th Ward; George Wallace in the 5th Ward; Shawna Cie-Ott in the 6th Ward; and Phillip Skowron in the 7th Ward. The unit supervisor is Detective Sgt. Pat Kelly.
Lees wanted to start the unit much earlier but he had to wait and have another entry-level civil-service exam for patrolmen before he could begin staffing the unit in earnest.
The exam was needed because new officers being hired will be taking the place of the veteran officers who will be leaving patrols to be assigned to the new unit.
Schedules also will be changed as vacancies are created in the department’s three shifts because of the transfer of officers from the Patrol Division to the community police unit.
Lees said those reassignments for officers in patrol should be completed by the end of this week.
Kelly will leave the detective bureau, and Lees said another officer will not be assigned to the bureau to take his place. He said Kelly will also still be responsible for any open cases or any cases he has where he may have to testify in court.
Lees said several officers expressed an interest in serving in the new unit, and each one was chosen with input from the council person in their particular ward, although Lees said he had the final decision on who will be working in each ward.
The department is not done hiring new officers either, Lees said. He said plans are to bring on at least four more officers in late summer or early fall and to also hire new officers to replace officers who are retiring. The department has sworn in 11 new officers so far this year.