Thursday, March 30, 2000
Council: Keep recruit class
Shirey says officers not needed
BY ROBERT ANGLEN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Canceling the next class of Cincinnati police recruits is no way to save money, council members said Wednesday.
Objecting to an administration plan that would eliminate the July class of recruits as part of a city-wide budget cut, council members said there is enough fat in city hall to make the cuts from some other place.
And next week they promise to introduce a motion to keep the recruit class that would put about 30 officers on the street by the end of the year.
But City Manager John Shirey said the recruit class isn't needed to maintain the goal of 1,000 officers on the street.
“This will have no impact on street strength,” he said, adding the department is overstaffed. “It is the opinion of the police chief that this is not a class we need.”
Mr. Shirey's decision to cancel the class was noted in a March 22 report detailing cuts to every city department totaling $1.85 million.
Mr. Shirey said the law department and the fire division indicated the cuts could cause officials there to request additional funding toward the end of the year.
In addition to cutting the recruit class, the police division would maintain its 1999 budget for non-personnel expenses, eliminate two radio operator positions and delay filling positions as they become vacant.
Although the council voted for a 2 percent budget cut from each city department in December, Councilman Todd Portune said he never intended to cut what he called essential services.
“There are so many boutique operations that exist in safety,” he said it doesn't make sense to cut a recruit class.
Police Union President Keith Fangman said cutting the class would cause a shortage of officers next year. He disagreed that the department was overstaffed with 1,041 officers.
“That's just not true,” he said. “The fact is we expect about 90 officers to retire this year.”
He said that would leave the department with about 950 officers, which is below the city's goal.
While a current recruit class will end in June and put about 26 new officers on the street, Mr. Fangman said that won't make up for the officers who retire next year.
He said each class is about six months long, and if the city cuts its fall class, then it would be June 2001 before the city gets new officers.
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