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WS – Item #5 WORK SESSION STAFF REPORT Work Session Item #5 Date: July 1, 2013 To: City Council From: John Swenson, Chief of Police Re: Police Department Job Vacancy Background The police department is currently operating one FTE under the s taffing authorized in the 2013 Adopted Budget. The vacant position is a Sergeant p osition in the Patrol Division. Currently, the police department has fill ed the vacant shift s in the Patrol Division with the Officer who is assigned as the School Resource Officer. This shift ing of personnel has enabled the police department to meet minimum staffing levels with minimal overtime expense. The School Resource Officer will not be available to fill patrol shifts in the coming weeks, which will require overtime expense to fill some vacant shift s to maintain minimum patrol staffing. Prior to 2010 the police department staff consisted of 31.75 FTEs (27 sworn personnel, 4 part time CSOs, 2 Record Technicians, .75 FTE Community Relations Coordinator). The police department staffing for 2013 is 28 FTEs (25 sworn personnel, 2 part time CSOs, 2 Record Technicians. In 2013 th e police department is funded with 3.75 fewer FTEs than in 2010. With the sudden loss of Sgt. Bragelman, t he police department is currently op erating with 4.75 fewer FTEs than in 2010. Small police agencies such as the Lino Lake Po lice Department utilize staff in a multitude of areas, which leads to high degree of efficiencies, but when staffing shortage s are sustain ed in one area of the poli ce department other areas of the department are affected. An example of this would be the use of patrol officers in secondary investigation s . Th e LLPD patrol officer will investigate all calls they respond to and only pass the case to an investigator whe n further investigative work on their part would result in compromised patrol staffing. This business practice leads to higher quality of public safety services, but when making staffing reduction s this business practice amplifies the effects across the p olice department . The City of Lino Lakes consistently has the lowest combine d crime rate for all cities in Anoka County and has experienced even furthe r reduction in burglaries in 2012. The police department ’s crime prevention strategies, utilizing Com munity Oriented Policing (COP) and Problem Orien ted Policing (POP), have proven effective in reducing crime, fear and disorder. Further staff reduction s in the police department will adversely affect