May 09--ST. LOUIS -- The city's police chief said today that he is considering cutting more department brass than patrolmen this coming fiscal year, to minimize the proposed loss of 80 officers.
Police Chief Daniel Isom presented his budget to the aldermen's Ways & Means Committee this morning. Aldermen have the power to cut or suggest additions to city department budgets.
Isom's budget cuts 80 of the city's 1,300 officers over the course of the coming fiscal year, to make up for increases in pay, health care and pension costs.
After the presentation, aldermen quizzed Isom on the impact of such cuts.
But Isom said he did not anticipate the cuts affecting public safety. Instead of eliminating 80 street officers, he said, he is looking into leadership realignment -- combining the commands of a few city police districts.
Isom said a realignment could cut 30 to 50 positions ranging from captains to sergeants to lieutenants. That would leave, he said, only 30 officers cut from street patrols.
"We just don't need this command structure anymore," Isom said. Look at Cincinnati, he said, which has fewer command officers per patrolman. "I hope the effect will be minimal," he said.
Aldermen warned of the implications of the loss of 80 patrolmen. "The idea of losing that many cops is scaring the heck out of folks," said Alderman Antonio French, pointing out city wards with high crime. "One less car could really have a devastating effect over there."
Isom said he didn't buy into the philosophy that better policing necessarily means more officers. Each community is different, with different needs, he said.
"We probably have the officers we need," he said in conclusion. "If not a little bit more."
Alderman Shane Cohn also asked Isom if he would consider using some City Hall resources instead of police department personnel.
For instance, Cohn asked, has the department considered working with the City Counselor's office, and possibly cutting some of the $200,000-plus budgeted for police department lawyers? Or using the city's personnel department to help cut some of the more than $600,000 in police department human resource workers?
"It's a daunting prospect," Isom responded.
Some of those services, he said, simply cannot be combined.
Copyright 2012 - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
