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Leetonia Council still wants less police hours

Recommends three less shifts despite protestations of chief

LEETONIA–Village Council is telling Police Chief Harry Lovejoy Jr. to reduce the number of his department’s weekly shifts.

Council President Danny Fire told Lovejoy last week council will continue to recommend just two extra shifts each week despite Lovejoy’s request to continue with the current level of hours. The department has been operating at 208 hours, the equivalent of five extra shifts, but council last month asked Lovejoy to limit the hours to 184, the equivalent of two extra shifts, in response to a declining general fund cash balance.

“We really are hurting,” Fire said. “I wish we could do [the extra shifts] at this time, but I just don’t see it.”

Fire said council can revisit the issue at a later date.

When originally told to reduce the hours, Lovejoy explained the department had been using the extra shifts after the upheaval experienced when he took over as chief. He said when an officer works one of the extra shifts, it is split over two regular shifts during the heaviest activity. Additionally the extra shifts provide greater support during calls, particularly those involving drugs.

Then during council’s meeting earlier this month, Lovejoy offered further argument for continuing with the five extra shifts, providing evidence that the department is being cost effective enough to warrant the extra hours.

He said the department has nine full- and part-time officers. Savings include $4,900 in training, since he can conduct the training himself; and more than $5,000 in salary without a drug task force officer who was being paid by the department but not working any local hours. The village has also experienced an increase in revenue of $18,000 to $25,000 through Mayor’s Court fines made possible by the extra hours and multiple officers per shift and been able to provide a school resource officer for Leetonia schools thanks to a large donation and the cooperation of the school board.

“I’m asking council to reconsider allowing 208 hours per week in order to continue the current level of enforcement at a safe level (for officers),” Lovejoy told council.

Lovejoy referenced his previous argument in which he noted the more shifts worked with only one officer on duty will decrease the amount of enforcement the department will be able to provide.

“If you only have one officer on shift, we can’t go out and find those (drug) problems,” he said at the time, assuring council the department will handle the calls but will be unable to proactively address issues due to the danger in which it places the one officer.

Last week, several residents voiced support for the additional shifts.

“I feel our community is a safe community now, and to protect our residents we need the (police) force,” said local businesswoman Cheryl Pittman. “Now we have an excellent chief who is leading an excellent department. We finally have a good department and if there are cuts that need to be made, they need to be made somewhere else.”

Other residents noted the increased presence of officers makes residents feel safe and that the department has proven it works hard to take care of issues that had previously been ignored.

Other than Fire’s recommendation, no other council members shared an opinion on the matter last week except Sue Buchanan who agreed with the resident who spoke.

“I can’t imagine how bad the drug problem would be if we didn’t have a proactive police department,” she said.

Council last month considered allowing a third extra shift, but decided to start with two and reevaluate the issue later in the year due to the budget constraints. Each extra weekly shift costs approximately $5,500 to $6,000 annually in wage and benefits, according to Fiscal Officer Randy Chismar. The general fund, from which the police department is funded, is in a downward trajectory, falling approximately $142,000 since the end of 2013 when it sat at $329,000, mostly due to a decrease in income tax collection, Chismar said.

khowell@salemnews.net

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