By Martin B. Cassidy
Staff Writer
March 10, 2007
Struggling with attrition and a lag in hiring, full staffing at
the Greenwich Police Department remains at least a year away,
according to Chief James Walters.
The department is slated to have 153 officers, but has 143,
Walters said.
The department last reached a full complement of 156 officers on
duty in 2002. It had 153 officers as recently as last June before
a wave of retirements and several other departures dropped the
number to 145 last August.
In the past year, three officer positions were phased out through
attrition after police turned over dispatching of emergency calls
to civilian employees, lowering the authorized number of officers
to 153, Walters said.
Walters is hoping to send eight recruits to the next state police
academy in May, but even then those rookies would not be working
until next spring, he said.
"We've been told we'll have a minimum of three seats (in the
academy) next time, but even with that it will be 10 months
before they get through the academy and on the job," Walters
said. "We also don't take into account what additional
people may retire."
Police launched an aggressive recruiting drive last summer to
refill its list of eligible candidates, which had dwindled to
only one, Walters said.
Others on the list had either failed the screening process or
taken jobs at other departments, and at the same time a rash of
retirements and departures also occurred, Walters said.
While the list has been refilled, the delay in training the
recruits may prompt candidates to take another job if it becomes
available, Walters said.
To man unfilled shifts, this year the department increased its
overtime budget from $740,000 to $1.12 million, using money drawn
from salaries of empty positions.
"We have a significant increase in overtime for uniformed
services, which is offset with a reduction in the number of
salaries for positions," Walters said. "Those are
positions we know we won't be able to fill."
Unionized officers believe the town's salaries for new officers
result in fewer quality candidates applying for the job, said
Sgt. James Bonney, president of the Silver Shield Association
police union. Bonney said that in upcoming negotiations with town
labor officials he will push for salaries equal to or closer to
higher paying Westchester and Rockland County towns.
Bonney, who lives in Greenwich, said the majority of officers in
the department now live significant distances from town because
of the price of living in Fairfield County.
The starting salary is $50,206, which is more than neighboring
Stamford's $47,000.
"This is the time to fix the problem and I can't think of
any other answer except to sweeten the package," Bonney
said. "Do you want to have good cops who are qualified and
educated or bottom of the barrel people who can't find jobs
anywhere else."
Copyright © 2007, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc.