Austin TX July 7 2012 The Austin Police Department is "struggling somewhat" to keep up with calls for service and cases that need investigation, and needs to add about 250 officers by 2017 to keep pace with growth, according to a consultants' study released to city leaders this week.According to the 130-page study by the Police Executive Research Forum, a Washington-based research group, the department needs to grow by 257 personnel — 155 officers, 78 detectives and 24 sergeants — by 2017 as the city's population climbs an estimated 12 percent to about 920,000 people. The department currently has 1,637 officers and is authorized to employ 1,718, the study said.
The study said the Police Department's patrol officers are very busy and spend 57 percent of their time responding to one call after another — higher than other departments the group has studied, including those in San Francisco and Memphis, Tenn.
"The large amount of time consumed on calls for service, plus the time spent on self-initiated activities such as traffic stops, leaves little time left to engage the community, solve local crime and disorder problems, or patrol hot spots," the study said. "Without an increase in sector patrol staffing, the projected population growth of 12 percent by 2017 will substantially interfere with the department's ability to respond to residents' calls for police service."
The study, which cost the city about $98,000, was authorized by the City Council in March.
Police Chief Art Acevedo said that while the study shows the department is busy, officers have also been effective in keeping crime rates down.
"Thanks to the efficiencies we've instituted over the last five years, we're still reducing crime even when we're stretched thin," he said.
Deputy City Manager Michael McDonald, who oversees public safety, said that city officials will consider the study's recommendations when making staffing and budgeting decisions in the future but that they are not bound to its findings.
Compared with six other cities researched, including Fort Worth, Seattle and San Francisco, Austin has the third-highest number of officers but also the third-lowest ratio of officers per 1,000 residents.
That ratio is a kind of benchmark among departments across the country to determine staffing; having 2 officers per 1,000 is considered ideal and is also city policy. The city currently has 2.08 officers per 1,000 residents, the study said.
Researchers also recommended that the department add more investigators and detectives to deal with an increasing workload as the city grows. A survey of 350 Austin residents and people who work here indicated a preference that the department should devote more time to solving violent and property crimes.
Most survey respondents reported that they feel safe in Austin, including downtown, in parks and in their neighborhoods.
The study also recommended that Austin use civilian employees in many functions in which uniformed officers currently work, including in the training and technology departments, and in the Real Time Crime Center and Austin Regional Intelligence Center. Researchers identified nearly 30 such positions, which would mean the department would need to add only 228 new officers because of lower costs.
McDonald said that over time, the department has done that in several ways, including using civilian personnel in communications and forensic evidence. But the preference has usually been to hire police, he said.
"When we have had a choice between adding officers and civilians, we've added officers," McDonald said.
The idea for the study came about last fall during budget season. Council members were debating whether to hire 49 more officers to keep pace with the city's standard of 2 officers per 1,000 residents. One member in particular, Bill Spelman, has been critical of that ratio, saying he opposed automatic staffing increases with population growth.
Spelman suggested that instead of hiring officers based solely on population increases, the department should staff itself based on "what they want to achieve," and by targeting specific problems.
Though the council did ultimately hire 49 officers, it also agreed to Spelman's suggestion of a study on how the Police Department could use its resources the most effectively, which led to the report released this week.
Spelman and officials from his office did not return calls for comment.
source-staesman.com
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