City Police want to hire four new officers next year.
The Police Commission has been told the police department budget is expected to wind up being anywhere from 100 to 125 thousand dollars under budget but there’s a problem with backfilling shifts so a minimal number of police are on duty.
New Police Chief John Bates says that can’t be sustained over the long term because too much overtime will burn people out.
There has been a reduction of 20 police officers over the last five years. Salaries are under budget by over 359 thousand dollars but overtime is over budget by more than 131 thousand dollars.
