Some real talk at Common Council over the financial problems City Police are facing with costly investigations and arbitration that isn’t working with the Police Commission is asking for 1.5 million dollars more than last year in the 2015 budget. Councillor at Large Shirley McAlary warns that might not be possible.
85% of the police budget is sunk in staff. As well, mental health calls, missing persons, and other calls take up a lot of police time because other agencies are too understaffed.
According to Police Commission Chair Jonathan Franklin, the Donnie Snook investigation alone cost $517,000. Police Chief Bill Reid explaining to Comon Council a lot of the overtime was racked up when backfilling for officers who had to be taken off patrol to deal with the Snook and Richard Oland investigations.
Mayor Mel Norton, who’s a member of the Police Commission, calls it an excellent discussion and said the police are playing ball.
There’s been a bit of a shuffle at Police Commission with some members leaving and new ones taking their place. The Mayor is hoping the changes will improve the tenor of the meetings which have gotten fairly tense over the past year.
