SPRINGDALE -- A proposed increase to next year's Police Department budget could help officers spend more time patrolling city streets, the police chief said.
City officials and aldermen have had two budget hearings over the past two weeks. The 2016 budget will be on the agenda for the City Council meeting Tuesday.
By the numbers
Springdale Police Department
2015
• 141: Sworn employees
• 1: Chief
• 4: Captains
• 6: Lieutenants
• 17: Sergeants
Source: Staff report
A proposed $683,150 increase to the Police Department's budget is among the largest aldermen will consider. The increase would bring the department's budget to about $15.8 million, according to a budget draft. The city's overall proposed budget for 2016 totals about $39.8 million.
Employee additions
The department is requesting nine new positions in 2016. In addition, the department would fill two positions that have been vacant since reorganizations earlier this year, said Police Chief Mike Peters.
The department's personnel budget includes line items for salaries, uniforms, bonuses, overtime and insurance, according to the 2016 budget draft. It totals $14 million, about $500,000 more than the 2015 budget of $13.5 million.
A new sergeant position the budget proposes would oversee internal policy development, accreditation, internal affairs and special events and projects, Peters said. The department doesn't currently have anyone overseeing events, like the Christmas Parade of the Ozarks and the Rodeo of the Ozarks.
Some of the new positions would be for civilians, Peters said, including four new clerks who would handle data entry.
Officers now enter their own data and reports, which can take an hour or more each to complete, Peters said. The new clerks would complete the reports after receiving information from the officers by email or phone. The officers would later review the reports for errors.
This approach is about efficiency, Peters said. It would help officers stay in the community answering calls instead of entering data.
When asked about violent crime in the city during 2015, Peters said this new system for data entry would keep officers on "proactive" patrol.
Peters also mentioned the Fayetteville Police Department has a similar approach.
Sgt. Craig Stout, spokesman for the Fayetteville Police Department, said it started using clerks to complete reports in 2002. Officers will call and dictate their reports or email the information to the department's police support specialists.
The department has seven police support specialists, Stout said. They do help keep officers in the field longer, he said.
Springdale Mayor Doug Sprouse said earlier this year officials planned to add 10 more officers to the department over a year to 1½ years. Three of those officers were added earlier this year, Peters said.
However, Peters said he wants to see how the new clerks work out before revisiting the idea of adding more officers. He said he thinks this will have a greater benefit than adding four more officers.
The department also is requesting two new positions for security who could limit access at the department's headquarters at 201 Spring St., Peters said.
Another proposed new position is for a jailer to manage a community service program, Peters said. The program would allow the Springdale district judge to sentence people to community service instead of jail time. Peters said he hopes to begin this program by spring.
The program would be modeled after one the Washington County Sheriff's Office has, Peters said.
That program started in 1991, said Randall Denzer, detention major with the office. The program only accepts people who have committed nonviolent crimes and who have nonviolent pasts.
Those in the program pay a $15 daily fee to work, Denzer said. A judge can sentence them to the program.
The program benefits people who can keep their jobs because they aren't serving jail time, Denzer said. It also helps the Washington County Detention Center by keeping its prisoner count down.
The budget increase also calls for a new dispatch position to oversee training and quality assurance, Peters said. This new person would review medical calls to make sure the dispatchers handled them correctly. Police and fire calls eventually would be reviewed as well, he said.
The new positions would create the need for renovations to create work space within the Spring Street building, Peters said. The budget proposes $90,000 for improvements.
The work would be done to the office areas around the front lobby, Peters said. Patrol supervisors would be moved across the hall from the jail and a wall built to divide an area beyond the lobby from the area leading to the jail. The work also would create a space where a clerk can take minor reports from the public, he said.
Peters wants the work to be completed within the first few months of 2016.
Equipment needs
The department also needs new equipment, Peters said.
The department is looking to add 15 marked Ford sport utility vehicles, plus a 15-passenger van for the proposed community service program, he said.
The department has 12 vehicles that are 2006 and 2007 models that are showing wear, Peters said. The department may get rid of six to eight of those vehicles next year.
Peters also is requesting 10 more video systems for vehicles and 10 radios for unmarked vehicles used by detectives, Peters said. Those unmarked vehicles don't currently have radios.
Next year's budget also calls for an increase from $3,000 to $10,000 for canine maintenance, Peters said. The department had one dog at the beginning of 2015, purchased another one over the course of the year and is now working to acquire a third.
The department also is looking to purchase six mountain bicycles and replacement bicycle uniforms, Peters said.
Peters explained the department doesn't have officers who work on bicycles full time, but there are officers on the trails every day, either on bicycles or electric vehicles. Officers also use bicycles for special events like 5K runs, and the department has officers who are certified though the International Police Mountain Bike Association.
Metro on 11/21/2015