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City Council sends police request to committee for hearing

Date: 11/20/2015

CHICOPEE – The City Council sent a proposal by Mayor Richard Kos to increase the size of the Police Department  to the Ordinance Committee for a public hearing.

The council made the decision at its Nov. 17 meeting.

The proposal would increase the number of officers from 111 to 115 and would cost the city $80,697 to pay for the rest of the current fiscal year.

The money would come from the special $500,000 fund established to pay for public safety initiatives.
Kos said, “The issue of necessary personnel to accomplish our public safety needs will be addressed by the increase and funding request approval.  This approach will help the City of Chicopee maintain the appropriate complement to allow for additional patrols, walking beats, bicycle patrols and increased efforts for community policing.”

Police Chief William Jebb said, “I would to thank the Mayor Kos and the City Council for their ongoing and continued support of Chicopee’s public safety needs.  The demands of the Police Force have increased tremendously over the years, but unfortunately our compliment had remained the same. By increasing the complement once again, we are able to offer true community policing efforts.   These efforts will include community involvement as well consistent bike patrols and walking beats that for years had inconsistent staffing and inactivity.  Technology development and its demands drew officers off the street thus creating “out of compliment” positions.  We also have school resource officers, injured on duty, and operational staff that are unavailable for shift assignments.  We will be backfilling those positions should this request be approved. By adding these additional staff members this will allow us to take a proactive approach and embrace true community policing.”