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Date: 3/10/2016
WILBRAHAM – The Police Department is requesting a new full-time police officer in the fiscal year 2017 (FY17) to help alleviate staffing holes due to several officers currently on medical leave.
Police Chief Roger Tucker said his during the Board of Selectmen’s March 7 meeting his request for a new officer is also based on the department facing high overtime budgets due to a rotation of officers being on medical leave during the past several years.
Board of Selectmen Chair Robert Boilard asked Tucker when he anticipates the three officers that are currently on medical leave returning to work.
“Two are back on light duty, but they don’t count towards shift staffing because they don’t deal with the public – their in plain clothes and they’re doing more or less administrative duties in the Police Department,” Tucker said. “One I thought was going to be back at the end of last month, but the doctors had him cleared for another month … I’ve got another officer that’s been out on a back injury for a year and a half, but I’m trying to get him retired.”
Tucker told Reminder Publications after the meeting two of the officers on medical leave cover day shifts and one covers second shift – which is from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m.
He added the base salary of the new officer would be approximately $52,000 plus benefits such as health insurance and retirement. The new officer would cover the department’s second shift.
Tucker said he wouldn’t anticipate hiring a new officer until July.
The police overtime budget started in FY16 with $94,620 and since July 1, 2015, a reserve fund transfer for an additional $60,000 have been paid to the department, Tucker said.
“For us, it’s replacing really sick officers or any law enforcement duty that we have, [which drives use of overtime],” he explained. “You start something near the end of the shift and you have to finish it before you go home because we don’t stop when the clock hits 3 p.m.”
When Tucker began working for the department as a patrol officer in 1986, he said during the meeting, there were 22 officers in the department. The current number the police department has is 26 officers, but the recommended number is 29. In 2008, the department was at the recommended staffing level, but officers on medical leave lowered that number.
“The town’s grown considerably in my time here in 30 years,” Tucker said. “Filling gaps and filling holes has been difficult the last several years. I would like to see us start working back to the 29 because I’m concerned with the advances we’ve made in the Police Department in regards to investigators and court case management and the school resource officer. Some of those things are probably going to have to get scaled back if we can’t get some additional staffing.”