City officials are growing optimistic about Columbus Police Department’s manpower.
At the CPD Citizen’s Overview Committee, consultant K.B. Turner, who joined via Skype, said he’s hopeful the city will have another class of officers to send to the police academy in the fall. CPD is preparing to send 14 officers to the academy in Moorhead later this month.
“We have another academy that will begin in August,” Turner said. “It is my hope that we will get another 15 officers to attend that academy.”
If CPD can send two robust classes to the academy, Turner said, the force should be close to 77 officers.
On Tuesday, the council approved hiring five entry-level officers and one certified police officer. Mayor Robert Smith said last week, when the city announced its 14-officer class for the summer academy, the hires should put CPD at about 60 officers, which is only seven short of its 67-man staffing goal. After that, the council has approved budgeting for 10 more officers to push the total to 77.
Assistant Police Chief Fred Shelton said CPD is aggressively pursuing certified police officers to bring in experience and help fill in gaps while trainees are away at the 12-week academy.
Shelton said one newly hired certified officer has already started with the department and is progressing through its field training program. CPD is set to interview another certified officer next week, he said, and is recruiting two more.
“We’re actually moving ahead a lot faster than we were before,” Shelton said. “One of the things that I believe is helping is the graciousness of the mayor and council when they gave that pay increase, because it’s looking pretty good.”
Still, overview board members and Turner acknowledged that sending officers to the academy isn’t a guarantee that they’ll return to join CPD as certified officers. For example Police Chief Oscar Lewis said of four officers CPD sent to the academy in February, only one returned.
Turner said it’s hard to predict what percentage of officers might not make it through academy training, because it depends on the people. That’s part of the reason why CPD is sending so many officers in this class and planning to send another large class in the fall, he said.
However, Turner pointed CPD is taking steps to minimize losses. New hires are already going through pre-academy training to put them ahead of the curve, and he said CPD plans to keep frequent contact with officers while they’re training at the academy.
“It would be highly unusual if 15 start on that Sunday and 15 finish in the graduation,” he said. “Nevertheless, we have some plans in place to make sure we stay in constant contact with those officers.”
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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