STARKVILLE — The Starkville Police Department might be restructured in an attempt to increase retention, address an increased number of calls and reduce overtime hours, Mark Ballard, who will take over as chief in January, told the board of aldermen at its Friday work session.
The restructuring would add the positions of executive administrative assistant, record clerk and assistant chief of police, transfer some positions to a different area of command, reestablish reserve officers and eliminate the special operations lieutenant position, according to the documents provided with the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting, where the board of aldermen will discuss and vote on the restructure.
The only aldermen present at Friday’s work session were Ward 6 Alderman and Vice Mayor Roy A. Perkins, Ward 4 Alderman Jason Walker and Ward 7 Alderman Henry Vaughn. All three told The Dispatch they will be open to further discussion at Tuesday’s meeting but so far believe Ballard put forth reasonable recommendations.
“Looking at how to decrease the amount of overtime and make the police force more effective and more efficient, I think I’m all on board with that,” Walker said.
New positions
The assistant chief’s responsibilities would include directing all other supervisors in the department, serving as acting chief in the chief’s absence and helping to develop and implement departmental policies.
The position is necessary to help manage the change in structure and establish a clearer chain of command within SPD, Ballard said. He is currently the administrative staff commander and head of investigations, and he said he has been fortunate enough to get along well with his fellow administrators during his time at SPD, but he acknowledged that not every administration will have such a dynamic to keep things running smoothly.
“It is absolutely crucial for us to have a clarity of chain of command, and right now we don’t have that,” Ballard said.
The executive administrative assistant to the chief would help manage the chief’s schedule, communicate between the chief’s office and both internal and external entities, troubleshoot conflicts and schedule department activities. The record clerk would edit and verify police reports, maintain the security of all records and access data on the department’s computer system.
Both new positions would be responsible for answering calls and managing the dissemination of information, and the goal is to increase efficiency and decrease response time. Call volume has gone up over the years, and one incident such as a car wreck or a traffic stop involves a lot of records, Ballard said.
“Remember, people generally come to the police department because a bad thing has happened, and we don’t want to compound that experience with poor service,” he said.
Other staffing changes
The one position that would be eliminated in the restructure would be the special operations lieutenant. The role was “originally designed for higher level writing of grants and to assist with special events management,” but other SPD employees now carry out those duties, according to the documents.
The positions currently under the supervision of the special operations lieutenant include animal control, DUI officers, grant officers and the motorcycle unit. All these positions will be transferred to other divisions, divided between patrol and administrative lieutenants, according to the documents.
Special events in the city and Mississippi State University gamedays rack up most of SPD’s overtime costs, Ballard said, so SPD would implement a reserve force of approximately 10 officers under the new structure. They would be paid on a part-time basis, and some would be new to SPD while others would be retired officers who still have their certifications, Ballard told The Dispatch.
Ballard said the force would be in place by April 1.
“This is going to help us provide a stronger home life-work life balance, which is critical for a millennial workforce, and it’s one of our underlying factors for retention (since) they don’t get weekends off,” he said.
Ballard was one of eight applicants to replace current Chief Frank Nichols, who is retiring at the end of the month. The board of aldermen unanimously approved Ballard’s appointment in October.
Perkins said he defers to Ballard’s leadership due to his 23 years of experience at SPD and the board’s full confidence in him.
“In reading all those documents and materials and listening to his recommendations, I am satisfied that he is of the opinion that the board needs to support his recommendation,” Perkins said.
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