City hopeful about new hires at Inglewood Police Department
Jonathan Kendrick | 4-16-2010 | Comments |
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Despite tough financial times that have the city of Inglewood facing a $10 million deficit and a city-wide hiring freeze, the police department has hired 12 new officers this year to strengthen a battered force.The Inglewood Police Department employed as few as 183 officers in February of 2008, well below the 221 officers that Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks set as a target for the department in a 2008 speech.
With the new hires, the police department now has 201 officers.
“If we can retain these 12 new officers, we’re probably going to do a better job,” said Sgt. Dirk Dewachter, a patrol supervisor who has worked in the Inglewood Police Department for 20 years.
Wanda Brown, the city’s treasurer, said that although the city is in a difficult situation financially, the hires were part of the budget.
“They’re work is so dangerous, they never know when they leave their home if they’re even going to come back,” Brown said. “So they deserve every dime they’re getting.”
The Inglewood Police Department has a budget of over $53 million, with an additional $3 million of federal funding from a COPS Hiring Recovery Program grant.
The city council, which makes all final decisions on the city’s $324 million budget, removed 29 vacant positions from the department’s 2009-2010 fiscal year (October to October) budget because of the deficit, reducing the potential force size from 221 to 192.
By Christine Borrmann Six months after the critically understaffed Inglewood Police Department received more than $3 million in federal funds to replenish its police force, the department has successfully filled seven vacancies with three additional hires in the works. Inglewood landed the grant in October of 2009 from the COPS Hiring Recovery Program. The funds are to be used exclusively to assist in hiring officers. Inglewood has received a total of $7.5 million from the federal program in recent years. The $3 million grant will cover entry-level salaries and benefits for 10 officers for a three-year period. The city must pay to maintain the officers after the grant money runs out. In addition to the seven positions already filled, the department is working to make the three additional hires covered by the grant. “We’re trying to fill them as soon as possible,” said Christy Anderson, who works in the department’s payroll unit. The COPS program, run through the Department of Justice COPS Office, distributes nearly $1 billion annually to law enforcement agencies across the nation. The COPS program uses a formula to select grantees that takes into account the city’s economic state, crime rates and community policing initiatives. In the most recent application cycle, Inglewood ranked in the 93rd percentile in need among law enforcement agencies in California and in the 96th percentile for crime level. While the cash-strapped department welcomed the federal funds, Inglewood police had initially hoped to receive $10 million to hire 30 officers. “It was an extremely competitive program,” said Corey Ray, senior public affairs specialist for the COPS program. “Out of the billion dollars we had to distribute, there was about $8.3 billion requested.” Inglewood’s police department employs 203 officers, with a goal of having 220 officers on the force, according to the recruitment unit. Though there are still vacancies in the police department, the hiring process has become tougher, with education playing a crucial role. Applicants must take a written exam, meet physical fitness requirements, and complete an oral interview and background check. According to the recruitment unit, they received an estimated 1,343 applications last year. “People want to come because they want the experience. They want to get involved. They want to help people,” said Sgt. Juan M. Torres, a department spokesman. “A one year-officer in Inglewood will have more experience than a five-year officer in, let’s say, Palos Verdes.” And the number of applicants is continuing to increase in Inglewood. “Now, no one else is hiring. But we’re hiring,” said Sgt. Robert Richmond. “So we’re getting more quality officers.” |
Brown said the hires may save the city money in the long run. When the department was short-staffed, officers were working 10-20 hours of overtime per week, which was very costly for the city.
Five of the new officers graduated from the police academy and began work in the patrol division on March 1 while seven additional police trainees will join the force when they complete the academy training in four months time.
Dewachter said the new additions to the department will give other officers more time to spend doing investigative police work, rather than just responding to calls.
“In patrol, you’re limited in what you can do because when the calls come in, that’s your priority,” Dewachter said, adding that the hires could allow the department to re-establish two investigative teams that were cut when the personnel levels dropped.
Members of the Transit Safety Team rode in plain cars and city buses to ensure safe travel while officers on the Anti-Crime Team worked with the department’s detectives to search for known gang members and people with warrants out for their arrest.
Both teams were incorporated into patrol in a reduced capacity when the personnel levels dropped.
“Right now we do a lot of reactive police work,” said Sgt. Juan Torres, another patrol supervisor for the Inglewood Police Department. “We could have a unit that does nothing but go after the gangs and the drug guys.”
Dewachter and Torres said that the size of the Inglewood force decreased for several reasons, including new retirement guidelines, uncompetitive wages and officer misconduct.
First, California lawmakers passed a “3 percent at 50” retirement plan that allowed officers to retire earlier and to keep receiving a sizeable portion of their salary.
Inglewood also struggled to compete with the salary and benefit packages offered by surrounding cities.
“At one point we were having some of our police get trained here, they’d be here three to four years and then they’d go to another police department and pick up five grand or more [per year]," Brown said.
Dewachter said the wages have improved over the last several years.
“It’s competitive now,” Dewachter said. “We will never have the taxpayers that Torrance has or that Santa Monica has but we do have better salaries now.”
Seabrooks also fired eight officers for improper conduct since she took over in October of 2007, in response to allegations of sexual assault and involvement with prostitution.
“We’re understaffed because of internal issues that a lot of officers lost their job over,” Torres said.
Dewachter said many of the department’s problems stemmed from poor hiring practices between 2003 and 2005.
“It’s no longer you have a warm body and you’re clean and we’ll hire you,” Dewachter said. “[Chief Seabrooks] has done an excellent job at picking candidates that have above average physical abilities, above average intelligence and people with education.”
Brown said that once the economy turns around, the city will look to continue to increase the size of its police force.
“I think we’ll be able to fill the positions as our budget challenges lessen,” Brown said.
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