An overhaul of the Police Services Division inside Longmont Police Safety got the go-ahead from the City Council Tuesday night, a move that will start May 30.
The council approved an increase of $275,415 in on-going costs to include the addition of one full-time position to help fund the reorganization.
The changes will help free up the division’s sergeants from administrative work to do more supervisory work over patrol officers as well as other on-the-ground police work, Zach Ardis, Public Safety Chief, told the council.
“About 60% of their (sergeants) time is spent on administrative paperwork in the office and only about 40% is spent supervising their shift,” Ardis said.
The need to have sergeants in the field is especially important now as Police Services lost 57 officers over the past three years, according to a city report to the council. “Many of those officers had years, even decades, of experience and institutional knowledge,” the report states.
As of now, 47% of officers have less than five years in the department, Ardis said.. This will grow to 53% as the current 14 vacant positions are filled.
The police division's current structure has led to a “silo effect,” resulting in a lack of collaboration, communication breakdowns and confusion, the report states.
The restructuring plan calls from adding three assistant chief positions in Police Services for Patrol Operations, Detective Operations and Collaborative Services. One current commander position and one current master police officer position would be converted to create two of the assistant chief positions, according to the staff report. A third assistant chief position would be created, resulting in an increase of one new full time position, the report states.
Community Health and Resilience will be combined with Special Operations to create Collaborative Services under Police Services. Three commanders will also be allocated to Patrol Operations, and will perform the administrative duties currently performed by sergeants.
This will free up the sergeants to supervise the field, the staff report states.
