JPD still struggling to hire officers
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Over the past few years the Jamestown Police Department has consistently reported issues with getting the number of officers included in the department's yearly budget.
Police Chief Scott Forster told council members that one of his goals for the coming year is to bring the department's staffing back up to budgeted levels. Forster presented the Jamestown Police Department's 2027 budget to the City Council Monday night, noting that a lot of its budget remains similar to last year, with personnel continuing to be one of the biggest issues, and one of the biggest increases in the budget, for them.
"I think this year we voted to hire five new officers," Forster said. "Unfortunately, that didn't work so right now we are at 55. We're pretty low for our manpower."
Multiple academies are running per year now, with multiple officers currently in field training and another academy starting in January, with the goal to hold another in May. This means, Forster said, there should soon be a larger pool of officers and applicants that have gone through the academy. The civil service exam was also held last Saturday, and Forster said the department has not had a good list in regards to that in quite a long time, meaning there should be a bigger pool of applicants the department will be able to hire.
"My goal for next year is to increase our numbers back to what they were before, and in doing so there's certain things we can do as a police department other than just our normal patrol functions," Forster said. "I'd like to add back the K-9 officer, a potential nuisance officer, DWI officer, traffic officer. We've had those positions in the past but unfortunately had to make the decision in the last year and a half to get rid of all of our specialized positions. So, my goal for 2027 is to raise our manpower enough to have those specialized positions."
Forster said the specialized positions are very important, not only for the department but for public safety in general, with many functions that they do. With retirement, there are 62 officers budgeted for the police department in 2027.
Forster also discussed vehicles and vehicle maintenance with the council, as the police department has budgeted for one new full patrol vehicle and one partial for another that will be funded out of one of the department's capital accounts. No new patrol cars were budgeted for last year, which Forster said has left them with vehicles with a lot of miles on them that run 24/7. He added there were a lot of repair and maintenance issues with them in the last year, so the department is requesting an increase in the budget for that as well. The cars are getting older, and typically what the department does, Forster said, is when they get a new vehicle they will put it in their front line and move the vehicle being replaced to the unmarked cars and then get rid of an unmarked car to try and save on those vehicles. An average cost of a new vehicle for the department's front line is about $47,000 with no equipment. Equipment from an old vehicle gets recycled to the new vehicle as well, Forster said.
Forster and the council also discussed new equipment that was received last year including radars, along with ongoing fuel expenses, dues and subscriptions, equipment repairs and a few other parts of the budget, along with other potential sources of revenue such as the pistol range. Also discussed was money from drug busts, buy money for drug units, and forfeiture accounts. Forster said this budget is a workable one for the department.