Well the "Big List" has finally come down. All summer long Officers have been waiting in anticipation to see where they will be working after October. On Friday, August 27th everyone was e-mailed a copy of the manpower re-allocation list. Earlier this year Chief Robert White announced that he would eliminate two of the ten Patrol Districts, number them 1 through 8 and call them Patrol Divisions and move personnel around to better handle runs and serve the community. Many Officers are skeptical of this having seen the same thing happen back in 1992 when Jerry Abramson was Mayor and he eliminated the 6th Police District. It seems that now like then there are many similar circumstances controlling the "re-alignment?"idea. Reinventing the wheel is not a new concept and business managers across the country shy away from the idea of expending resources for no eventual gain. The term work smarter not harder does not apply, because all re-alignment seems to be is a big shell game to hide the serious shortage of Officers.
The department is carrying a huge amount of credit vacancies. These are positions on the department that are currently going unfilled. Right now the Department is around 125 Officers short. Now you don't have to wonder why it takes so long for an Officer to show up.
The geography of Jefferson County has not changed one iota. How then can you say that by eliminating 2 police districts and "spreading the butter even thinner" will this make the area safer? Let's look at an example: in the current Baker District on the day work platoon they have 4 beats with 16 Officers. After re-alignment they will have more area to cover and 6 beats. Guess what? They will have 16 Officers on day work. It is similar all over.
Coincidentally when Mayor Abramson was here before the Department accepted numerous position based grants. These Federal Grants pay salaries, but they also dictate where your Officers shall be placed. The Community Development unit has 37 Officers that act as hall monitors in the public schools. Not a job for trained Police Officers, especially at a time when crime is up and there is a historically serious shortage of Officers in our community.
Communication systems are still a serious problem. We are still almost two years into merger operating off of the Old City and Old County radio systems. This should have been the number 1 priority of Metro Government before any District re-alignments took place. In Districts that border each other, Officers cannot even communicate with one another and a violent crime could be taking place a block away and the Officer on another radio system has no way of knowing it. Summing up I would like the people of Metro Louisville to realize that we have a dedicated and professional Police Force. The Officers of the department will work diligently to protect and serve this community. We are members of this community also. At a time of serious manpower shortages and heightened criminal and terrorist activity we have our work cut out for us. Safety of the community and our own safety are paramount. Local Government should be working harder to ensure we have enough Officers to keep our community safe rather than try and hide the fact that Officers are leaving at an alarming rate and it is harder than ever to get people to apply for the position of Police Officer.