City police to add staff

SOUTH PORTLAND — Faced with an increased need, an aging staff and few prospects for new officers, the South Portland Police Department is looking to add to it’s full-time staff of sworn officers.

At a City Council workshop Monday, Police Chief Ed Googins said his goal is to beef up the department by two, to 55 officers.

According to Googins, nine officers in South Portland are eligible for retirement, and another four will reach retirement age by the end of the year. That, he said, means nearly one-quarter of the force could disappear at any time. Meanwhile, South Portland has had trouble filling positions. Of 68 applicants for a recent opening, only one person remains, who will attend the Maine State Police Academy in August.

“The rest either dropped out on their own, couldn’t pass the agility test, or we took them out for some reason through the process,” said Googins. “That’s pretty bad and tells you what we are up against to find qualified candidates.”

If the one remaining recruit makes it to graduation, he will bring the force to its full complement of 53 authorized by the City Council.

However, Googins said he wants to add another two officers in order to increase first- and second-shift patrols to five vehicles. Four cruisers are all that’s on the road at most times in South Portland, which, Googins said, is not enough to fully meet the needs of his department.

“You can’t man a radar detail in a neighborhood when you have cars bouncing back and forth answering emergency calls,” he said.

Not all councilors were convinced, however. Tom Blake noted that four squad cards times three shifts is only 12 officers. Even with a fifth car, that still leaves more than 30 officers, said Blake, requesting that Googins bring additional staffing detail to a future workshop.

“I need for information,” he said. “One of my most difficult parts of being an elected representative is balancing the taxpayers’ ability to pay more versus municipal needs. On this, I’m not there yet.”

Still, one of the two positions could be filled by a transfer as early as July 2, according to City Manager Jim Gailey. Googins said he would like to “civilianize” the reporting job done now by Detective Reed Barker and return him to a regular beat.

For the last several years, Barker’s time has been consumed with answering Freedom of Access Act requests and completing reports. The latter function is “vital,” Googins said, because many state and federal grants are keyed to meeting certain minimum reporting requirements on department activity and crime statistics. However, the job “does not require a sworn officer,” said Googins.

Although a formal vote still must be conducted, the City Council agreed to let Gailey transfer up to $20,000 from the contingency fund for the new fiscal year, to start July 1. That money, said Gailey, would be used to hire a replacement for Barker for the final six months of 2012, with exact duties to be determined.