With only 33 sworn officers working in a busy police department,
long hours and lots of overtime is driving some police officers
away On any given day in Morgan Hill, at any time, Morgan Hill
Police Chief Bruce Cumming makes sure there are three officers and
one sergeant on duty protecting the city, but due to several
factors, including a low officer-to-population ratio, any one or
more of those officers may be working overtime to fill the
shift.
On any given day in Morgan Hill, at any time, Morgan Hill Police Chief Bruce Cumming makes sure there are three officers and one sergeant on duty protecting the city, but due to several factors, including a low officer-to-population ratio, any one or more of those officers may be working overtime to fill the shift.
And the overtime is beginning to wear on some officers on the force, causing them to look for jobs in departments with more resources and opportunities.
“Our overtime has been huge,” Cumming said. “There are several factors which play into that, however … In a big department, these things can be absorbed, but when you are thinly staffed, when you don’t have any cushion, even one or two officers being out can cause problems.”
So far, the department has spent $165,977 on overtime through June 10 this year. In 2004, overtime costs were $338,852.
“In 2004, we had three officers on worker’s compensation for a large period of time, plus we were two officers short,” he said. “And we have had four officers on family leave, which is very important and not always something you can plan.”
The MHPD has enough money in the city budget to pay for 33 sworn officers. During the last 12 months, four officers have taken family leave as babies were born, two officers were injured and out of work for a period of weeks, and one officer was required to be in court to testify for six weeks.
“Our officers are working a lot of overtime, and they are feeling the pinch with the staffing issue,” MHPD Lt. Joe Sampson said. “As we look ahead, try to forecast the future, we need to take into consideration that the city is continuing to develop, to grow. We have high-density affordable housing, we have new commercial areas forecasted for future. Now is the time to mitigate those potential problems. We are below where we should be in light of our population.”
The population of Morgan Hill is approximately 36,000. With 33 sworn officers including Cumming and two lieutenants, the department has an officer to 1,000 citizen ratio of .91. Cumming said he’d like to have at least one officer for every 1,000 residents.
City Manager Ed Tewes said the city has been able to maintain the current level of staffing in the police department, while having to make sizable cuts in other city personnel groups, such as custodial and grounds.
“We are able to continue to staff the department at its current level, rather than cutting personnel as we have in some areas over the years,” he said.
The overtime and the direction of the city to maintain, rather than increase, the number of officers at least in the near future has caused several officers to have second thoughts about remaining in the department.
On June 10, MHPD said goodbye to two officers, Cpl. Rodney Reno, an 11-year veteran, and Officer Erin McNish, who has quickly established a positive reputation for herself in her two and a half years on the force.
Both Reno and McNish cited department staffing as one of the major reasons they have found jobs with other departments.
“It made a difference,” said McNish, who served as the School Resource Officer for Live Oak High and Central Continuation High during the school year. “I have enjoyed working with the officers here, with the kids at the schools, but this is just an opportunity for me.”
Reno, who was working as a detective and handling some high-profile cases for the department, said staffing was an issue for him also.
“There were a couple of factors, but that was a major one,” he said. “I think the chief is doing a great job making the most of his resources, and I will miss working with him … There just is no indication that the situation (staffing) is going to change in the near future. As it is now, there is no room for any kind of staffing problem, injuries or absences. You really have to watch for officer burnout.”
Cumming, who said he would much rather staff the department on 10-hour shifts instead of 12-hour shifts, said burnout and errors made by exhausted officers are something he wants to avoid.
“We have very conscientious officers, very careful officers, but all of us are human,” he said. “When Officer (Steve) Pennington accidentally fired his weapon (hitting burglary suspect Scott Campione in the arm), he was on his 55th hour that week. If he had completed his shift, it would have been his 60th hour that week.”
Officers typically work a 12-hours on, 12-hours off rotation.
MHPD Sgt. Mark Brazeal, who resigned as president of the local Police Officers Association, is also leaving the department, although he has not formally submitted a resignation.
“We don’t have enough people to do the job, it’s that simple,” he said. “The union is not pointing fingers at the city, or at the department. I know the administration is working hard to find outside sources of revenue. But the public is increasingly concerned about service, the population is growing, there is more development coming. And right now, we are providing bare bones service.”
Brazeal said he was discouraged when the city released its five-year plan earlier this year.
“This was their goal, from their budget retreat, and not once was public safety mentioned,” he said. “Yes, we are glad there are no cuts to the department, but when the city is growing, we need to do more than maintain our current level.”
In 1996, Brazeal said, the department had two dedicated traffic officers and a swing shift. There are no dedicated traffic officers now, he said, and not enough officers for the swing shift.
Just as hospital emergency rooms use triage system, prioritizing treatment of patients depending on the severity of their injury or illness, the Morgan Hill Police Department uses a similar system when faced with multiple calls for service or not enough officers.
“It’s the same idea, prioritizing based on severity,” Sampson said. “If you have a crime against a person, rather than a crime against property, that would obviously be our priority.”
The current staffing situation the department is facing now makes it even more important that this triage system is in place.
Cumming said he will also be conducting a workload study soon, and he has already put together a department restructuring plan.
“The idea is that we will be able to use what resources we have effectively,” said Sampson. “We want to see that we are responding to calls in a timely fashion, and that means priority calls within a five minute window, and if we are not, why are we not. Are we responding to too many reports that are what we call ‘cold’ reports, the rock-through-the-windshield type of call for service? That is the type of call that could be handled by a community service officer.”
The department won’t go as far as the Fremont Police Department, which has reduced the workload of its officers by refusing to respond to house alarm calls. MHPD officers already handle a large volume of non-violent crimes by mail-in reports.
“It’s something that Morgan Hill residents will have to adjust to, a new way of thinking,” Sampson said. “We won’t be able to respond instantly to reports of a stolen bicycle, for instance. Those kinds of calls will be pending.”
The restructuring plan, on the other hand, will also give officers in the department more opportunity to take on different responsibilities, Cumming said.
“When I met with the officers who were talking about leaving, I wanted to find a way to keep them in the department,” he said. “I did my exit interview way before they left, hoping they wouldn’t exit. But one of the things I discovered, besides the staffing problems, was that they wanted more opportunities.”
