Police Chief Thomas Carter at Wednesday morning’s press conference in City Hall.
The Harrisburg Police Department will be moving an additional 17 officers to street patrol, according to an announcement by the mayor Wednesday morning.
The boost will help address the high volume of calls that has taxed the existing patrol force, frequently requiring officers to work overtime.
The decision was several months in the making, but the city was waiting until rumors of a “mass exodus” of cops had settled after the unveiling of the recovery plan, Mayor Thompson said Wednesday. The plan, crafted by state-appointed receiver William Lynch and his team, requires that the police force’s labor contracts be renegotiated, which some feared would prompt officers to leave. Now that the plan is public, the rumors have been shown to be unfounded, said Thompson.
“Our police force is stable,” she said. “There has been no mass exodus.”
The 17 officers, along with two administrative positions, will be drawn from specialty units that focus on areas like street crime and housing. The move demonstrates that having sufficient cops on patrol is the department’s top priority, according to Police Chief Thomas Carter.
“The core function of any police department is its patrol unit,” he said. “We had to answer more calls.”
Harrisburg’s police force has steadily declined since the 1990s, when it employed over 170 officers. A spate of early retirements has whittled that number down to 129.
One consequence of having a diminished force is that officers have often been required to work overtime. On Sept. 10, City Council confronted the overtime cost when it reviewed a proposal for budget reallocations. Having already spent more than $300,000 on police overtime so far this year, the city would need to allocate an additional $200,000 to cover anticipated overtime for the rest of 2013, according to Finance Director Robert Kroboth.
Despite the reduction in numbers, Thompson said she is confident that the department is adequately staffed to meet the city’s needs. “It’s all part of the global comprehensive plan for public safety,” she said. “Our cops will be all over the city.”
The department also announced that its K-9 unit has grown to six, after a donation of three additional police dogs in September.
