The Austin City Council’s public safety committee will recommend hiring one additional police officer to protect and serve the community.

Saturday, May 05, 2001

The Austin City Council’s public safety committee will recommend hiring one additional police officer to protect and serve the community.

The recommendation came last week after a meeting between the three-member committee and Police Chief Paul M. Philipp.

The recommendation next goes to the council’s finance committee for consideration. If it is approved, it will be forwarded to the entire City Council for final consideration.

One more officer will increase the Austin Police Department’s number of sworn officers to 29.

Currently, the department has 27 officers after the retirement of long-time officer Charles Wesley. When Wesley’s replacement completes his training and begins work, the number of sworn officers patrolling the city’s streets will be 28.

"One is better than none, but I still believe the department needs to hire one more officer so that we have 30 sworn officers," the police chief said.

Austin Mayor Bonnie Rietz is chairman of the committee and First Ward council member Mickey Jorgenson is a member as well as council member-at-large Dick Chaffee.

Rietz and Jorgenson voted for the police chief’s recommendation to hire an additional officer, but Chaffee dissented.

Chaffee said he had a good reason for voting against the increase in personnel – the state’s funding commitments to the city are as yet unknown.

"Looking at the current budget situation, we’re at a really critical stage," Chaffe said. "I certainly wouldn’t want us to get any carts before the horses, before (the state) knows what they’re going to do."

The state House finance committee has projected drastic reductions in total aids, local government aid and HACA, going to municipalities.

The state Revenue Department concurs. It is estimating the changes proposed by Gov. Jesse Ventura put HACA into the LGA funding category and that shortfalls will exist.

Ventura has proposed municipalities levy for the shortfall they will experience.

In the case of Austin, that could be as much as $932,734, according to the Revenue Department projections.

The city is also scrambling to build a new ice arena to supplement the ice in Riverside Arena.

It is also being hounded by flood victims when are demanding the city take action to relieve their woes each time spring rains fall.

But, the police chief said public safety must remain the highest priority.

"The public safety committee indicated they are also willing to explore other funding options to hire an additional officer," Philipp said of the outcome of Tuesday morning’s discussions. "I still feel strongly the city must hire both of the officers they indicated they would hire a year ago."

When Philipp was hired as a police officer in 1978, the city had 34 sworn officers. By 1989, the number was 32 and in 1991, the year Philipp was promoted to police chief, the number was 30. In 1997, the number dipped to 29 and since 1994, the number has remained at 28.

When vacancies arise by the retirements of veteran officers, they have not been filled.

The police chief said the council’s willingness to hire 2.5 community service officers, who are non-sworn peace officers with no powers of arrest, has been helpful to the department.

"They perform important work for the department, such as animal control and handling the stolen bike situation among other duties," Philipp said.

However, the public’s safety surfaced as an issue worth revisiting only last summer.

When two men were shot and killed at the Downtown Motel and another wounded, the robbery-killings were only the tip of an iceberg of public safety concerns.

The June 30 crimes catapulted public safety atop most citizens’ lists of concerns.

Last summer was also the time of the arrests of prostitutes, selling sex from local motels and the parking lot of a supermarket as well as downtown bars.

The public’s hue and cry over the allegations of drug dealing and prostitution in Austin even resulted in a plea to the Austin City Council to consider a nude dancing ban.

Because Austin also had become a mecca for new immigrants, they also presented new issues to address, such as unfamiliarity with English and laws.

Meanwhile, the manufacture of methamphetamine drugs at local residences also gave law enforcement a new challenge.

As Austin approaches another summer, the police chief sees little done by city officials to address the public’s concerns of a summer ago.

"I think the officers fully expected a year ago that the city to hire the two additional officers and that they should still hire two more officers," Philipp said of Austin police officers’ own concerns. "The city has done something with the hiring of the CSOs, but we really need the two additional full-time sworn officers in my opinion."

Actually, the hirings of CSOs, who ride bicycles in the greater Austin downtown area and residential neighborhoods was in response to downtown merchants’ concerns about youths hanging out in the Downtown Plaza area and creating a nuisance that inhibited other citizens’ visits to the area.

But prostitutes soliciting sex for sale, drugs being dealt and the robbery-killings at a motel only two blocks from the central business district suggest police face greater challenges than noisy teen-agers.

Are the city’s public safety needs as acute today as they were last summer?

"Absolutely," the police chief responded.

The police chief believes additional officers will allow the department to maintain a greater "presence" throughout the community and to be better able to respond to emergencies.

Philipp said it is unlikely federal funds will become available to hire more officers. With municipalities expected to lose significant amounts of LGA monies, that leaves only the option to levy by raising taxes for critical needs.

One consolation to the police chief is that no more retirements are expected this year, so the department’s staffing level will be either 28 officers or 29 with council approval of the public safety committee’s recommendation.

Call Lee Bonorden at 434-2232 or e-mail him at lee.bonorden@austindailyherald.com.