By Patrick Flanigan, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
The Rochester Police Department is shifting about 40 officers from administrative and investigative assignments into temporary patrol positions in an effort to counteract the effect of about 40 vacancies on the force.
“Every one of these jobs is important, but the most important thing right now is to have a greater uniform presence on the streets,” Police Chief Robert Duffy said Friday. “Drastic times require drastic decisions.”
Ronald Evangelista, president of the Rochester Police Locust Club, a union of city police officers, said the work left undone while the administrators and investigators are patrolling the streets will have a long-term negative effect on reducing crime in the city.
Moreover, he said, the redeployment demonstrates the administration’s failed policies toward recruitment and retention.
“I understand there’s a need for cops on the street,” Evangelista said.
“We’ve been saying that for years. But they created this crisis by failing to adequately staff the department and creating a quality of (work) life that turns our department into a training academy for every other department in the county.”
The officers will primarily be assigned to a crime-suppression task force. They will saturate drug markets and other high-crime areas.
“We’re going to disrupt the activity on the street and maintain the momentum we’ve gained,” Duffy said.
The task force starts Monday and will last about two months.
Duffy said the 43 vacancies are the result of the cyclical nature of resignations and retirements.
A slow-moving bureaucratic hiring process has prevented police recruiters from keeping pace with the departures, he said.
The department expects to hire about 40 officers by the end of next February.
The new hires will include veterans from other police departments in the state, who can complete the police academy more quickly and begin working on the street, Duffy said.