Unions, politicians fear effects of budget reductions, shakeups
By Julie Bykowicz, The Baltimore Sun
Despite deep budget cuts and staff shakeups this summer, Anne Arundel County Police Chief P. Thomas Shanahan and Fire Chief Roger C. Simonds say they have preserved public safety.
In separate interviews this week, the two responded to growing criticism from politicians, and from angry residents and police and fire union members, who say they feel unsafe.
Shanahan called claims that public safety has been jeopardized “overly emotional and politically driven.”
Simonds said that “when someone calls 911, they’ll still get a response - and a quick one.”
Both said they had to make tough choices when County Executive Janet S. Owens asked them to cut an additional $1 million each after the County Council unexpectedly voted against a bill to freeze pay for county employees. The two chiefs had previously squeezed their budgets in preparation for a tough fiscal year.
The result was the termination of 16 police officers and the removal of 15 firefighters from three North County fire stations.
The Police Department won’t fill any of the 40 or so vacancies it expects to open up over the next year, and the Fire Department, for the third fiscal year in a row, won’t buy new apparatus.
Neither department will hire for at least one year.
Speaking publicly about the layoffs for the first time since they were announced last month, Shanahan said he could operate with an even smaller police staff if necessary.
“It’s politically incorrect for a leader or a police chief to say, ‘I have enough cops,’” he said. “But in a free society, I believe you should have just enough police officers to maintain order, which I do.”
Using crime and staffing data, the chief said that “Anne Arundel County is still a good place to live, work and play.”
Annual county statistics collected by the FBI show that the number of violent crimes is up by about 65 percent since 1997 but has been steadily declining since 2000. Shanahan also pointed to statistics showing that overall crime, including nonviolent and property offenses, is down in the past five years.
Shanahan said that’s an impressive trend, especially considering that the county’s population rose from 489,656 reported in the 2000 Census to an estimated 503,388 last year.
The number of police officer positions has remained about the same for the past four fiscal years. Although there are 666 uniformed positions this year, there could be as few as 607 officers in the department by the end of this fiscal year, based on the 16 layoffs and the projected 43 vacancies the department has projected it will carry.
O’Brien Atkinson, president of the local Fraternal Order of Police, said reducing the number of police officers during a time of population growth might spell disaster for the county. He called the staffing levels unacceptable and said public safety will “absolutely” be affected.
Shanahan said he has taken steps to minimize - and perhaps erase - the impact of a diminishing police force.
He has shifted 26 positions from administrative roles back to patrol, which he called “the backbone of the department.”
Officers have been taken from internal affairs, crime prevention and the training academy. The intelligence section, which provides security for the county executive, has been cut from two officers to one.
“We will not let the county see a decrease in quality of service,” Shanahan said, “even if these changes affect the overall efficiency of the department.”
Atkinson said Shanahan needs “to take a stand” on behalf of his officers but “instead, he is taking the hit for the county executive.”
The fire union’s president said Simonds also “has struggled this year.”
“I don’t believe that Chief Simonds, in his heart, supports any staffing reductions,” said Keith W. Wright, president of the Anne Arundel Professional Firefighters. “But I think maybe he should have gone further out on a political limb.”
Simonds said in a phone interview this week that he thinks he has staffed the department, which has about 630 career firefighters, as best he can with the resources he was given.
“No fire chief in the country would not like to have enough staff to be in accordance with [national] regulations,” he said. “But that’s a very high mark to meet.”
The National Fire Protection Association recommends that four firefighters ride each piece of equipment. Arundel, like many Maryland fire departments, routinely puts two or three firefighters on fire engines and ladder trucks.
Simonds said he understands why firefighters and residents would be upset by the staffing changes.
“Their world is that fire station,” he said. “But I have to look at fire service as a whole. I feel good about the fact that we have not had to lay off staff or close any fire stations.”
L. Douglas Ward, deputy director of the Division of Public Safety Leadership at the Johns Hopkins University, said all public safety chiefs “walk a fine line” as they try to align the needs of political leaders with community demands.
“As part of the executive branch, there’s an obligation to live within their budgetary means,” he said. “If that requires layoffs, well, that’s part of the role. It’s not a pleasant task, but there comes a time to stand up and be a CEO and make the tough decisions.”