By Rachel R. Briere
Lowell Sun
LITTLETON, Mass. — Amidst a townwide hiring freeze, the Police Department was given an exemption to hire two new officers.
Selectmen voted to approve Police Chief John Kelly’s request to fill two open positions, bringing the department from 14 to 16 full-time officers adding two patrols -- one day and one 3-to-11-p.m. shift.
Finance Director Bonnie Mae Holston and the Finance Committee approved the request because the move does not increase the Police Department’s $1.5 million budget. The nearly $80,000 for the two salaries will be generated from overtime and splitting the cost of a crossing guard at the town’s high school with the School Department. The department also received an anonymous donation of $30,000 which will cover the training expense for both positions.
“It’s an excellent plan the police chief came up with where it increases police coverage, enhances the community’s public safety and does so within the budget limits,” said Town Administrator Keith Bergman.
Presently, police have only two active patrol cars on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. Lt. Matt King says the department is in desperate need of more officers to protect the town’s growing population.
Littleton has about 8,711 residents, however 90 percent of its arrests are people who do not live in the town, King said. There are also four exit ramps off Route 2 and Interstate 495, which King says leads to an “astronomical” amount of pass-through traffic.
“We haven’t been at full strength for five years now,” King said of the department. “As the town continues to grow, getting two more officers on our roads is a step in the right direction.”
King said the department is advertising for the two open positions now and is considering a few internal candidates. He said the two new officers will enter the Lowell Police Academy on June 14 and graduate just before Thanksgiving.
The positions are not new, rather they will replace two officers who left about a year ago. King said a full force in a town of Littleton’s size should be closer to 19 officers. In addition to the 16 officers, the department has five full-time dispatchers, a crossing guard and an administrative assistant.
“The support of the townspeople, town administrator and Board of Selectmen in a time when everyone is struggling is wonderful,” King said. “It was a joint effort.”
Currently, the Police Department spends about $131,000 annually to cover officers’ shifts while they are on vacation, sick or other authorized absences. The addition of two more officers will decrease overtime by $73,485, thus paying for the two positions.
The starting salary for an entry-level officer in Littleton is $40,132.
Town departments may seek an exemption to the hiring freeze that was implemented last fall if the position meets one of five criteria: If the position is mandated by federal, state or local law; not filling the position will result in greater overtime expenditures; not hiring would put the public at risk; the position fulfills a critical function for a department and the position must be able to be supported within the 5 percent reduction budget option for fiscal 2011.
“The hiring freeze has been in place for a while and will continue into the foreseeable future,” Bergman said. “The process is a healthy one. In order to justify filling any vacancy we have to reassure one another that it doesn’t have an impact on the budget.”
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