News Report: Police budget cuts and economic crisis increase crime, endanger officers
By John Futty and Robert Vitale
Columbus Dispatch
COLUMBUS, Ohio — More than two dozen Columbus police recruits set to join the force on Friday are getting layoff notices.
The city told 27 soon-to-be officers on Jan. 27 that they won’t be sworn in as scheduled and will lose their jobs on Feb. 26. They’ve been on the city payroll since training began in July.
“It is a very difficult day,” said Deputy Chief Walter Distelzweig, who, along with Safety Director Mitchell J. Brown, broke the news to recruits about 4:30 p.m. yesterday.
The decision was the result of “marathon meetings” over the past 1 1/2 weeks, Distelzweig said, but the announcement came a day after Mayor Michael B. Coleman criticized the police union and three other unions for rejecting a request to forgo pay raises this year.
It’s the first time under Coleman -- and possibly the first time in Police Division history, according to Distelzweig -- that Columbus has laid off police officers. The mayor often bragged during his 2007 re-election campaign that the city added officers even during difficult budget years.
Coleman’s budget proposal, not yet approved by City Council, plans for no other police-recruit classes for 2009. The city has 1,874 sworn officers, Distelzweig said. That’s down nearly two dozen since August, and the number will continue to decline without recruits to replace retirees.
The 30-day window for the recruit layoffs leaves time for compromise on a pay freeze, similar to an offer Coleman accepted Monday from firefighters.
Columbus firefighters, who were due 4 percent raises in June, agreed to delay their raises.
Jim Gilbert, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Capital City Lodge No. 9, said his union delivered a proposal to the city before yesterday’s layoff announcement but had yet to hear back.
A pay freeze for more than 7,000 unionized city workers would save $10 million of the $13 million still to be cut from this year’s budget. Coleman has proposed $82.9 million in other cuts, including 130 layoffs in other departments.
Gilbert declined to provide details of the union’s counteroffer. Police have been without a contract since December and received their last raise in December 2007.
Councilman Andrew J. Ginther, head of the City Council safety committee, said he’s confident that Coleman and the FOP will reach an agreement before the new recruits lose their jobs next month.
Ginther said he would support police layoffs “only as a last resort.”
Gilbert called the move costly and unwise. The layoffs would save $1.2 million this year in salaries and benefits, but Gilbert estimated the city already has spent $1.4 million to train the group.
“Taxpayers in Columbus just trained 27 police officers to go anywhere in Ohio,” he said.
Some of the recruits were scheduled to be on the streets as early as Sunday to begin 15 weeks of work alongside field-training officers. They’ve all earned state certification, which allows them to work for other law-enforcement agencies in Ohio.
Coleman, whose son, Justin, joined the Columbus police force in 2004, issued a statement: “It is difficult to lay off any of our employees, and even more so to lose these committed police recruits who are so important to the future of the Division and the safety of our neighborhoods.”
But continued layoffs in the private sector mean that the city’s budget troubles might get worse, he said.
More city layoff announcements could come as soon as today. Unlike previous times when he spared safety forces and snowplow drivers, Coleman has promised job security only for firefighters because of the agreement they offered. That agreement will save the city $3 million.
Copyright 2009 Columbus Dispatch