Elgin looks to shift cops to save on overtime

Rising officer overtime costs and a souring economy could lead to changes at the Elgin Police Department before the end of November.

A proposal to save $750,000 on overtime in the partol division entails taking 14 officers from specialized units and reassigning them to patrol duty.

The police union fears less people on specialized divisions - such as gang enforcement, major investigations, narcotics and crime-free housing - could hurt the city, damage morale and make the department more reactive than proactive.

"Every municipality has budget problems, but we have a top heavy command staff that draws huge salaries. They sit behind a desk every day. From our perspective, maybe they should be on the streets," police union attorney Tim O'Neil said Tuesday.

Rank and file officers learned Friday that changes were in store as part of some $2.5 million in city-ordered cuts for the department.

The proposed changes are: cutting three officers from the crime-free housing unit and the eliminating all three Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) officers.

Also, the gang unit would lose two of its nine officers; and one officer each would be trimmed from narcotics, surveillance, juvenile and training.

Officers would not take a cut in pay or benefits, but O'Neil said officers work hard to distinguish themselves to be named to a special unit.

Police Chief Lisa Womack Monday and Tuesday declined to comment on any staffing plans and said her department was looking at ways to reduce overtime paid out to patrol officers for 2009.

She said how the department would achieve that was "a work in progress" and noted an analysis of overtime was being performed as she spoke.

"We certainly have not finalized anything that I can give you definitively," Womack said Monday, stressing: "We do not plan to reduce our gang enforcement. It's still a priority for us."

On Tuesday Womack reiterated nothing was final. "We are looking at various options that are not ready for public release."

Assistant City Manager Sean Stegall acknowledged the city is facing "tight budget challenges" but stressed that evaluating expenses for all departments is a yearly task.

"We are looking at every expenditure the city makes. We do that every year," he said. "I can't envision a scenario in which the police department budget does not go up in '09."

O'Neil also noted that Elgin raised its telephone, fax and wireless phone taxes twice since 2005 to help pay for three officers on the gang and drug units, along with additional five patrol officers.

With the three officers being moved back to patrol and a hiring freeze in place for the five other positions, O'Neil noted, people are paying more without a boost in police service.

"Is there not a drug or gang problem? Is it solved?" he said. "It's a tough economy and we understand the city's revenues are down, but is the answer to cut public safety?"

The city council must approve the 2009 budget by Dec. 31. It will begin discussing the city staff's proposal at 5 p.m. Nov. 5 at city hall, 150 Dexter Court.

Mayor Ed Schock said all city departments have been asked to look at expenditures and any police proposal is preliminary and far from final.

"There's no question there's going to have to be some belt tightening in the next several years until the economy regains its footing," he said. "The last thing we would want to touch is public safety."

Councilman Bob Gilliam said he was aware the department was considering changes, but needed more time to meet with city staff to fully grasp them. "Every revenue source we have is down," he said. "In order to stay viable, we have to make cuts like everybody else."