According to Bloomington’s fiscal plan in support of its proposed annexation of territory, the police department would need to add between 24 and 31 sworn officers, at a cost of up to around $2.6 million a year.
The additional officers would be needed in order to provide service to 9,000 more acres of area, and about 14,000 more people, based on Bloomington’s annexation plans.
At Wednesday’s public hearing on the proposed annexations, the president of Bloomington’s police union spoke about his concerns.
Paul Post, who’s president of the Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge 88 and a senior police officer for BPD, asked the city council: “Will the city have enough police officers to provide basic police services for the new version of Bloomington?”
It’s an open question, according to Post, because BPD has not been able to maintain the number of officers authorized in the city’s current budget.
BPD has fewer sworn officers than its budgeted number, but is losing officers as fast as the department can replace them, based on Post’s description.
The immediate consequence of the officer shortage, according to Post, is that all three of BPD’s uniformed patrol shifts have had to lower their daily minimum staffing levels. BPD is working at or below minimum staffing, Post said.
That means there are fewer officers who are available to field increased calls for service like “weapons in progress,” according to Post.
The numbers in Bloomington’s online payroll system and calls for service dataset basically square up with Post’s remarks.