Proposed Joliet Budget Now Includes Funding to Hire More Police

Joliet’s proposed 2015 budget now includes funding to add several new officers to the city’s Neighborhood Oriented Policing Team (NOPT).

Mayor Tom Giarrante said he spoke with City Manager Jim Hock after city council members raised concerns about NOPT staffing following a budget presentation last week.

Hock on Monday told city council members the funding was mistakenly left out of the original $279 million budget proposal due to a “mixup” with police department staffing requests. He said that money has now been shifted to make way for the additional police personnel.

Council members stressed the need for more police in the wake of several weeks marked by violence in Joliet, including a Dec. 2 double murder.

The city was also recently ranked as No. 19 in a study ranking the 25 “most dangerous” cities in Illinois.

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Hock noted that for the first time in several years, a fully staffed Joliet Fire Department means that overtime costs are projected to decrease in 2015. He said $600,000 will be cut from the fire department’s overtime budget, with much of that funding going toward the hiring of three new officers for the NOPT, as well as a new NOPT sergeant and training sergeant.

One new NOPT officer will be assigned to the Joliet Louis Mall area, with another patrolling the east side and the third on the far west side.

The three NOPT officers and sergeant will mean an estimated $403,000 in salary costs for Joliet in 2015, Hock said.

Currently, there are 11 NOPT officers in Joliet.

Hock said members of the Cunningham Neighborhood Council expressed concerns after learning that their NOPT officer is slated to retire in January. According to Hock, the budget includes funding to replace that officer.