Chief, Mayor, Residents: Police Department Understaffed

The has 38 sworn officers, 30 of whom are in the patrol division — but everyone seems to agree, it's not enough.

"A study done by The University of Akron in 2004 stated that we needed 16 officers right away and at that time we had 36," said Police Chief Louis Dirker. "Every time we reach 44, someone goes on disability or retires."

"There are many concerns when a department is short-staffed," said Lt. Anne Stirm.

One concern, is response time. 

"The average for emergency response is around three minutes and our times are close to six minutes," said Dirker.

"It is a deep concern to us because our response time is of vital importance when a critical incident or an emergency occurs because the sooner we arrive, the sooner the threat of potential danger or existing danger is addressed," said Stirm. "The objective being to prevent harm or further harm to those in need."

Another concern is general safety.

After some car break-ins in the Call's Farm area, resident Rebecca Prairie said there are too few officers for a city with about 36,000 residents.

"How do we get more officers for our city to make it a safer place to live …  there was a time I would leave our glass door open and clean the house during the day ... that’s no longer possible," said Prairie. "It's a sad thing for this beautiful city of Stow."

Mayor Karen Fritschel agrees that the department is short-staffed, by about eight or more.

"Right now we don’t have funding to hire as many people as we'd like to," she said.

"At this point, I wish we at least had the number of sworn personnel we had a few years ago — 44.  Then, as things improve, discuss an increase that can provide all the services our community deserves and expects," said Stirm.

Finance Director John Baranek said overtime through July 22 payroll is $182,015.

For the entire year, $285,000 is budgeted. In 2010 overtime at the police department cost $297,885.

The chief said overtime costs come from calling in officers to get the shifts up to minimum staffing levels.

"Each shift has one lieutenant and two sergeants for supervision. Day shift has seven officers, afternoon shift has 11 officers and night shift has nine officers," said Dirker.

"On day shift [there are] a four officer minimum every day. On afternoon shift [there are] a four or five officer minimum on specific days. Night shift has ... a three officer minimum every night. There is a minimum of one supervisor per shift each day," explained Stirm.

"I don’t think you feel you can put a pricetag on your safety," said Prairie.

"We haven’t had a lot of violent crimes in Stow — hopefully we don’t anytime soon," said Ron Fergeson as he knocked on the wood podium.

Does an understaffed police department mean Stow is a dangerous city?

"For most citizens, day-to-day life is safe and pleasant," said Stirm. "When a situation occurs that is not safe, we must be equipped to effectively take action without further harm or increasing danger to the community or to ourselves."

The chief agrees — "Stow is a very safe community. We do not have gang problems, drive by shootings and muggings. People can feel confident walking the streets at night, but they should always exercise normal cautions such as locking their vehicles at night, not leaving valuables in cars and leaving exterior lighting on at night in areas of darkness."

Since more officers can't be hired immediately, the mayor and chief said they are talking about reorganization within the department.