Politics & Government

Police Chief: Don't Take Officers Off the Streets

If budget cuts have to be made, Daniel Grant urges Wyandotte officials to prioritize for safety.

If staffing cuts have to be made at the to help balance next year’s budget, Chief Daniel Grant said he doesn’t want it to be officers on the road.

The most essential part of a department, Grant said, “is the blue suit that responds when you call 911.”

Instead, he said, he’d suggest cutting one of five detectives or one of three traffic officers.

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And that’s on top of the part-time animal control officer and two part-time ordinance officers that .

also calls for three police officers to be laid off.

Find out what's happening in Wyandottewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

As a department head, Grant was charged with coming up with ways to cut his budget to help offset the estimated $1.4 million deficit in the 2011-12 budget, which takes effect Oct. 1. His plans were addressed at a budget session on Monday.

“I don’t want to see any cuts period,” Grant said after the meeting. “Any cut will hurt. Right now, we’re operating as a bare bones department. … If there are cuts, they need to be prioritized.”

Regardless of where cuts are made, Grant said, there will be repercussions.

“If you cut detectives, that is going to have a tremendous effect on the case logs,” he said. “If you do away with any of the road patrol, some reorganization will have to be made.”

Grant said he found $64,000 in savings through privatizing the cleaning services at the police department and making changes to the department’s ammunition, vehicle and equipment costs.

“There’s no fat left to trim,” he said.

But there are some services that could be cut if they’re deemed to be too costly to provide.

For instance, Grant said, his department is one of a few that still respond to calls of people locking their keys in their car. He said his officers answer on average four to 10 of those calls a week.

“People love it,” he said. “You call a locksmith (and) they are going to charge you $50 to do that.”

Councilwoman Sheri Sutherby-Fricke asked Grant about the costs incurred when officers patrol special events, such as the and the annual .

The chief said all of the costs to cover his officers’ time at city functions are paid for by the city’s special events department.

The same concept is applied when officers patrol private festivals as well, Grant said. Organizers of those events, such as the , are billed to cover the police costs.

One way the department is losing money, Grant said, is by declining ticket revenue. With the economy the way it is, he said, more and more people are unable to afford to pay their fines and court costs and instead are opting to take a 30- to 90-day jail sentence. And more times than not, he said, once they get booked into the Wayne County jail, they’re out within days because of jail overcrowding.

City officials will continue their budget talks at 5 p.m. Wednesday when they tackle the engineering and .


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