Columbia police chief says department staff short by 50 officers
The Columbia Police Department is short-staffed by fifty officers, according to Chief Ken Burton.
He gave the assessment at a meeting with members of the news media Wednesday morning. During the meeting, Burton said his officers are overworked, in part because the city of Columbia has grown, but the department hasn’t grown with it.
According to the department, its case load is almost double the national average. Each detective in the department is handling between 45 and 60 cases at the moment.
The department is hiring right now, and has five vacancies to fill. Chief Burton said he also wants to look at using civilians in more roles.
When it comes to recruiting, Burton and Deputy Chief Jill Schlude say they’re learning to sell the job a different way, focusing on the public service aspect, in part due to millennials. Some potential recruits apparently come in with the expectation of getting holidays and weekends off, not understanding the police officer shift schedule. Burton and Schlude say there is an ongoing struggle trying to find a shift balance for the department’s staff.
Other topics covered at the meeting included possible substations around the community, and the positive results from equipping officers with body cameras. Those cameras, according to the department, make it easy to refute any false claims by citizens, and to make the law enforcement process more visible.
