Study: Greeley has enough police

An independent study of Greeley Police Department staffing levels has found that Greeley doesn't need any new police officers, though the police department could benefit from adding support employees.

The study, which began early this year, contradicts statements made late last year and early this year by several council members, including Mayor Ed Clark, that the city needs as many as 20 new police officers patrolling streets to ensure public safety.

The council approved the addition of five new police officers in February.

According to the study, "... results suggest that there are sufficient patrol officers to handle the workload defined as, primarily, citizen-generated calls for service."

While the study suggests that the city doesn't need any new officers beyond the five officers recently hired, Greeley could benefit from a crime analyst and more community service officers, the study said.

Three retired Colorado police chiefs, working under the banner of KRW Associates, conducted the staffing study of the police department for nearly $42,000. The former police chiefs are Jerry Williams, ex-police chief in Aurora; Fred Rainguet, ex-police chief in Fort Collins; and Lorne Kramer, former city manager and ex-police chief in Colorado Springs.

The study was paid for by holding open a vacancy in the Greeley Police Department, City Manager Roy Otto said in March.

The team interviewed both sworn and non-sworn police employees as well as Greeley City Council and other resident committees and associations to make its recommendations.

"It would have been very easy for us to come in and say 'Yeah, you need more officers,'" Kramer said. "But clearly, the data doesn't support that."

The former police chiefs made 22 recommendations in all to the council about the police department.

Council members asked some minor questions about the study Tuesday night, but they deferred more until a later work session. They did not set that date Tuesday night.

At that time, the council will discuss with KRW Associates how they can implement the suggestions. Otto said previously that the study results will probably be used in determining police staffing levels in next year's budget.

Clark, a former Greeley police officer, said he was frustrated, especially about the cost of the study, because he learned little from it.

"There's nothing I don't (already) know in this report," Clark said. "Nothing wowed me."

Other police study recommendations

Some other recommendations from the police staffing study:

* Update the department's mission and core values. The study says many officers interviewed had no idea if the department has a mission or a set of core values.

* Hire a new crime analyst.

* Create a fourth 10-hour shift of 15 police officers starting at noon. The officers wouldn't be new police officers, but would be re-appropriated from other shifts.

* Make alarm companies verify alarms to reduce the number of false alarms police respond to. In 2007, nearly 99 percent of non-fire alarm calls turned out to be false.

* Focus traffic enforcement in areas where serious injury accidents happen.

* Work with Greeley-Evans School District 6 to help pay for school crossing guards and school resource officers.

* Expand police presence in downtown Greeley.

* Hire a full-time investigator to work on gang intelligence.

* Various other administrative changes for efficiency.