Nov. 29—Labor agreements that brought higher wages and guaranteed raises to Joplin's police and fire departments along with use tax revenue are helping to fill job vacancies, but police ranks are still "not optimal," according to the interim police chief.
An overall increase and pay plan equity for other city employees also is helping to fill more positions.
Personnel ranks at the Joplin Fire Department are currently fully staffed, Chief Gerald Ezell told the Capital Improvements and Public Safety Sales Tax Oversight Committee at a recent meeting. Soon there will be four new employees coming on board with the department.
The fire department also added three jobs that are funded by use tax collections. Those are needed to expand the number of supervisor-level posts within the department, city officials said when the jobs were approved.
Interim police Chief Brian Lewis said his department also added three positions funded by use tax this year. Two of those were for supervisors, a sergeant and corporal, needed to lead shifts as the department transitioned to a new 12-hour-shift schedule. A bailiff position was filled. One of three civilian positions that was cut several years ago has been returned to the department.
Lewis said the department has 113 positions with 87 working officers and 11 openings, which is about half of the number of open jobs as last year. Some of the department's current officers are not on duty temporarily because they are on medical leave or on light duty, are away for military service or training, or because of other reasons.
There are currently eight hired who are near graduation at the MSSU Law Enforcement Academy set to go into the department's in-house training program in January, Lewis said. They will then go to field training and be available for work in May or June.
The department plans to move to a 12-beat system of coverage for the city intended to even out workloads among officers and provide easier access for quicker backup response. That will be done after the department can update its computer-assisted dispatch system to accommodate the beat changes.
But because of the growth in the department's workload and number of calls for service "we're not optimal," Lewis told the Globe.
Timothy J. Freesmeyer, of Etico Solutions Inc. in Mountain Home, Arkansas, in a study last year concluded the patrol division has little time to do much other than respond to calls for service, which can lead to job burnout. An increased number of officers would help reduce the time officers spend running from call to call to make time for other duties such as watching known crime areas to build cases and increase security, traffic monitoring and community policing efforts.