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GREENSBORO — Police department administrators hope that federal stimulus money could shrink the lag time between the departure of officers and the day their replacements hit the streets.

A grant awarded under the federal economic stimulus package could pay the salaries for up to 30 police trainees for three years, as long as the city agrees to pay for the positions in the fourth year.

“This would help us with vacancies and add officers to the department without tax increases on the city of Greensboro,” said Chief Tim Bellamy.

The grant proposal is up for the City Council’s approval at today’s meeting.

Councilman Robbie Perkins said the grant reflects the council’s biggest goals: public safety and job creation.

“One of the ways we make it better is a safe city and create jobs,” he said. “As long as the city can budget for the positions two, three, four years down the road, there’s no question we’ll need more officers,” Perkins said.

Councilman Zack Matheny said he planned to support the application.

“I hope that nobody would stand in the way for the police department to get these federal grant funds,” Matheny said. “I don’t see why we wouldn’t support this.”

But Councilwoman Mary Rakestraw said she needed more information before committing to spend money in the future. “How different is this from what we’re doing now?” she asked.

“We don’t know what our situation is going to be in that fourth year,” Rakestraw said. “It’s not that I don’t want to create positions.

 “I’m just going to have to look at it and ask more questions.”

The grant would help overcome a financial obstacle to changing the way departing officers are replaced, said Assistant Chief Anita Holder, commander of the management bureau.

Now, the department can’t fill a vacancy until that position is actually vacant. But hiring and training a new police officer takes time, Holder said.

That lag means the department may look fully staffed on paper, but up to 80 positions may be taken by officers still in training, not working on the street, Holder said.

“It has taken us almost two years to get those people from point A to point B,” Holder said.

The grant pays salaries for police officers for three years, as long as the grant money is used to expand the size of the force and the city agrees to keep the positions for at least one year after the grant runs out.

The grant may not be used to replace local funding of any positions, according to the agency.
 

Contact Sonja Elmquist at 373-7090 or sonja.elmquist@news-record.com