By Stacey Axler
The increase in the budget to over $28 million for the year is primarily due to an increase in the “Police Staffing Strategy” which suggests a raise in the salaries and staff members for the department and increases the budget for “police equipment and technology necessary for the core function of police work.
At the budget meeting, Ledwell and Fiscal Affairs Manager of the Frederick City Police Heather Reader presented graphs showing that the population of Frederick city has grown steadily over the past few years, which has resulted in an increase of calls for service. According to Ledwell, these statistics suggest that an increase in hiring of officers is necessary.
The budget includes room to “over-hire” five officers to the department. Currently, the city police staffs around 200 employees. Ledwell hopes the number of employees will increase by five per year to reflect the growing population of Frederick.
Besides for officers, the budget also reflects the hiring of all areas of the Frederick City Police. Many administration jobs in the department have not been filled due to a lack of funds for the salaries.
“It is very frustrating,” Reader said of the lack of administrative help in the police department due to budget constraints.
Many officers are spending extra time out of their day learning administrative tasks to complete necessary work. Lieutenant Mathew Burns, the commander of the Technical Division of the City Police, worked 12 hours a day when he started in the position. He said that this past year, he “personally installed 55 docking stations in our police vehicles. This is not a job a police lieutenant does.”
The increase in the City Police budget also reflects the need for the police to replace equipment and allow for maintenance of supplies.
A large portion of the proposed budget will go towards the maintenance of patrol vehicles. Other supplies that will be replaced and updated include bicycle repair equipment and school crossing guard uniforms.
The Frederick City Police Department budget will utilize a little over 23 percent of the entire Frederick City budget for in FY2015.
The full budget meeting is available to watch on the City of Frederick website.
The 2015 budget report is also available on the City of Frederick website.