The Gillett Police Department is on course for a record-setting year.
The department has already surpassed the number of calls it responded to in 2013, and Police Chief Jess Keplinger expects 400 more calls before year’s end.
As of Monday, the department recorded 1,229 complaints, exactly 20 more than all of 2013. Despite the increase, Keplinger said the city is just as safe, if not safer, than it ever was.
He attributed the growth in incidents to several changes he made since becoming chief in May 2013. Keplinger said he devotes one day a week to administrative tasks, far less than his predecessor, with the rest of his time on patrol. Overall, the staff is more engaged with the community, which leads to more citizen contacts and law enforcement activity, he said.
“We have very conscientious and self-motivated officers,” he said. “It’s not that the city’s becoming crime-ridden or a violent place.”
“I think people feel more comfortable with the police department they have … so they’re calling in their complaints,” Mayor Irene Drake said.
The city employs four full-time and three part-time officers, and Keplinger said the department has not experienced a major increase in overtime hours, despite the number of calls. The department provides 24-hour coverage six days a week and 16 to 20 hours on the seventh.
The city has been protected by four full-time officers since 2011 when it accepted a federal grant that financed the position for three years, with the condition the city cover the fourth. The city’s 2014 budget included $61,000 for the position, an expenditure that drew the support of residents at the 2014 budget hearing but was contested by two aldermen who said the city had not properly planned for the expense and had other more pressing needs.
Finding money in the 2015 budget for a fourth full-time officer is proving to be a challenge, Drake said.
“We still have a lot of work with the budget to get it to balance,” she said.
The city will receive less in state road aid in 2015, and a proposed 22 percent jump in health insurance costs is leading the city to evaluate its coverage options, she said.
“It would be nice to have a fourth officer … but we just don’t know how (the budget) is going to go,” Drake said.
Keplinger said he has been looking at different scenarios with the finance committee and health, protection and licensing committee. Although he said the best option is to keep a fourth full-time officer on the staff, the city may decide to distribute the hours of a full-time officer to part-time employees, which would result in a substantial savings for the city.
“It’s my goal to give the residents the same amount of coverage,” he said.
The city will hold a budget hearing at 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 20 at City Hall, 150 N. McKenzie Ave, Gillett.
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