School crossing guards, ordinance enforcement, and evidence collection are just three areas Syracuse’s city auditor is recommending be removed from the Police Department’s oversight.
The idea is to keep officers focused on true police work because the SPD continues to scrape by with limited staff. They’re down about 50 officers from their budgeted 423 due to hiring shortages and retirements. Police Chief Joe Cecile says they’re further strained when they’re called to fill in for any of the 85 of the crossing guards they oversee.
“Just today, when I was driving into work, I heard Sergeant Carlos Romain, who does about three dozen other things out there, had just left one crossing intersection, to go to another one because we can't have nobody there because children are crossing to go to school and he was actually covering them because he oversees them," Cecile said.
City Auditor Alexander Marion says police shouldn't be substitute crossing guards.
“Our law enforcement officers are some of our highest trained, most expensive employees. We need to get them doing the work that is most essential that people with that training and experience do," Marion said. “I love Sergeant Romain. He's one of my favorite people out there. Is it the highest, best use of his time to be filling in for crossing guards? Probably not.”
Neither Marion nor Cecile dismiss the importance of crossing guards and keeping children safe. But Marion says hiring civilians as crossing guards and other roles is one way to cover positions that don’t require the skills of sworn officers.
Another recommendation is streamlining records management. Chief Cecile says a software upgrade would save time, especially for repeat calls.
“If you're going to the same house for another type of call, let's say it's a domestic, the advanced one that we're looking at can actually start writing the report for you on the way there, filling in who lives at that address, the time, the date, all these things that take time for the officer to have to write them in.”
The cost of the upgrade would be about $1 million, but Cecile says they’d reduce overtime costs and keep more officers on the streets responding to calls.
The auditor’s report is based on a 160-page study by Matrix Consulting Group. The common council authorized spending $300,000 on the police staffing study in 2022.
Some of the changes could require changes to the city charter. Others would need to be negotiated in union contracts.
The priority areas include:
- Sworn Officer Assignments
- Civilian Assignments & Civilianization
- Departmental Reorganization
- Better Data Tracking
- Planning, Training & Professional Development
- Coordination With Others
- Reporting & Public Information
- Scheduling
The City Auditor’s priority recommendations are:
- Implement Recommended Changes to Sworn Staffing
- Develop Regional Approach to Mental Health; Syracuse Should Lead the Way
- Continue to Work Towards Civilianization Where Appropriate
- Make Significant Improvements to Website and Public Reporting
- Acquire and Implement Case Management System; Establish Procedures Manual
- Work with County to Make Improvements to 911 Prioritization
- Create a City of Syracuse Police Department Civil Service List
- Create New Administrative Bureau; Reassign Non-Police Functions to Other Departments
- Address Police Academy Needs
- Create New CSO Roles and Adjust Salaries
Scott Willis/WAER NewsSPD Chief Joe Cecile says his department has already adopted some of the recommendations in Marion's report.
