Staffing challenges
Police officials say staffing problems are exacerbated by a new contract provision that allows officers to go home sick after four hours with a full day’s pay, and without using a sick day. The department’s Lieutenants and Sergeants Association union has had the same arrangement for years.
“That’s hurting us,” Craig said. “You may think you have a precinct staffed, but if a few officers go home sick, you suddenly find yourself running around to replace them.”
Diaz said officers often go home because they’re exhausted from working double shifts necessitated by the manpower shortage.
“Being as my officers are falling from fatigue, the use of this benefit will not cease until we get more bodies,” Diaz said.
About 15 percent of the city’s officers are in administrative positions, although plans are under way to move them to patrols. The police department will put 400 more officers on the street in the next year, said Alexis Wiley, chief of staff for the mayor’s office.