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Would police cuts affect your safety?

City leaders say no, but FOP president says violent crime is not decreasing.

Staff photo by Skip Peterson Randy Beane, president of the Dayton Fraternal Order of Police

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Dayton City Manager Rashad Young

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Staff photo by Lisa Powell Dayton Police Chief Richard Biehl

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By Joanne Huist Smith  and Kyle Nagel, Staff Writers Updated 1:53 AM Thursday, July 9, 2009

DAYTON — City Manager Rashad Young said public safety remains a priority and he respects the work of Dayton’s police officers, but the Police Department must share the pain of city’s budget crisis.

“There is absolutely no way we can eliminate our projected $6 million deficit this year without reducing costs in the Police Department, along with all other city agencies,” Young said.

Eleven police officers were notified Wednesday, July 8, that they would be laid off in August.

Young said the city’s budget shortfalls are no secret.

City leaders announced in June that continually falling revenues had left Dayton with a midyear budget deficit. Lagging income tax revenue, investment income and local government fund losses have forced them to take another hard look at the budget.

“I’m the mayor of the city. It is my job, along with my fellow commissioners, to practice good government,” Dayton Mayor Rhine McLin said. “Good government means having a balanced budget.”

Gary Leitzell, who is running against McLin in the November election, called the layoffs a short-term fix and said the timing is right to begin consolidating services with Montgomery County.

“This short-term fix for City Hall’s “management by budget” style will have long-term adverse effects on the community that is Dayton,” Leitzell said.

Randy Beane, president of the Dayton Fraternal Order of Police, went as far as to say the union could explore recalling the mayor.

“We believe the city is mismanaged,” he said.

The department currently has 396 officers. That number is 99 officers short of the department’s former standard of 495, said Beane, adding that violent crime is not decreasing. City leaders, however, say the nearly 500-officer strong department dates back nearly a decade.

“We need to forget about the past,” Police Chief Richard Biehl said. “This is a different time, a different environment.”

Statewide, Ohio municipalities have one police officer for every 495 residents, according to a 2007 FBI report, the most recent available. Dayton ranked third among the state’s cities with 50,000 or more residents with the lowest officer-to-resident ratio, at one officer for every 398 residents.

“The police chief has assured me (the layoffs) will not affect the department’s core mission areas of providing community-based policing and reducing gun violence,” Young said.

Young and Biehl held a press conference Wednesday to announce the layoff plans. Biehl said he could not justify giving anyone a raise in the current economy.

“It’s really a matter of opening up our eyes a little bit and looking at the world,” he said.

On July 1, the City Commission rejected the recommendations of an independent fact-finder to settle a wage dispute with the police union. Since it is against the law for Ohio police officers to strike, a process that includes binding arbitration is used in contract disputes. Young said he also expects to call for a fact-finder to address wages in the city’s fire union contract.

Rashad Young

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