NORFOLK, Va. — Norfolk city leaders have a new idea to address the ongoing officer shortage in the Norfolk Police Department: get rid of those positions entirely.
The city’s new budget proposes cutting the number of officers within the Norfolk Police Department from 770 sworn officers to 652.
No one is getting fired; those are positions that are not filled. Right now, Norfolk has 580 police officers.
Police departments across Hampton Roads have struggled with police officer shortages, and Norfolk is no exception.
Recognizing the city has struggled to fill empty police officer positions, Norfolk City Manager Chip Filer said the new plan is to take that money and re-allocate it elsewhere, rather than being left with a surplus of funds for officers they never hire.
“This allows us to basically acknowledge that we’re going to have 652 officers at the most and whatever monies are left over we can immediately, starting on July 1, begin reallocating those towards public safety in different areas," Filer said. “In fact, we’ve never had 770 officers.”
This extra money, for positions that aren’t being filled, isn’t going to waste. Filer explained it’s now up to city council members to decide how they would like to reappropriate those funds.
“The process now is to allow council to pre-budget some of that public safety money rather than waiting clear at the end and trying to figure out how to spend these vacancy savings," Filer said. “We’ve never been at 770. So what I’m trying to do with this budget this year is acknowledge that and allow council the opportunity now to pre-budget those vacancy savings knowing we’re going to have some extra funds.”
There are already ideas on the table for what to do with that extra money.
“We can reallocate to technology, these new safety aid positions, as well as enhancing our current salaries for officers so we can retain officers," Filer said.
Not everyone agrees with the plan. Detective Michael Lynch, the head of the Norfolk chapter of the Virginia Police Benevolent Association, said the city needs more officers, not fewer.
"We cannot reduce the numbers. We are just barely maintaining with the officers, the amount we have currently right now," Lynch said. “It is a very bad idea... to reduce the numbers is trying to tell them that ‘Hey, we don’t need that many officers.’ But we do need that many officers.”
Lynch said this idea could lead to more stress on officers who might have to pick up more work.
The department’s overall budget is increasing by nearly $3 million and police officers are set to receive a 5% to 7.5% raise.