When it comes to fighting crime, Chattanooga’s interim police chief is thinking long-term by trying to fully staff his department.
“The department, in my career, has never been fully staffed,” Chief Mark Rawlston told reporters Thursday during a media meeting in police headquarters.
During the hourlong session, the chief answered questions about crime, staffing and working with the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office.
Budgetary concerns were high on the list of Chief Rawlston’s agenda after Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield presented the City Council with three versions of the budget last week. One kept spending at current levels, a second fully funded departments and the third showed a 5 percent reduction in funding.
Based on the budget, simply maintaining the current $40 million annual police budget would require the department to lay off 49 police officers.
“There’s just no way to make any reductions” in the police portion of the budget, Councilman Manny Rico said. “We almost have to fully fund everything.”
PDF: Police budget summary
Chief Rawlston said a fully funded budget — nearly $50 million — would allow the department to fill 45 vacant positions and add 10 new positions, bringing the force to 485 sworn officers.
A February report showed the police department had 425 sworn officers at the time.
Councilwoman Carol Berz said budget discussions would center on increasing staff in the police department, but she said the final outcome might be somewhere between the current budget and the fully funded one.
During Thursday’s meeting, the chief noted that, though there have been recent high-profile shootings, both violent and nonviolent crime are down when comparing the first quarter of this year with the first quarter of 2010.
Violent crime is down 6 percent in the city while nonviolent crimes are down 22 percent, according to the department.
For the first three months of this year, there have been six homicides, while there were nine in the same period last year.
Chief Rawlston said he could not share details for security reasons, but shared that there are measures in place to respond or prevent future “flash mobs,” such as those seen March 27 in Coolidge Park when a shooting injured five people.
Flash mobs are sudden gatherings by large groups of people in public spaces, often arranged ahead of time through a combination of social media, cell phones or texting.
Chief Rawlston said he’s not talked with the mayor about filling the police chief position permanently, but he would take the job if offered.
The chief’s interim appointment can only last 80 days, according to the City Charter, so the city must fill the position with a permanent pick by late June.
Mr. Littlefield has proposed having Sheriff Jim Hammond take over as head of the department along with his duties as sheriff.
Sheriff Hammond and Chief Rawlston said they have met and discussed areas in which each department can help the other, but consolidation is up to the County Commission and City Council.
Gangs and recent shootings:
“We are moving different units around to different locations as we receive intelligence on crime trends. (Police) move to those areas to try and head off any event that’s going to occur.”
Interim Chief Mark Rawlston response on issues
Juvenile crime trends:
“We are seeing a rise in juvenile crime. We have seen a rise in armed robbery involving juveniles. We have seen a rise in shootings involving juveniles. There are a lot of kids out there that don’t have any guidance.”
A proposed budget that fully funds the police department:
“It brings us back to full strength and adds an additional 10 officers. That would be 50 officers on the street by the end of this next fiscal year.”
Potential consolidation of the police and sheriff’s departments:
“That’s not a decision that I can make, that’s not a decision the sheriff can make.”