City officials to consider adding police lieutenants
Published March 2, 2007
As soon as early October, Columbia police officers might be able to work their way to the lieutenant rank, which previously has not appeared in Columbia Police Department rosters.
The change would come as one part of a larger project to make the department more effective and improve communications with the community, Columbia police Capt. Stephen Monticelli said.
"We're looking at several different organizational changes," he said.
Adding a lieutenant rank would put a command level officer on each of the three daily shifts, Monticelli said. In addition, the two police captains currently commanding the east and west districts of Columbia would be reassigned to supervising either the patrol unit or the department's special units, like traffic and community services.
Monticelli said under the current system if something were to happen while the captains are not on duty, they would have to be called at home. Under the new system, a command officer would always be on duty.
But Monticelli said the lieutenants would not necessarily be at the police department at all times.
"Their responsibility would be to command a shift," he said. "I'm hoping that lieutenants would be out there frequently."
As a result, the lieutenants would be able to get information directly and address the community, Monticelli said. Conveying information to the media is frequently "placed on the back burner," he said.
The decision would have to be approved by the city manager and the Columbia City Council.
Monticelli said he expects the decision by late summer. He said the change could not be made before Oct. 1, when the new department budget takes effect.
"We're hoping to find something out in August or September," he said. "We had to have our info in Feb. 1 or 2. Now it's just working its way through the various departments."
The Columbia Police Officers Association, the organization representing Columbia police officers, has not yet taken a formal stance on the reorganization, the organization's president Jeff Westbrook said.
But he said the organization's members have discussed the issue at great length.
"Any time there's change, there's concerns," Westbrook said. "I won't say the proposed changes have been embraced with open arms, but there's kind of a wait-and-see attitude."
He said all of the department's shift leaders would be having a meeting about the issue on Monday.
Monticelli said the change would have to open up new positions within the department.
"We don't have the necessary positions to promote from within," he said. "We'll be asking for three additional personnel this year."
Earlier this month, the department commissioned an Eastern Kentucky University researcher to review its internal affairs process.
The report from that review will be submitted to the City Council by mid-March, said Aaron Thompson, EKU programs associate vice president for university programs, in a previous Maneater article.