California police having staffing problems
The California Borough Police Department is having trouble staffing enough officers because of a union contract with Teamsters 585. Mayor Gerald “Galvie” Gardner said that because the union is representing two full-time employees who were laid off from the department three years ago, the borough is facing arbitration with the union.
In the meantime, Gardner said he had to agree to the union’s contract rules, which say that part-time officers can only be scheduled to cover full-time officers’ vacation, worker’s compensation and sick time. He said that scheduling, according to the contract, is putting the department in a bind, because there are two full-time officers currently on vacation, and one on worker’s compensation.
“We have vacant shifts because of this and some residents have been asking questions about it,” said Gardner. “I understand their concerns and, as the mayor, I’m caught between a rock and a hard place because I have to schedule a certain way or we will get a grievance from the union.”
Gardner said that there are a number of shifts not being filled and he has tried to resolve the problem to no avail.
“Wednesday night we had no police coverage from 4 p.m. to 12 a.m.,” said Gardner. “That is the way it has been.” Gardner said that he is concerned for the safety of the residents of California and for the police who are forced to cover late shifts by themselves.
“Just because there is no college in session doesn’t mean there won’t be any crime,” said Gardner. “Outsiders commit crimes. We have to rely on the state police for backup when we need it and they have too much work already. They could take a while to get here but we could have an officer of our own respond in a matter of minutes. And the state police can’t enforce our ordinances.”
Gardner said that normally, he would have scheduled two police officers to work on nights when there was an expected increase in criminal activity, but now he doesn’t have the ability to do that.
“I am worried about the safety of our officers,” said Gardner. “Even if they need to call for backup, you just don’t know how long it would take the state police to get here.”
Gardner said with some full-time officers off from work and a limited allowance for part-time officers on the schedule, Chief Steve Silbaugh has had to take on a lot extra work.
“We have to rely on the chief and he’s not working 24 hours a day,” said Gardner. “He has been run into the ground lately and it is not fair to him and his family. We just don’t have enough part-time officers to cover the shifts.”
Gardner said the borough is not afraid of arbitration, but they are concerned because they will have to pay the cost of the hearing, and until one is scheduled, they will be struggling to fill their shifts.
“Our part-time officers will be used on a limited basis,” said Gardner. “I’ve done what I could to eliminate the problem and we’re still going to arbitration. When all the vacation time is used, we’ll be in better shape, but when someone else is out sick we’ll back to where we are now.”
Union representative Roy Marshall was not available for comment.