If Prop 457 is NOT defeated, the City of Glendale will have to implement the following cuts to public safety (think Police & Fire):
- Reduction for Police – 66 Full Time Employees (FTEs)
- Reduction for Fire – 36 FTE’s
POLICE Key service reductions include:
The elimination or reduction of administrative and staff functions performed by civilian members of the department will result in those required services to be performed by police officers.
Service Impacts:
-The Police Department’s identified reductions will have a direct and significant impact on service delivery.
-This represents additional cost and a loss of efficiency and technical expertise.
-Police officers will be drawn from crime prevention, proactive investigation and enforcement activities to assume their new duties in detention and records resulting in an approximate 1/3 reduction in the search warrants and arrests made by those squads.
-Squad supervisors in patrol and investigations will assume additional responsibilities for conducting administrative duties and internal investigations currently performed by civilian staff or sworn members dedicated to the function.
Crime Prevention and outreach programs embraced by the community will be eliminated including DARE/GREAT, which currently reaches 4,000 students during the school year.
Service Impacts:
-The 35 teens who participate in the Police Explorer Program will be displaced, and support for dozens of police department volunteers will be significantly reduced.
-Neighborhood Watch, Crime Free Multi-Housing, and Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) Programs will be severely reduced or eliminated impacting thousands of Glendale Citizens who participate in the programs resulting in an increase in crime.
-Assistance to crime victims will be reduced to only that which is required by law and programs funded through grants.
FIRE Key service reductions include:
The Fire Department will reduce 36 positions; 13 sworn positions of which, four are vacant, two are retiring and won’t be filled, and seven filled sworn positions. Additionally, 26 filled civilian positions will be eliminated.
Service Impacts:-The elimination of administrative and staff functions performed by civilian members will result in those required services to be performed by firefighters and chief officers. This represents an additional cost and effectively reduces available staffing for fire apparatus.
-Combined with the reduction in overtime, the Fire Department will be browning out anywhere from two to four engines per day. This results in an approximate one-third reduction of current response force capability.
-The net result increases response capability beyond our current six-minute response time and will create a reliance on automatic aide cities. It can be anticipated that these cities will create response protocol to protect their
communities first so that Glendale’s reductions don’t adversely impact their own community. While automatic aide is an enhancement of service, it was never intended to be in lieu of.
The Crisis Response Program will be eliminated.
Service Impacts:
-This will result in the loss of up to three hours per day that police and fire units are placed back into service by Crisis Response taking over on-scene services.
- These services include victim assistance after fires to help clothe, relocate, and provide basic supplies to burned-out families.
- Additionally, they provide grief support and liaison services to families who have suffered a sudden or tragic loss.
- They provide death notification services, as well as remain on the scene with the deceased until coroner or funeral homes collect the remains.
The Fire Prevention services to both businesses and special events will be significantly delayed resulting in negative impacts to the business community as well as the entertainment district.
All community education and relation activities will be eliminated, the net result is that preventative safety education, public outreach and school programs will be ceased.
As president of the Glendale Law Enforcement Association, I represent the dedicated and professional men and women from the Glendale Police Department. I, like many Glendale police employees, chose the profession of law enforcement for one primary ambition – to protect the innocent. Officers are honored to give citizens a peace of mind that we will be there to help them when needed.
However, Glendale officers feel like they are taking steps backwards, combating crime when they are forced to function with slim essential services and personnel. Over the last few years, Glendale has cut millions of dollars from the police department. Now, the city is looking at eliminating millions more from our budget this next fiscal year, resulting in the lay-offs of 66 police positions. Preventative enforcement units, like narcotics, will be eliminated entirely.
I have seen firsthand what criminal elements can and will do to harm our loved-ones. With shortages in police manpower coupled with funding cuts, I believe Glendale will see serious long-term damage to communities, neighborhoods, schools and other services. As a father of three and a police officer, I cannot let that happen.
Common sense can draw parallels between Glendale’s crime rates and budget cuts over the years. The city is No. 1 in auto thefts (in Arizona) and violent crime is up 13 percent. Additionally, Arizona is still No. 1 in identity theft nationally. Border related crimes, like drug smuggling and human trafficking, continue to ail our city. What statistics can Glendale citizens expect in the future with further public safety funding reductions and lay-offs?
No Arizona citizen wants to be taxed more than we already are in these economic times. Families, like mine, have had to make changes in order to deal with our fiscal down-turn. However, government’s core responsibility is public safety, and it must be adequately funded. A temporary revenue source is Glendale’s only option to keep police services at their current levels.
Glendale police officers encourage you to vote “no” on Proposition 457. Help protect public safety, and the men and women that serve you.
Justin Harris
Vote No On Prpo 457
The out-of-towners funding the campaign for Proposition 457 use the word “taxes” like it’s a profanity. The truth? While we’re taxpayers, too, and we don’t like being parted from our hard-earned money, we also work keeping Glendale safe. If Proposition 457 passes on election day, Glendale will be less safe as a direct result.
Let’s take a look at the truth of Proposition 457 – and why we believe our city absolutely must vote “no.”
First up, there’s the cost of keeping in place the temporary sales tax our city council passed in June. Voting no on 457 will cost the average homeowner in Glendale about $2 a week – or about the cost of a half-gallon of gas.
What will you get in return for your two bucks?
For starters, you’ll get a police department and a fire department better able to respond to emergencies. Since 2008, budget cuts already have meant the loss of 70 police officers and firefighters off Glendale’s street. That’s driven up 911 response times. At the same time, violent crime in the city has jumped about 13 percent, while 911 fire calls have risen 18 percent. We’re already doing so much more with so much less, there’s little room left to cut. Yet, that’s exactly what will happen if Prop 457 passes – we’ll lose more than 100 public safety positions.
Voting no on 457 will keep dozens of sworn police officers and frontline firefighters on the street. It will keep trained 911 operators answering your emergency calls and trained crime scene workers moving cases through the system.
In short, voting no on 457 will keep Glendale safe. And protecting our families won’t be the only impact.
Voting no on 457 also will keep open the Velma Teague and Foothill libraries and the Rose Lane pool. It will keep in place necessary services for homebound seniors and the disabled and keep open after-school programs for hundreds of children. The passing of Prop 457 would close down Glendale Channel 11 and put an end to the signature events that have helped our downtown thrive, including Glendale Glitters and the Glendale Chocolate Affaire.
Your no vote on 457 will not only keep Glendale safe, it will keep our city operating as the Glendale we know and love.
It should go without saying that we understand exactly what every dollar means to a family today. We know how hard jobs are to come by and what it means to scrimp to pay a mortgage and put gas in the car. That’s why your police officers and firefighters have done everything in our power to remove the burden off residents. Since 2008, we’ve given up pay and benefits totaling more than $7 million – give backs that have enabled the city to save jobs and keep public safety workers on the street.
We will continue to do what’s needed to keep Glendale economically viable and a safe place to live. But please consider this when you cast your ballot on Proposition 457: There comes a point in time where cutting budgets and taking police officers and firefighters off the street isn’t simply a matter of doing more with fewer dollars.
It becomes necessary to cut service and to live with the dangers and consequences that result.
No on 457 is a small price to pay to keep Glendale safe.
Joe Hester, President, Glendale Firefighters
Julie Reed, President, Glendale Fraternal Order of Police