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Cortland fulfills chief’s request to hire new officer

Andrews cites overtime, opioid crisis as reasons

CORTLAND — The Cortland Police Department has taken the first step to hire a new full-time police officer.

Last year, the police department had approximately 550 overtime hours that had to be paid to a full-time officer, according to Chief Thomas A. Andrews. City Council at its Monday meeting passed first reading of an ordinance that will allow the police department to modify its staffing levels to accomodate the new full-time officer.

The third and final reading is expected to be at council’s first meeting in May.

“Our job is to send people to respond to calls,” Andrews said. “We have to be able to send people to those calls 24/7.”

When making the decision to bring on another full-time police officer, Andrews said there were three main concerns.

The first concern is 16 hours per week that need to be filled with part-time officers. If a part-time officer is unable to respond, a full-time officer fills in, during which the officer is paid overtime. By bringing on the new officer, the department would be able to fill those 16 hours while cutting costs.

The second concern is the Trumbull Ashtabula Group Law Enforcement Task Force, which Andrews said wants to work more with local police agencies to better deal with the opioid epidemic. A new full-time officer would be able to spend about eight hours a week with the task force and act as a liaison between it and Cortland police, according to Andrews.

The third concern is the school resource officer program, especially since by 2018 the Lakeview Local School District will lie entirely within the city of Cortland. A new officer could be cross-trained in the school resource officer program, allowing at least two officers to be present in the school buildings at all times, Andrews said.

“With the new K-8 school building, the school has indicated they would like to add an additional school resource officer,” Mayor James Woofter said.

By doing this, Woofter said the school would reimburse some of the wages, which would help offset the cost.

The Cortland Police Department now has five part-time officers and eight full-time officers, including Andrews. Of the part-time officers, there are four the department will consider for the full-time slot, which negates the need to put the new hire through the vetting and training process.

The new officer will make $18.09 an hour.

ddye@tribtoday.com

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