According to Police Chief Ryan Newell, the Southborough Police Department has a staffing crisis. The SPD has lost eight officers in the last 21 months (and is about to lose another). And his second in command has an “overwhelming” workload.
To help alleviate the issues, his request (supported by the Select Board, Advisory Committee, and a staffing study commissioned by the town) is to split the Lieutenant job into two positions. On Monday night, Special Town Meeting voters will be asked to support Article 16 to fund a new Lieutenant position.
Last night, Chief Newell told Advisory, that as a result of the staffing issues, the SPD now has 12-13 officers with less than five years experience. That “increases the need for supervisory oversight”. The new Lieutenant position won’t just take some of the burden off the current Lieutenant’s and chief’s shoulders. The restructuring of responsibilities will free up sergeants up more “to be on the road to supervise these young officers”.
The chief reiterated that the administrative burden for the department had increased significantly due to criminal justice reform laws passed in 2020 and the regulations associated with police body cameras and public records laws.
He asked to split the Lieutenant Job into positions of an “Administrative Lieutenant” and “Operations Lieutenant”. In a document he provided Advisory, he laid out the history and detailed the duties that each Lieutenant would be responsible for.
The request was part of Chief Newell’s original FY25 budget proposed for Annual Town Meeting last March. At that time, the Advisory Committee pushed back. Some members questioned whether adding that position and other requests were the right ones for solving the problems as presented.
Rather than approving the request, they asked to have the Town first conduct a new staffing study to analyze the situation and recommend what positions the public safety departments need. If positions were badly needed, those requests could then be voted on at the Special Town Meeting planned for the fall.
The majority of the Select Board had leaned towards supporting Chief Newell’s request. But they agreed to follow the path requested by Advisory.
The study conducted by Municipal Resources, Inc (MRI) was completed in August. In it, the consultants made several recommendations. Adding another Lieutenant or “middle manager” position was one of them.
The report states, “the lone Lieutenant is simply overwhelmed with the various tasks he is responsible for accomplishing.” Referring to reporting responsibilities associated with being an accredited department and complying with standards, MRI wrote ” These are time-consuming responsibilities, yet critically important tasks and documents that the current staff is justifiably having difficulty completing due to the absence of time.” MRI advised that it was critical to split the job into one position to oversee operations and another for administrative functions. (Although MRI’s proposed org chart didn’t precisely align with the listed responsibilities as split out in Newell’s document.)
In Thursday’s meeting, Advisory member Howard Rose thanked the Chief for the work he put into documenting the proposed details. He explained that he hadn’t been previously opposed to adding the position, just “hesitant”. At that time, he had believed the main issue was administration of the body cams and that it might be better handled by another means. He followed that he was amazed at the amount of work that Newell had outlined for each position. It was now “very easy to support”. Fellow member Marci Jones echoed the sentiment.
The Select Board already voted unanimously on September 4th to bring the ask to Town Meeting. Article 16 asks for $76,733 to cover the salary, benefits and costs of adding the position to the budget for the second half of the fiscal year (January through June of 2025).
More details on the staffing situation and more costs to come
The Lieutenant position may be just the start of rising police budgets. At an upcoming Select Board meeting, the board will begin to discuss the other staffing additions and changes recommended in the safety study. That may include a plan for adding more officers, another detective, etc. Even if they don’t approve those asks, it’s likely the Town is going to have cough up more money to retain the police staff we do have.
MRI’s report included the conclusion:
This is an agency struggling to maintain what is considered to be an adequate response to the demands of the Southborough community.
The report warned:
The Southborough Police over the last five years have lost eight (8) experienced and valuable police officers to the Massachusetts State Police, Westborough Police, Milford Police, Ashland Police, and the Hopedale Police. This is an unacceptable and non-sustainable situation for the Town of Southborough and must be addressed. . .
In today’s environment, there is a “perfect storm” of challenges which make it difficult for agency leaders to maintain appropriate staffing levels and generate job satisfaction as well as positive morale. Ultimately, Southborough must avoid becoming a training ground for area police agencies who swoop in and take experienced police officers for their own use
In a conversation with Chief Newell this morning, he acknowledged a retention problem with officers leaving for other communities. (And confirmed another resignation was received.) He stressed that it is a widespread problem with a small candidate pool. It has led to other Towns paying a lot more and offering other perks through incentives like signing bonuses or better vacation policies to “poach” from other area departments.
Adding to Southborough’s challenge is housing that is too expensive for many officers to live in. That means many commute through the communities that are now making those better offers.
The MRI study stressed that it is more expensive to recruit staff than retain it. The report notes that job satisfaction through strategies to enhance jobs can be more important than salaries, “However, if the pay disparity is so wide, regardless of the positive work environment that MRI found at the Southborough Police Department, officers will leave.”
The current Collective Bargaining Agreement with the SPD expires on June 30th. The Select Board’s most recent agenda shows they have begun preparing to negotiate the agreement that will be effective next July. If ratified in time, the impact of any salary increases will show up in the budget at the next Annual Town Meeting in the spring.
The staffing study also calls for the need to add other positions. But the board may not embrace all of the recommendations given the tax impacts. That’s something they plan to begin evaluating after the Special Town Meeting is behind them.
In the category of “silver lining” MRI appeared to believe that part of the issue the SPD faces is based on the department taking its responsibilities to the community seriously. The report praised:
MRI observed that the community expectations for the Southborough Police are very high, and the staff of the Department work diligently to meet those expectations. In large part this is due to the extraordinary level of commitment to customer service in their daily interactions with the community. MRI was duly impressed with the dedication to resolving all incidents of crime within the community. While this may sound counter-intuitive considering police exist to do just that, the reality in most New England communities is that the workload pressures begin to impact the ability to dedicate adequate time to resolving crime and solving problems. As an example, it would not be unusual in many police agencies to respond to the vandalized mailbox and complete a report that is purposely focused upon serving as an insurance statement. However, in Southborough, MRI observed that the goal of this type of incident is to have the officer thoroughly investigate by conducting a neighborhood canvas, attempt to add patrol to a targeted area, and engage other methods to satisfactorily resolve the issue. In gathering data to develop this report, MRI noted this level of response to every incident by the staff of the Southborough Police Department. It is the challenge to continue with this level of commitment despite workload demands, for which the Department is proud, that deeply concerns Chief Newell.
