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Centralia council adopts middle staffing target of 1.67 officers per 1,000 residents
Summary
The Centralia City Council voted to record a police staffing level of service of 1.67 officers per 1,000 residents in the comprehensive plan, a midpoint the chief said restores pre‑COVID staffing and would allow more proactive policing if funded.
Centralia City Council on Tuesday adopted a 1.67 officers‑per‑1,000‑residents level of service to be included in the city's comprehensive plan, after a presentation by Centralia Police Chief Andy Caldwell and staff discussion of workload models and budget constraints.
Chief Caldwell told the council the proposal grew from a workshop that compared three options: the current staffing (about 1.57 per 1,000), a middle target of 1.67 (roughly the department's pre‑COVID level) and the 2018 comprehensive‑plan figure of 1.78 per 1,000. He said the recommendation came from workload modeling and a commonly used policing benchmark known as the "60%" rule (a model used by municipal managers that marks the threshold at which officers are so busy on calls for service they lose capacity for proactive work). Caldwell said two additional commissioned officers would place the department below that threshold and increase capacity for proactive activities such as traffic enforcement and park patrols.
City Manager Mike and Caldwell both emphasized that the change to the comprehensive plan is a policy signal; it does not itself commit budget dollars. Council members asked about alternatives that would not require fully commissioned officers, such as noncommissioned public‑safety positions to handle some report writing and non‑suspect property crimes; Caldwell said those positions exist elsewhere and can free sworn officers for other duties but would require union negotiations and careful training design.
Mayor Kelly said the council's workshop convinced her that public safety should be the council's top priority and said she would support the middle option as realistic now. Councilor Pope, Councilor Chapman and others said they favored the middle option balancing operational needs and budget limits. A motion to establish 1.67 officers per 1,000 residents was moved, seconded and passed 7‑0.
The council directed staff to include the 1.67 staffing level in the draft comprehensive plan materials that will return for formal adoption later in the comp‑plan process. Staff said any future hiring to approach that target would require budget decisions in coming fiscal years and might include a mix of strategies (overtime, grants, noncommissioned specialists, or new hires).
