Centralia police chief presents staffing models, urges council to set level for comprehensive plan

Centralia Police Department leadership told the City Council on April 22 that current patrol resources leave the department in a largely reactive posture and recommended the council set a staffing level for the upcoming comprehensive plan.

Chief (Centralia Police Department) told the council the department is authorized for 29 commissioned officers, currently counts 27 on the roster and has 24 "usable" officers after accounting for two in the academy and one in pre-academy status. The department's target is 20 officers assigned to patrol but only 16 are available now, the chief said, and officers often spend patrol time completing reports and mandatory training rather than on proactive patrols.

The chief framed staffing choices around three models: staffing to crime levels (not recommended), fixed minimums (long-standing but not evidence-based) and workload-based models (recommended by the International City/County Management Association). He said Centralia averages about 39 calls for service per day and that an officer workload study suggests officers should spend no more than 60 percent of a shift responding to calls for service to preserve time for proactive work such as traffic enforcement and community policing.

The p…