Police chief outlines staffing limits, community-resource-officer status and training timelines

During council comments the mayor raised a social-media claim that the city had de-emphasized public safety. Police Chief Chapinor (identified in the meeting as the city’s police chief) responded that the city has been proactive: staff have worked with the council and community on ordinances and programs such as camping and unlawful-vehicle rules, and multiple collaborative committees and policy reviews are in place to address complex public-safety issues.

Chapinor said the department values the council’s priorities and described the community resource officer program — previously established through the homeless workgroup and the council — as a positive program that is temporarily constrained by current staffing levels. He said the officer position has been doing dual duties while the department works to restore the program to dedicated status.

The chief also described hiring and training timelines for new officers. For a lateral hire (an experienced officer already certified), background checks and hiring procedures typically take two to three months before deployment; lateral officers still receive local coaching to learn Coos Bay procedures. For entry-level recruits with no prior experience, the chief said the timeline to reach supervised independent duty is typically nine to 12 months. He emphasized the training timeline protects the officer, the department and the public.

Ending Council members asked the chief to raise any needs at goal-setting sessions; the chief welcomed the offer and said the department will continue recruiting and exploring resources to restore dedicated community-resource-officer capacity as staffing allows.