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Ithaca police report promotions, rehires and plans to send recruits to academy; board asks for monthly written metrics
Summary
Deputy Chief Matt Cowen reported promotions and rehiring at the Ithaca Police Department and outlined staffing plans; the Community Police Board pressed for a standard monthly written report of staffing, call activity and investigations.
Deputy Chief Matt Cowen told the Ithaca Community Police Board that the department has promoted and rehired officers and is working to send a new group to the police academy in March.
Board members said the staffing news is encouraging but reiterated a request that the police provide a consistent monthly written report listing vacancies, leaves, promotions, investigations and call-volume trends.
Cowen said the department promoted a patrol officer, Louis Morris, to sergeant and that Morris is in a field training officer (FTO) phase and “should be released into that fully active position within the next week or two.” Cowen also reported the rehire of officer Marielle Bode and said several more candidates are completing background checks. “We’re hoping to get a good group of five, six people to send to an academy in March, hopefully,” Cowen said.
Board members and Cowen agreed the department remains understaffed. Cowen said he believed there are “nine or ten vacancies” to fill and that the city could see “potentially five retirements in 2025,” a dynamic that will affect net staffing. A board member noted that common council recently voted down a proposal to reduce the department’s target headcount; the board said the 67-officer target remains the goal.
Board members asked for a standardized monthly memo they can append to minutes. The board outlined topics it wants in the memo: number of officers on leave, vacancies, officers per shift, promotions, transfers, retirements; training and education metrics; a summary of internal complaints and compliments; number of pending investigations; and a one-month summary of call activity and hotspots rather than raw dashboard data.
Chief Kelly told the board the department is assembling year-end materials and expects the written report shortly: “I think it took us about a month last year. Right? So we should have it next month.” The board said it will negotiate the precise format and level of detail to avoid overburdening staff while preserving oversight.
Deputy Chief Cowen described his operational portfolio: he will oversee patrol and investigative divisions, while Deputy Chief Jolie will oversee professional standards and internal affairs. The board said it will use the monthly memo to track trends, pending investigations and outreach activity.
