Shortages plague law enforcement agencies

WILLIAMSBURG — Finding enough police officers to staff a police force is a problem many towns in Iowa — including Williamsburg — is facing.

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Williamsburg Police Chief Justin Parsons told the City Council this week that he’s struggling to cover hours with the officers he has.

During a June 10 Williamsburg City Council meeting, Parsons said that when the city council decided to cut the seventh officer from his staff, Parsons had hoped his reserve staff would be able to fill the gap.

But reserve officers aren’t covering as many hours as Parsons had hoped. They have work and family obligations and aren’t always available.

“We’re managing, and we’re going to continue to manage,” Parsons said in June.

Sometimes Parsons and the assistant chief alternate 12-hour shifts to cover the shifts, and the city should expect some overtime from other officers, he said.

On Monday, Parsons told the council that the personnel issues continue. “We were able to get a few guys in for the Fourth [of July},” Parsons said, but no one worked a full shift.

Parsons has an officer who will graduate from the academy in October, but the department will still be short because another officer needs knee surgery and will schedule that when Kyle Goodell graduates from the Cedar Rapids academy and is available to work.

Part of the shortage of police officers stems from a difference in wages, said Parsons in June. When Parsons started as police chief, the salary difference between the police chief and the county Sheriff was about $3,000, he said. Now it’s about $30,000, he said.

In Poweshiek County, Grinnell, which is fully staffed at 14 officers, is short six and has had one job posted for nearly four years, said Parsons.

The city is going to have to discuss the future of law enforcement and come up with the best solution it can, Parsons said.

Marengo Police Chief Ben Gray has told the Marengo City Council that finding candidates to fill openings is difficult. Iowa County is close to Iowa City and Cedar Rapids, and the larger cities offer better pay.

Iowa County continues to discuss unified law enforcement, which would provide coverage throughout the county under a single law enforcement agency.

The sheriff’s department can’t afford to cover small towns without more financial contributions from those towns, but the towns don’t have the money to pay an increase, they say.

“The cities are feeling like they are left out,” said Iowa County Supervisor Abigail Maas during a June 14 Board meeting. Iowa’s Back the Blue law increased pay for the Sheriff, but not for police.

And the county is struggling to find the money to pay the mandated increase, particularly since the State also limits how much the county can tax its residents.

Iowa County also “subsidizes’ state law enforcement by covering incidents on I-80 and at the Outlet Mall at exit 220, Maas said.

Parsons said Monday that prosecutions are up because stores at the Outlet Mall, which used to decline prosecuting thefts, have now decided to prosecute.

“So that’s up substantially,” Parsons said.

Interstate 80, while a blessing when it brings business to Williamsburg, also brings crime.

“It brings about a lot more calls for service,” Parsons said. “A lot of mental health stuff comes off the interstate,” he said, causing incidents at the convenience stores and fast food restaurants near the mall.

“I do think that this is going to be a continuing conversation,” said Maas in June. The county needs to address the cost of county law enforcement serving municipalities and find out if a unified law enforcement agency would serve the public better.