11/19/08 In Our Opinion

City Councilmember Cathie Gordon was right last week when she said the city’s Police Department needs to be restructured.

About three years ago a study was performed by experts in public safety that recommended some key changes, mostly in staffing levels and flexibility in assignments.

That study, which cost almost $30,000 and was paid for by a grant, is currently collecting dust.

The police unions rejected the recommendations in the study.

The city is now in contract negotiations with the police unions. The negotiations coincide with the upcoming retirement of Chief James Doyle. City officials have long wanted to be able to hire a chief from outside the department to bring in a fresh perspective.

But the unions’ contracts require the city to hire from within the department. You can bet that changing that to allow the city management to hire from the outside is on the bargaining table.

And you can bet that the unions will demand something in return that is equal to or better than the agreement they have or they will outright reject any change in how a chief is hired.

Sadly, what’s missing here is flexibility. The city management needs more from the Police Department.

Gordon was right in saying that management techniques from 20 years ago do not apply to today’s economic and demographic makeup of Hamtramck. We need a far more proactive department that takes the lead in preventing crime as opposed to only reacting to crime.

That’s not to say that our officers and detectives are failing in their job. Far from it. They have made some spectacular arrests in recent weeks.

But the unions need to face the changes in our community and allow for more flexibility. With more flexibility, we can give our officers and detectives more effective tools in combating crime and ensuring public safety.

We can look at this issue in two ways: resist change to maintain the status quo or look at this as an exciting opportunity to reorganize the department.