PANAMA CITY — City police are responding to more calls with fewer officers, Police Chief Scott Ervin said after Tuesday’s City Commission meeting.
Ervin also bemoaned cuts in some services, which may be leading to more calls to police.
The chief made the comments after local attorney and former mayoral candidate Alvin Peters expressed his concern about a string of homicides this year.
Peters mentioned the theft of church bus batteries — churches that happened to be located in the same neighborhoods as recent homicide investigations. Peters implied that violence in the city has gotten out of control.
He suggested the police department take long-term, therapeutic responses. For example, he said, in Tallahassee a plain-clothes officer acts as a personal liaison with violent youth offenders.
Ervin responded that the LEAD Coalition, a combined effort that includes law enforcement, schools and local churches, was created to try to prevent future violent crimes.
Ervin was dismayed by the total number of calls the department receives, about 58,000 per year. The department also has fewer officers than before the economic collapse in 2008, with seven current open positions that have gone unfilled because of budgetary concerns. Officers were responding to an average of about 650 calls per year and now are responding to about 920 calls per year, Ervin said.
Ervin said he will analyze the need for more officers for next year’s budget.
The cost of each position, all new officer positions, is about $56,000 a year with benefits.
Ervin said services have been cut that may be resulting in more calls for the department. He said Life Management Center of Northwest Florida used to send mental health professionals with officers on certain calls to offer services designed to stem further violence. That program has been cut.
“But, our coffers have gone down, too,” he said.
Ervin added most cases involved an escalation of a dispute that led to a shooting.
“They’re resolving conflicts through the use of gun violence, things that used to result in fist fights,” Ervin said. “That culture needs to be addressed.”
City Manager Jeff Brown agreed.
“The thing to remember: These are interpersonal issues people are solving with guns,” Brown said. “We could put a cop on every corner and we couldn’t stop these interpersonal beefs.”