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CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK
<br /> Councilmember Broden then followed up,And then the number two hundred and thirty-five (23 5)
<br /> includes those parental leave folks, roughly what is that estimate?
<br /> Chief Ruszkowski replied, We have eleven (11) right now. That also counts officers relieved of
<br /> duty. That number is if everyone was here and working. So when you see the number,yes, but the
<br /> actual working number is around nine (9)to eleven(11) less than that at any given time.
<br /> Committeemember Voorde asked, How do you determine what is a good number to budget for?
<br /> Do we compare to other departments or communities?
<br /> Chief Ruszkowski replied, So you could, but you can get false data from that. Some departments
<br /> will have, per capita, three (3) per 1,000 people. If we have 102,000 people in South Bend, that
<br /> makes our ratio at two point four (2.4). So some have two (2) and some have three (3) and that is
<br /> based on many factors. We look at the beats we've established and the day off groups, and that is
<br /> bare minimum so, one hundred and seventy (170) in patrol alone, the supervisors, and everything
<br /> else.Then you have to take into consideration vacation,sick,personal,injured,FMLA,relief duty,
<br /> child leave and all those types of things.And then the ability to do follow up investigations, school
<br /> resource officers,the PAL program and all the other things that we do. Our numbers are spot on.
<br /> Committeemember Voorde followed up, So there is no real short fall anywhere that specifically
<br /> handicaps us? If money weren't a consideration, do you have a wish list?
<br /> Chief Ruszkowski replied, I get what you're asking because yeah, it would be ideal to have X
<br /> amount of officers to specifically designate to, say, a traffic unit. But, we don't have that and this
<br /> is what we need to operate as a department, now, as we stand with the restructure and everything
<br /> else.
<br /> Committeemember Voorde then asked, Weren't you doing something with retirees that came back
<br /> and helped out?
<br /> Chief Ruszkowski replied, Good question. So we have three (3) right now and will have four (4)
<br /> shortly that have retired and have come back. Now it is crime scenes and they are doing walks
<br /> around neighborhoods. They supplement personnel when other officers are training. There are also
<br /> special events like Notre Dame Football games and this y we are trying to see where we can
<br /> plug them in because this is new. Then going into next year, we will try to have more clear
<br /> definitions on their roles.
<br /> Committeemember Voorde followed up, By casual observation, and I don't have the numbers,but
<br /> it looks like IUSB's police force has grown dramatically and Notre Dames as well. Where do they
<br /> get people? They're sworn officers, aren't they?
<br /> Chief Ruszkowski replied, Some. They have security officers that aren't armed and aren't ILE,
<br /> Indiana Law Enforcement, certified. The security component is different.
<br /> Councilmember Tim Scott asked, How many other-language speaking officers do you have?
<br /> Chief Ruszkowski replied, I would have to look that up.
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