Most police training occurs during the day, even though many of the officer s shifts taking part in the training will be at night. Even if the officer s shift is during the day, another officer will have to be called in to replace the officer out on training. All this requires overtime. Madigan said often police officers retire with very little notice, relative to the amount of time it takes to hire a new officer. Candidates must sit for the civil service exam and the results must be tabulated over several weeks before offers can be made.
Successful candidates are then off for a four-month stint to be trained at the police academy.
Until the new candidate graduates, the department is one man down, explained Madigan. Other factors also contribute to overtime, he said. Sometimes, officers will be held past the end of their shifts to write reports or continue investigations. He was also dismayed that the Finance Committee had reduced the department s allotment of new vehicles from three to two. Madigan said the request for three was based on a long-standing deal with previous finance committees to cut back on its vehicle requests from two every year to three one year and none the next.