Police union says more officers needed

The president of a Lorain Police Department union says more officers are needed to fight crime in the city. Officer Kyle Gelenius, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lorain Lodge No. 3, has requested the city to address the current level of manpower at the Lorain Police Department. In a Feb. 20 letter to Lorain Mayor Chase Ritenauer, Gelenius said the situation is a “serious” issue at the department. “Last week, we learned that three officers were poised to leave the department, mainly for a higher wage,” Gelenius said. “Our manpower stands currently at 88 officers. We have not dropped this low in manning in many years.” Gelenius said the situation has forced a change in the staffing schedule. “Our authorized strength stands at 113 officers,” he said. “In other words, in terms of staffing currently, we are down 25 officers.” Gelenius said the police department is losing officers faster than it can hire them. “The current time it takes the city to hire a new officer can best be described as plodding,” he said. “The Civil Service Commission introduces an entirely new set of challenges based on the amount of time it takes from

acknowledging the need to actually administering a Civil Service test.” Ritenauer said both he and Gelenius met and they are not in disagreement on the issue. “As it stands, there is room in the budget for more officers,” the mayor said. “But we have issues with fewer potential officers taking the test, immense competition from other departments in this area and officers we do hire, need to be trained by an officer or go to the academy.” Ritenauer said the bottom line is the city needs to look at ways to give more incentives to potential officers. “We need to look at how we can incentivize officers financially,” he said. “Especially looking at officers from other departments, who are already trained and will be ready to help the department when they are hired.”