Homeless in Arizona

According to Ed Zuercher, the Phoenix city manager, in this article, the Police Police get 50% of the Phoenix City budget:

Zuercher noted that 50 percent of the general-fund budget was already funneled to Phoenix police and stressed that hiring had “resumed and is going strong.”

As a nice rule of thumb the cops in most city governments get about 40% of the city budget, followed by the fire departments which get the next 20%. And then all other departments combined get the remaining 40% of most city budgets.

And sadly a huge part of this budget goes toward arresting people for victimless drug war crimes.

Source

Budget debate: How many police officers are needed to keep Phoenix safe?

Megan Cassidy , The Republic | azcentral.com Published 7:00 a.m. MT May 8, 2017

The city of Phoenix is continuing its march toward 3,125 police officers by 2018, with recruiting efforts that restarted in 2015 after a seven-year hiring freeze.

A budget released by City Manager Ed Zuercher on Thursday offered few surprises. If it's passed by the City Council this month, the Phoenix Police Department should hit that goal.

However, rank-and-file police union officials are urging City Council members to reject this plan and dial up the hiring, to the tune of an extra 1,000 sworn officers over the next few years. According to a city of Phoenix estimate, this could cost an initial $125 million.

No magic formula

A series of letters between Zuercher and Phoenix Law Enforcement Association President Ken Crane underscore the diverging philosophies on the matter: Just how many police officers are needed to keep a city safe?

Experts say there is no magic formula to this equation. Each agency faces a different set of circumstances including population density, workload and cultural and geographic factors.

Crane points to a national mean. The 10 U.S. cities with the largest populations average about 2.5 officers per 1,000 citizens, according to FBI data from 2015.

Phoenix was on the lower end of this scale. In 2015, the ratio was at about 1.78 officers per 1,000 citizens, but that figure should rise to just short of two officers for every 1,000 citizens by 2018.

New York had the highest officers ratio for the top 10 largest cities, with about 4.1 officers per 1,000 residents, while San Jose had the lowest, with 0.9 officers per 1,000 residents.

Crane said Phoenix's deficit of officers puts public safety at risk and will continue to be a threat even when the goal number has been reached.

“Simply put, we do not have enough police officers to keep the residents of this city safe in the way that they deserve in return for their hard-earned tax dollars,” Crane wrote in letters to City Council members, which were forwarded to Zuercher.

In his response, Zuercher noted that 50 percent of the general-fund budget was already funneled to Phoenix police and stressed that hiring had “resumed and is going strong.”

Zuercher said it’s important to balance police staffing with other areas that support public safety, such as streets, parks, libraries and youth programs.

“I think it is important to focus on actually reaching the 3,125 level before it is declared to be insufficient,” Zuercher said in his response.

Phoenix police are currently working to fill positions left open by attrition during a hiring freeze that began in 2008. While the freeze allowed the agency to avoid layoffs during the recession, it shrunk the sworn workforce from 3,375 at its peak by more than 600 officers, dipping to below 2,700 in 2015.

Response times

Perhaps the most measurable outcome of this loss can be seen in police response times. Response times for priority-one calls — emergencies such as crimes in progress or violent incidents — rose from 5 minutes, 27 seconds in 2011 to 6 minutes, 8 seconds in 2015.

Priority-one response times from January through March 2017 are at 6 minutes, 26 seconds, according to recent Phoenix police data. However, some of this increase may be attributed to a redistribution of patrol officers earlier this year.

Response times for priority-two and priority-three calls also steadily rose during the recession.

Crane, the president of PLEA, said the only way for police to shrink the response times is to add more officers.

He believes 2.5 officers per 1,000 residents is a reasonable ratio and is calling for the city to develop a plan to add 1,000 to its sworn force over the next several years. No plan to date exists.

“We don’t expect the city to wave the magic wand and come up with 1,000 officers overnight,” he said. “What the city should do is acknowledge the staffing problem and not say that we’re good at 3,125. We we need to come up with a realistic plan: a one-year goal, three-year goal, five-year goal.”

Crane said with a $4 billion annual budget, the city should be able to “spread the burn” and make up the shortfall.

Other needs of the city

In an interview with The Arizona Republic, Zuercher reiterated the points he made in Crane’s letter.

Zuercher said he wasn’t sure if there was an ideal number but stressed that experts agree that the average ratio shouldn’t be used to make staffing decisions.

He said the number of officers likely won’t stall at 3,125 but that it will be reassessed when the time comes.

“I think the issue is, what’s the balance of what you can provide at the price of what taxes are willing to pay?” he said. “I could recommend taking $125 million out of everything else we do, but then what kind of city would we have?”

“I could recommend taking $125 million out of everything else we do, but then what kind of city would we have?”

Ed Zuercher, city manager

Zuercher stressed that there are more abstract projects that support public safety, including safe streets, good parks, libraries and after-school activities for children.

“All those things make people want to live in Phoenix, invest in Phoenix,” he said. “All those things create an environment where officers aren’t needed for emergency.”

Councilman Sal DiCiccio said he would not vote for the proposed budget. There are two common refrains he hears from the public, he said: “We have a crumbling road system” and “We need more police officers.”

“I would be supportive of hiring faster and more,” he said. “I just don’t think 3,125 is going to be adequate for the city of Phoenix.”

Councilman Michael Nowakowski said he would vote for the budget.

He said the city’s first step should be getting staffing to its current goal, then re-evaluating.

“Maybe there are programs we can save some money from, maybe cut some fat from,” he said of future funding. “If there isn’t, then we need to come up with another solution.”