Residents Have Been Spoon-fed Misinformation

To The Editor:
There seems to be a lot of confusion and disinformation surrounding the situation with the Wildwood Police Department. Recently, in a letter to the editor, a resident of Wildwood made several claims which are simply not factual.
The first is that members of the Wildwood Police Department believe that they “cannot do their job with fewer than 45 officers.” No member of the police administration or police union has stated that the city needs to hire nine officers to return them to their recent strength of 45. The department currently has 34 officers working, with two scheduled to retire June 1.
Regarding manpower, determining the staffing levels for a law enforcement agency, there are many factors that need to be considered. Just a few are total year round population, seasonal population, total department strength, calls for service, crime statistics, area demographics, and the expectations of the community itself.
The total Wildwood budget was approximately $25.5 million. The police department does have a budget of approximately $4.5 million. Factoring in salary and benefits, the police department costs are less than 25 percent of the municipal budget; a far cry from the “half” the writer claimed. The fact that the police department is staffed 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, must also be considered. This is not an 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. work force.
Claiming that reducing the number of supervisors will save the city a million dollars is an outright fantasy. A sergeant earns approximately $6,200 a year more than a patrol officer. Wildwood would have to demote over 150 sergeants to save $1 million. A sergeant still does the same work as a patrol officer, while being responsible for the actions of every officer working.
Speaking of promotions, what about the promotion of a deputy chief? No department the size of Wildwood has a deputy chief. Why not save $25,000 a year and let a captain or lieutenant do the work, as has been the practice in the past? I will tell you why, clearly a political favor.
The claim that the police officers will not make concessions or refuse to negotiate a contract is also not factual. The police officers have been trying to settle their contract for over three years. For the first time in the history of the Wildwood Police Department, they have been forced into binding arbitration by the actions of the city administration.
The Wildwood Police Department has been reduced by nine police positions, including five unfilled supervisor positions. Additionally, there has been a 25 percent reduction in communications officers, and a 50 percent reduction of secretarial staff. Police officers have seen no pay raises in three years, and officers are making new contributions towards their health care. Despite the decrease in staffing, overtime is down, and seasonal officer and operating expense budgets are dramatically down.
Members of the police department understand the difficult times we are in and are more than willing to work with a sincere, honest city administration with a genuine desire to ease the burden on the taxpayer.
In order to have a thriving community and well-run government, the citizens must have accurate information. It’s unfortunate that some residents choose to be spoon-fed misinformation and then tout that misinformation as truth. Residents of Wildwood don‘t believe the rhetoric of persons with hidden agendas.
CHRISTOPHER B. HOWARD
Wildwood
(ED. NOTE: Howard is president of FOP Lodge 7)