Letter to the Editor: City Budget and Officer Staffing

Dear Editor, 

As I stated previously, I’m in support of both the officers as well as a balanced budget and come from a place of betterment for the community as a whole and wish for a respectful dialogue.  I  hope those reading this letter see that collectively we can have an impact towards positive change.  To do that we have to be able to speak without fear of retaliation as a community as a whole. 
-Sue Liddle

Here is the letter I read to council this week: 

Two weeks ago I came to the counsel with data that was compiled based on previous data sheets posted on the City of Hudson Website council meeting packets, specific data sheets were provided by the Hudson Police Department over the last 5 months.  I analyzed and spoke about the reported “Calls for Service” line item on those reports.  In that statement I also did mention other tasks officers stay busy with (such as traffic stops, business checks and vacation watches) but that was not my main focus. 

There are two very specific and separate line items in the reports.  In a recent HPD Facebook post those two line items were combined and referenced together as total calls for service which is different than the council reports I referenced and is a different representation of data.   

I publicly stand behind the data that was analyzed and the statement that staffing considerations should be based on that first line item “calls for service” not the combined number.   Both are good data points (but very different information and tasks), I hope the council continues to expect and require both items to continue to be presented for transparency and discussion. I also continue to offer my time if you’d like further analysis completed.   

My aim with the analysis provided 2 weeks ago was to give the council and community an understanding of what 24/7 coverage can look like from a different perspective (does not have to be 2 officers on staff at all times) in order to remain fiscally responsible and prevent officer burn out.  I hope other community members feel empowered to come to the council with their own ideas.  The 1st priority before any decisions are made is to re-examine the budgeted as promised when it was approved.  After that you can look at staffing, officer initiated items should NOT be used as a justification because then you tend to run into quotas which are illegal in Iowa. 

Thank you, Sue Liddle