Toledo police Chief Mike Navarre yesterday announced the department's district boundaries will be redrawn to include eight sectors with 16 beats.
The plan was one of four options presented to the chief as part of a redistricting study in which Lt. Mike Troendle reviewed calls for service and self-initiated police activity during an 18-month period from January, 2007, to June, 2008.
The goal is to re-establish the sectors to reflect the current manpower levels and even the workload among officers to increase efficiency. There are 629 sworn officers, and more retirements are expected throughout the year.
"I've selected the one I think best fits our current manpower," Chief Navarre said during City Council's public safety committee meeting. "This is the one that has the most recommendations."
The eight-sector plan would require 25 officers assigned to 16 beats, which are areas within each sector that officers are assigned to patrol.
The chief said the department has begun working to implement the plan and hopes to have it completed by July 1.
The largest beat would have 7.36 percent of the calls and the smallest would have 4.48 percent. That equates to a difference of about four incidents a shift per day, Chief Navarre said.
The department's current map divides the city into seven sectors with 50 beats.
The city's changing demographics over the last 14 years - since the boundary lines were last revised - created an imbalance in work load.
As a result, officers in less busy sectors are often dispatched to help crews in busier patrol sectors.
Chief Navarre said balancing the work load among beats will help reduce response times.
"The goal is to keep officers in their assigned beats and sectors to reduce response times and travel time," he said.
Dan Wagner, president of the Toledo Police Patrolman's Association, said the union also was in favor of the eight-sector plan because it is geographically similar to the current map.
Contact Laren Weber at:
lweber@theblade.com
or 419-724-6050.
First Published March 5, 2009, 10:38 a.m.
