DeKalb cops: Furloughs will raise crime

By Megan Matteucci

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Furloughs caused crime to spike and response times to drop in Atlanta. So why would DeKalb County want to do the same thing, officers want to know.

The latest proposal to address DeKalb County’s $84 million deficit calls for a two-hour a week furlough for all employees – including those in public safety. The proposal also calls for seven unpaid holidays.

That means 19 unpaid days a year. For a starting police officer making $36,850, that’s a pay cut of about $2,680 – or 7 percent – for the year.

“It’s a reduction in pay and a statement by (the) administration saying they place a low priority on the officers and public safety,” said Joe Stiles, executive director of the Police Benevolent Association of Georgia. “The potential problem with furlough days is it’s kind of like playing with matches. It might not start a fire, but it could.”

DeKalb officers told the AJC they are willing to help with the countywide belt-tightening, but the proposed furloughs will hurt public safety.

“We’re something that has to be manned 24-7,” said Master Police Officer Jeff Wiggs, president of the DeKalb County Fraternal Order of Police. “When word gets out to the criminal element that the police department is short-manned today, that’s when they’ll decide to break in your house..”

Set against property raising taxes, the county commission has drafted a list of cuts that include the furloughs, an early retirement program and other reductions. The furloughs will save the county about $11.18 million and the unpaid holidays will save another $7.8 million, commissioners said.

“Furloughs and rescinding paid holidays are not our choice as a means to balance the budget,” Commissioner Jeff Rader told the AJC on Wednesday. “It’s currently a necessity to deal with our declining revenue.”

The commission is still looking at other possible cuts to spare police and firefighters from the furloughs before voting on the budget Feb. 23, Rader said.

To residents who already complain of feeling unsafe, fewer officers on the street sounds like the wrong option.

“If it didn’t work for Atlanta, why consider it? Serious crimes may have decreased in Atlanta, but smash and grabs, burglaries, robberies, thefts and all those crimes went up,” said Cliff Grimes, of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers.

Atlanta Police were furloughed four hours a week for 28 weeks last year. During that period, residents complained about increases in crime and slower response times. Statistics show not all crimes were up during the furloughs.

Factoring the furloughs in with sick and vacation time, it is nearly impossible to schedule officers who are assigned a certain section of the county to patrol during a set time, Grimes said.

“You are taking a piece of that pie away,” he said. “By taking officers off the street, you are compromising public safety and officer safety. An officer may be a mile away when you call 911. Now with that furlough, the call for help may be five miles away. It can be a difference of life and death.”

Lt. Melanie Knight, a 23-year veteran of DeKalb Police, said the furloughs, along with odd hours, no raises, higher pension contributions and the stress of police work, make it difficult to concentrate on the street.

"If you take away these people's money, there is nothing I can do as a manager to convince them to work hard," she said.

DeKalb had two furlough days last year. But instead of giving the officers an unpaid day off, the police were required to work 40 hours a week with a decrease in their salary, Knight said.

"We would rather have the unpaid day off so at least then we could go work another job," said Knight, who lives in DeKalb. "Overall, everybody is upset about this."

The Georgia State Patrol has been taking one furlough day a month since July 1. They are scheduled to end June 30.

Wiggs, of the Fraternal Order of Police, said he is trying to set up meetings with the commissioners to explain how the furloughs would affect officers.

“We are the ambassadors to this county. We’re out here with the public every day,” he said. “The last thing you want to do is kill morale.”