City Council voted to give Mayor Mike Martin "emergency hiring powers" at the November 16 council meeting. This action was taken because another police officer left the already-depleted Villa Hills Police Department. With these "emergency powers", Martin is now able to act outside of the civil service ordinance to speed up the process of recruiting and hiring a replacement officer. No doubt Martin is pleased by this turn of events. No matter, something had to happen to find a replacement.
Why is finding a replacement so important? The number of officers in the VHPD is now down 25% from the level all but Martin and a few others believe is required to properly serve the city. According to a recent article on nky.com, there is a surge in burglaries and other crime in Villa Hills. The struggling economy is a factor. So is the drug problem in our region.
It doesn't help at all that the police department is seriously undermanned. Bringing in another officer would certainly help deal with the growing problems. Many more hours could be devoted to crime prevention and investigation.
An explosion in overtime may be great news at a cookie factory. But it isn't a good situation for law enforcement. With all the overtime, officers will become worn out. This will hamper their effectiveness. Besides, it simply isn't safe. There is a reason they wear bullet-proof vests on the job.
So how is the search going? Is the city moving closer to a hire? Have any prospects been interviewed? Has the search been narrowed to a few, solid candidates? What, if any, progress been made?
The Martin Chronicles is concerned that the current state of affairs in Villa Hills city government may make it far tougher to find the kind of officer Villa Hills needs. Martin has earned a reputation for meddling in the day-to-day activities in the police department. We can only speculate what that has done to the morale of the officers.
Maybe the word is out about Martin.
