Dear Chief Dabadie,
There have been about ten burglaries in my neighborhood (Webb Park Area) within the last month. The purpose of this letter is to find out if you intend to implement a new policy that was initiated by Chief White, putting more officers on patrols in our neighborhood. Approximately one year ago, Chief White explained how the Baton Rouge Police Department would increase the number of officers assigned to the uniform patrol division.
Jan. 16th, 2013. The Advocate. Chief White stated, “The department will achieve an unprecedented level of “boots on the ground” by retaining in its patrol division all 33 graduates of the recent 78th Basic Academy, White said, and by not transferring current patrol officers into other divisions once the recruits complete field training”.
In 2012 there were a total of 411 officers assigned to the uniform patrol division. Therefore, with the addition of the 78th Academy, the 411 would increase to 444 (411+33) uniform patrol officers.
Then Chief White explained how the BRPD would add even more officers to the uniform patrol division with the addition of the 79th Academy. “It had been the department’s practice to transfer about 30 veteran officers from patrol after new officers finish training, keeping the size of the patrol division the same, even as the city’s population has grown and demands for services have increased”, White said. The chief said the department will apply the same practice with the 79th Basic Academy, a class scheduled to begin in February that is expected to add 25 to 30 new officers in patrol”.
Therefore 411 (in 2012) + 33 (78th Academy) + 27 (79th Academy) = 471
With the addition of the 78th and 79th Academies, the number of Uniform Patrol Officers should have increased by approximately 60, for a total of 471. However the number of officers currently assigned to the uniform patrol division is 417, only 6 more than in 2012.
Will you implement the new policy that Chief White started to increase the number of “boots on the ground” patrolling our neighborhood? Thank you in advance for your time.