Job Offers for 13 L.M. Twp. Police Approved by Commissioners

The Lower Merion Board of Commissioners on Wednesday night authorized the township manager to make conditional offers to 13 police applicants who have fulfilled all Civil Service requirements, to fill existing vacancies in the ranks of the Lower Merion Police Department.

The vote was placed on the board’s consent calendar (it was voted on with other items and not discussed). Earlier in the evening, the board’s Police Committee unanimously recommended the 13 offers.

The Police Department has concluded the background investigation process for the top 20 candidates on the Civil Service Eligibility List, said Lower Merion Police Superintendent Michael McGrath. Of those 20, the Civil Service Commission on Dec. 15 certified 15 as meeting requirements for continuation in the hiring process.

McGrath recommended  the board make offers to a sufficient number of candidates, 13 people, to maintain the 2012 budgeted strength of the department, which calls for 136 sworn officers.

Police staffing in Lower Merion is at its lowest level in 10 years.

The department currently has 124 active officers, but two additional officers are scheduled to retire in January, McGrath added.

McGrath stressed that it is important for the township to be able to place candidates in the first Montgomery County Police Academy class available in 2012 (starting Feb. 6) because resources are at the lowest level in a decade, and it takes nearly 10 months to fill a police position and then place an officer on the street.

The department’s highest staffing level in the past was 144.

The department lost five police officer positions in 2003 and three in 2008 because of budget cuts, and attrition was higher than normal in 2011 because of a number of retirements, and officers taking jobs with other law enforcement agencies or in private industry, McGrath said.

The department was unable to replace any positions in 2011 because of the state legislature’s “untimely” enactment of Civil Service amendments that placed a “sunset provision” on both Civil Service entry-level and promotional lists. But for that, McGrath said, he would have requested that the vacancies be filled in mid-2011.

Even iff all 13 are hired, McGrath said he anticipates the department will still be below authorized strength by February 2nd, because an additional 19 officers are eligible to retire by the end of 2012.

Adjustments to personnel levels will be one of many issues that will be considered during preparation of the Police Department’s 2013 budget, McGrath said.

Referring to McGrath’s statement that he did not want staffing levels to drop to seven officers on patrol at a time, Commissioner Philip Rosenzweig asked how many officers per shift are currently on patrol.

McGrath said the number is constantly changing, based on the time of day and current trends. For example, if there is a cycle of burglaries occurring during the daytime, more officers would be assigned to that shift, McGrath said.

Ardmore resident Brady McHale, a senior at Lower Merion High School who is a volunteer witth the Gladwyne Fire Company and an aspiring police officer, spoke in favor of the 13 new hires.

“There’s some dangers out there for my neighbors, so it’s important that it get passed,” McHale said, adding that it was “unnerving to think when you go to bed at night there are only seven men or women” on patrol, if staffing per shift dropped to that level in the future.

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In other matters, as part of the consent calendar vote, the board also approved a police uniform contract and the suspension of a police officer.

The board awarded Red the Uniform Tailor, of Lakewood, N.J., a contract to provide the department with custom tailored police uniforms. The total bid amount for the contract is $45,096.

The board also approved McGrath’s recommendation that a Lower Merion police officer be suspended for one day, for violation of the Civil Service Code of Discipline and of Departmental Rules and Regulations. 

At a Board of Commissioners Police Committee meeting earlier this month, McGrath said he would not be releasing the name of the officer or specifics of the disciplinary matter, as it is a personnel issue.