City Administrator Announces Plan to Reopen Floreciente COPS Office
 

Posted 09/04/09


Moline City Administrator Lew Steinbrecher has announced a plan that will enable the Police Department to reopen the Floreciente Community Oriented Police Office through the end of the year until the City Council can identify and secure sufficient funding to keep the COPS program operational in the Floreciente Neighborhood on a permanent basis. The plan essentially involves a pattern of the Police Chief assigning himself or one of the three Captains to backfill shift command positions that would then allow Lieutenants to patrol the community along with Sergeants and Officers. This action would thus free up the Floreciente COPS Officers to move from patrol duties back to the Community Oriented Policing Program in the Floreciente Neighborhood.

This reassignment of command personnel would be supplemented from time to time with other sworn personnel from Investigations, Traffic or other services within the Police Department. The City Administrator also authorized Chief Francque to work with the Human Resources Office to immediately fill one of the frozen Police Officer’s positions. This action will result in the expenditure of General Fund Reserve dollars in 2009 due to the decline in sales tax and income tax revenues. The Council will then be asked to approve an additional .7518 cent (less than 1¢) property tax rate for the General Fund that would be specifically earmarked for the Floreciente COPS program. This action would then allow the Police Department to keep the Floreciente Community Oriented Policing Program in operation and the office open after January 1, 2010.

The City Administrator expressed his gratitude to Chief Francque and the three Captains for stepping forward to fill the breach that was created a week ago with the resignation of a police officer and the subsequent imposition of the City’s hiring freeze policy that left that position vacant, indefinitely. The City continues to devise and implement innovative solutions to minimize the disruption of important urban services to the Moline community during these extremely difficult financial times caused by the slow national economy. The City Council’s unanimous support and commitment to secure a new revenue source to guarantee the long-term continuation of this critically important community policing service to the Floreciente Neighborhood is recognized and appreciated by the Administration, the Police Department and the entire community.







 

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