A Fond du Lac city council member who voted against placing a public safety referendum on the April ballot questions whether the police department actually needs the extra officers. The referendum would add six new firefighter/paramedics to man a fourth ambulance and six full time police officers. Councilmember Donna Richards says she agrees the Fire Department needs another ambulance, but says the police department is adequately staffed, but currently has several unfilled positions. “It’s not because they (police) aren’t properly staffed in terms of numbers,” Richards told WFDL news. The staffing levels are proper. The problem is they haven’t been able to hire people, so they’ve been understaffed with lots of overtime and they’re down seven officers.” Richards says her other concern is that many of the increasing calls facing police officers are, in her opinion, not really police issues. That’s really my concern. Here we are hiring more police officers where it makes a lot more sense to take a look at the Department and see what they can properly do and see what we as a community can do better.” “They aren’t properly equipped to deal with domestic violence or mental health issues. It takes up a lot of their time.” Richards adds that many communities around the country are also rethinking whether it’s appropriate to have police officers in schools. Richards says she wishes the referendum was split into two separate questions for the police and fire.
