Police Chief weighs in on new officer for department

By Steve Van Kooten

Earlier this year, the Guttenberg Police Department hired a fifth police officer. According to Police Chief Derek Chambers, the additional officer will provide multiple benefits to the city’s police force, including a change to the officers' schedule.

“By adding a fifth full-time officer, we are able to fall into the Pitman, which is a 12-hour schedule,” he said. “That would give each officer every other weekend off, so it’s going to offer a better schedule to hopefully retain officers so that we don’t have that turnover.”

The schedule officers use right now requires them to work four weekends in a row, followed by a full weekend off and then a half weekend off over a six-week period.

The Pitman schedule is a rotation designed to provide 24-hour coverage. There are several variations of the schedule, but the most common alternates workers’ on-duty time in a 2-3-2 pattern over a 14-day period, allowing for workers to have every other weekend free.

Chambers, who has been with the department since 2008, said the department maintained four full-time officers without any turnover until 2021. The previous chief’s retirement created a vacancy that the department has filled on two occasions; however, the officers did not stay due at least partly to the schedule.

“In talking to both of them about why they left, they were looking for something with a better schedule,” Chambers told the Guttenberg Press.

The schedule change will have other benefits as well, including some overlap time in officer coverage.

“There’s going to be some overlap hours when we have a 12-hour schedule, and that’s going to offer better law-enforcement coverage throughout the city,” said Chambers. “If I have a case that I’m working on, and I’m stuck at my desk for four hours typing a report, there’s still going to be that other officer out in the community, and we’re going to be visible.”

The overlap can also help offset overtime hours that may occur for officers in training or called in for emergencies.

The chief maintained that overlap times for officers would be minimal and focused on providing Guttenberg with around-the-clock law enforcement.

“We won’t have that all of the time, but when we move to the new schedule, we will have times when there may be two [police officers] out and about at the same time, or there might be one in the office or in training, but we’re still going to maintain that 24-hour coverage here," he said.

He added, “I really pride this department in being able to offer that 24-hour coverage — 24/7 we have somebody on duty in this town. Many small towns aren’t able to offer that at all times.”

The need for additional coverage extends to Guttenberg’s summer, when the population increases exponentially from tourism and visitors. This year, Guttenberg is going to host several events, including RAGBRAI and multiple motorcycle rallies.

“We like to have that ability to offer traffic control if they need that for an event or just be there for typical assistance if anything comes up,” added Chambers.

Besides retaining employees and increasing coverage, the chief said that the additional officer could reduce costs incurred from turnover and attract more qualified candidates.

“Guttenberg is a small community, so it’s very difficult to hire certified officers. We get a lot of non-certified applicants; if I hire a non-certified officer, I have to send them to the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy. If they don’t have a degree, that academy is for 16 weeks,” said Chambers.

The department is required to pay officers for a 40-hour week while in training at the academy.

He noted that the cost of sending an officer to the academy can be over $10,000, and he provided two examples ranging from $14,000 to $16,000. On the next budget, the department will spend nearly $30,000 on training alone.

Currently, three of the department’s five officers are certified. Another officer will graduate from the academy in August. The fifth will attend the academy between September and December of this year.

“We haven’t had the benefit of five full-time officers yet,” said Chambers.

The department will have to make some “small equipment purchases” for the new officer, which have been accounted for in the department’s budget, according to Chambers.

He also said that the department is under budget by approximately $25,000, which includes the fifth officer they hired in January.