31 police back on street by Aug 7

DOWNTOWN TOLEDO - Four days after the city of Toledo received federal funding to strengthen the city's police force, Mayor Carty Finkbeiner made it official.

During a Saturday morning news conference in front of Toledo police headquarters, the mayor said the city will add 31 officers back to the department by the end of the first week of August.

City council, though, will first have to approve and ratify the funding in a session expected to take place Tuesday. If council approves the $7.15 million in Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Grant funding, the Glass City could see police officers back on the streets by as early as Wednesday, if not by Aug. 7.

Mr. Finkbeiner, who is set of leave office Dec. 31, was worried what could happen to the city's present $8.6 million budget deficit even if he approved the return of 31 officers. The Finkbeiner administration's finance department reviewed the funding numbers for two days before deciding.

The concern and delay was over the $7.15 million in funding. If ratified by council, it will cover the salaries of 31 police officers for three years, but come August 2012, the city's next administration would be required to cover the salary costs of the officers.

Those officers not brought back July 1, through a mix of federal and state grants, and who have seniority, will rejoin the police force first, the mayor said.

In all, 60 Toledo policemen and women could be back in the fold by the end of the week, but 15 officers remain laid off. Before the federal and state funding was awarded, the city was forced to shed 75 officers May 1 to help trim a then $20-million-plus budget deficit.

A month after the police forc was reduced, 29 officers were called back in early June after the Glass City was awarded two grants from Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray and a federal Justice Assistance Grant (JAG).

Mayor Finkbeiner and the city requested funding to add 150 new officers to the force, but through last Tuesday's $1 billion announcement by The White House, most metroplexes were allocated funding to bring back 50 officers. Slightly smaller cities, like Toledo and Dayton, received funding for 20-30 new officers.

Mr. Finkbeiner has made his point known, including Saturday, that he believed the Glass City was on par with Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland, and Detroit, which all received federal funding for 50 officers.

The mayor said his staff will seek other avenues to return the 15 officers still laid off back into the fold.
 

(FOX Toledo's Sharia Davis contributed to this report)