Focus on government spending
Staff writer Denise Callahan examined seven years of training budgets for law enforcement agencies in Butler and Warren counties to bring you this report that you will read only in the Journal-News. This newspaper is committed to reporting on public safety issues and keeping watch over how your tax dollars are spent.
Police and sheriff’s departments across Butler and Warren counties have seen their ranks reduced in recent years because of budget cuts brought on by the economic downturn. But law enforcement officials say a lesser known and equally troubling casualty of the recession has been basic training for officers and deputies.
In 2007 — before the Great Recession hit — law enforcement agencies in Butler and Warren spent $334,508 training their personnel. By 2011, spending on training had been cut almost in half to $172,515.
The Butler County Sheriff’s Office training budget shrunk from $67,230 in 2008 to $1,000 in 2011.
“When our training budget diminished, we tried to utilize more internal training, to keep our proficiency up,” said Chief Deputy Anthony Dwyer, of the sheriff’s office. “But you can only do so much of that, and you can’t supplant some of the expertise that’s beyond your walls.”
Nearly 70 percent of police agencies nationwide cut back or eliminated training programs as part of budget reductions, according to a 2010 survey of 608 agencies by the Police Executive Research Forum, a Washington-based think tank. Those cuts ranged from programs on ethics and basic legal training to crime scene investigation and instruction on weapons and the proper use of force.
Police and sheriff’s officials say getting the proper training is critical in their business and can mean the difference between life or death for officers, deputies and the general public. It also insures their departments can provide the best service to their communities, keep residents safe and attract top-notch talent.
Law enforcement officials in the two counties say as the economy is recovering, so too are their training budgets. The sheriff’s offices in both counties and police agencies in Fairfield, Hamilton, Lebanon, Mason, Middletown, Oxford and West Chester Twp. will spend a total of $272,528 this year on training.
But they all say they’ve had to come up with create solutions in lean times to make sure personnel are properly trained.
Last week at Hamilton’s training facility on Headgates Road, Officer Wayne Wells stood in a darkened room and took aim at a man on a screen who pulled a large knife out of a restaurant sink and charged. He took aim and shot him.
In the next room, officers garbed in puffy protective wear pretended to be a convenience store clerk and a crook with a gun, as another officer practiced handling the urgent situation by ducking down behind a counter and talking the gunman down. Gunfire, using simulated bullets, ensued.
The “iMarksman” simulator is just one of the many tools and “real life” training opportunities Hamilton police have to keep them sharp and achieve mandatory firearm qualifications. Wells, who was honored for his valor recently for an incident last December involving a shots fired investigation and a fleeing suspect with a 9mm handgun, said the training he receives through the city is invaluable and light years better than just shooting at a paper target.
“They put such an emphasis on training here, for good reason,” he said. “We have a true inner city here and daily we’re involved in tense situations where you have to be hands on. It’s more of a necessity thing than anything else.”
Hamilton Police Chief Scott Scrimizzi, who heads the largest police department in Butler County, said training is a crucial cog in his operation. His officers are dealing with people on drugs, many are mentally ill, toting guns. And if officers don’t know how to handle these real life scenarios, they can’t do their jobs and dangerous situations can occur, Scrimizzi said.
The chief said all of his instructors get cutting-edge instruction from the International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association conference every year and bring their knowledge home.
“I believe two of the most important things we do is hiring the most qualified person and keeping them trained with the most up-to-date training,” Scrimizzi said. “Our training division is second to none.”
Mason Police Chief Ron Ferrell, who spent a little over a year as executive director of the Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy, said currently the only state mandated training is firearm qualifying and a new directive from the Ohio Attorney General that officers take an on-line course on human trafficking.
He said OPADA witnessed a deep dip in attendance for paid training at the London, Ohio training facility when the economy tanked, but training is something everyone agreed is not something they can short change.
“What they’ve tried to do is to offer as much free training as possible around the state,” he said. “That really has helped and the attorney generals have really made it a priority.”
Middletown has had the lowest budget for training, spending only $3,000 a year since 2007. This year, the department stepped up the amount spent on training to $17,000. The department also received $25,000 grants in 2008 and 2011 from the Middletown Community Foundation for training.
Major Rodney Muterspaw said they have held the line on training costs by having state-certified training instructors on staff and taking advantage of free or grant-backed training courses. He said the physical side of their training program is obviously crucial but learning new laws and rules is equally important. It is their training coordinator’s job to make sure the city is well-versed on all new state statutes and law enforcement directives.
“Everybody talks about shooting and everybody talks about defensive tactics, but those are physical tools. We need them, they are important, but the legal things are what our officers do every day on calls,” Muterspaw said. “On every call they go on they have to make decisions based on legalities under the city ordinance or a state ordinance, what can we do legally and what can we not do.”
The Warren County sheriff’s training budget of $76,354 for this year was higher than any other budget over the seven years the Journal-News examined. Sheriff Larry Sims said the largest chunk of training, around $33,000, comes from supplies like ammunition. Outside training, including hotel and meals, generally comes in around $15,000 and the sheriff’s departments also run jails and those employees require extensive training.
“On the corrections side, more that the sworn side they are hired before they have the required jail or corrections training,” Sims said. “We send them to training after that and it’s a four-week training that could be at any number of academies.”
Sims said often at the end of the year they will stock up on ammunition and the like and that is why his training dollars appear so high.
Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones said training was hard hit in the lean years, but the county commissioners realize his plight and are addressing the issue.
“We have been doing the bare minimum of training, but it’s time to pick that up,” Jones said. “You gotta know the new things, and you’ve got to keep on it. We’re doing the best we can. We took an acorn and we squeezed it down and we’re feeding everybody with one acorn. But it’s getting better.”
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