RIVERSIDE (Ohio)— At first, the implementation last summer of 12-hour shifts for the Riverside police department was seen as a way to save money.
It was also a way to get more officers on the street for more hours of the day, and while service calls have been up, Police Chief Mark Reiss said overall crime, especially violent crimes, are down. Or, as Reiss said, "more police officers on the street equals a reduction in crime."
With a 29-member police force, Reiss said they changed the schedule to assign five to six officers and a sergeant on a regular 12-hour shift, compared to when they assigned two to three officers during eight-hour shifts. Reiss said the change has allowed the officers to be more proactive or "self-initiated" rather than just reacting to calls for help.
The change helped the department save about $24,600, or 15 percent from its 2011 budget, according to City Manager Bryan Chodkowski. This does not include an additional $85,000 in savings when an officer left the department last year.
But the city still experienced an increase in the number of calls to 24,000 last year, an increase of about 4,000 calls from 2010.
Reiss said one example of officers being more proactive resulted in them issuing more than 1,000 traffic citations and nearly tripling the number of drunk driving arrests to 110 last year from 40 in 2010. At the same time, the number of traffic accidents declined by about 100. With more officers on the street, the chief added they were able to stop more drunk drivers and prevent more accidents.
He said the change might contribute to violent crime being at a three-year low to 180 in 2011, compared to 460 in 2009.
"Burglary went down, vandalism down and robberies are at a three-year low," Reiss said. "If we take care of the small things, the bigger things take care of themselves."
Changing to 12-hour shifts took working with the police union, but Reiss said it is helping. While the shifts are longer, they are spaced to allow each officer a three-day weekend every other week.
"We were trying to respond to budget constraints," said. "And we wanted to see calls for service handled in a timely manner and have enough officers on the road."
Reiss said it would take more time to discover just how successful the time shifts are.
"Sometimes, seeing a police car thwarts crime," Reiss said.