Some sworn officers who normally fulfill administrative responsibilities are now filling holes in patrol schedules.
Meanwhile, the president of a union representing TUPD officers is expressing concern about campus safety and the University's hiring process.
"We've had several officers resign to go to other agencies," Lt. Joe Herring explained. "It's kind of exacerbated at this point because we have several officers who are, for other reasons, not here with us. They're on various forms of extended leave. When you couple that with the vacancies, it does create some scheduling difficulties that we have to overcome."
Col. Bernie Gerst, director of public safety, stressed that students, faculty and staff shouldn't notice a decrease in police presence on campus.
"The safety on this campus is not going to be compromised," he said.
Last Thursday, Gerst sat down with his commanders to review the staffing schedule for September and October.
"We have covered our mandatory minimum staffing of a sergeant and three officers for those months," he said.
Last week, a new officer accepted a job with the TUPD, Gerst said.
"We are working diligently to hire personnel," Gerst said. "This kind of thing ebbs and flows. And this is something that is not unique to this department - this is something that takes place in departments across the country, especially in small departments."
Retention problems are not unique to the TUPD, but it's still creating concern among some officers. Cpl. Robert Cordell, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge 82, said 24 officers are supposed to be working on the patrol division.
"Right now, we're eight short, so eight from 24 is 16. Thirty percent of the police department is short; that equals one whole shift," Cordell said.
Four of the eight positions are actual vacancies. Two are due to long-term medical absences, and one is a medical retirement.
On Monday, Aug. 29, a fifth officer put in his two weeks notice. His last day will be on Sept. 12. "I know of at least two other officers who are actively seeking employment elsewhere," Cordell said. He believes the department's hiring practices should be looked at.
"They should concentrate on why people are leaving," he said, "then work to alleviate what that is, as they can at the command level, be it money, working conditions, etc."
Age and experience are among the reasons for officer loss, Cordell explained. In recent years, Towson has hired retired police officers. When they become unhappy with their working conditions they leave because they have no loyalty to the department, Cordell said.
"As a union president, I'm concerned that this may not stop, and this could create a safety risk for the campus," Cordell said.
Many of Cordell's colleagues seem to share his assessment. Patrolman First Class Jake Jacobs left the TUPD on Monday for a "better opportunity" elsewhere. In an interview on Wednesday, he expressed concern about departmental morale.
"The officers don't feel appreciated, and they don't feel like they have any discretion with using their experience out there," Jacobs said.
Some of the factors are leading officers to explore other job offers. Jacobs believes campus safety could be endangered if the situation doesn't improve.
"It's going to wear down on the officers who are staying," he said. "They are either going to get exhausted-[or] they're not going to be able to do their jobs competently. People are just tired. They're just getting real tired and fed up."
Gerst painted a different picture of the staffing situation. He expressed appreciation to the officers who have volunteered to pick up shifts.
"Where we had some holes [in the schedule], where we needed additional help to maintain our minimum staffing, it was a simple matter of plugging in some of our sworn personnel who are traditionally in staff assignments," he said.
He pointed to move-in weekend, when police officers were all over campus. Again last weekend, a heavy police presence was evident at the Towson/Morgan football game, and police vehicles were stationed outside Newell, Glen Towers and Towson Run on Friday and Saturday nights as students enjoyed their first weekend on campus.
"I don't want to create a sense of 'Oh my god, we're not safe now,'" Gerst stressed. "We are covered."
The staffing shortages may be temporary. Gerst said there has been "no shortage of applications" for the available positions. He pointed out that the department shouldn't compromise on its standards for hiring.
"I process applications here on almost a daily basis," Herring added. "We have people in various stages of hiring and we have people scheduled for interviews."
In addition to uniformed police officers, the TUPD is hiring police aides. The department is currently recruiting to fill 10 police aide positions.
The University funded six new aide positions over the summer, in addition to the five that already existed. Only one aide is currently serving on the force.
Earlier this year, two former aides were hired as uniformed officers and put into the police academy â€" a prerequisite for serving on the force. One of the aides subsequently quit the academy. "The officers have to pick up the duties of what the police aides would be doing," Cordell said. "They'll now be out unlocking buildings, doing the hot shots, all the functions that police aides would do-it takes the officers away from the duties they were hired to do, and it takes their visibility away, too."
But officials say the staffing situation is stabilizing. Five police aides are in various closing stages of their job offers, Herring said on Wednesday.
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