A large crowd filled into the meeting room Monday, June 5, 2017 for the Great Bend City Council meeting.
City Hall in Great Bend had people lined up in the hallways, sitting on the floor, and voicing their opinion at Monday’s Great Bend City Council meeting. In a meeting that lasted just over two and a half hours, discussion on issues that the Great Bend Police Department is having took 50 minutes.
Letters have been sent to council members and city administration illustrating conflicts between the Police Department and city administration. The Police Department’s turnover rate, compensation, and potential harassing workplace have come up as issues.
Chief Cliff Couch stated Monday that he has been told by administration, including City Administrator Howard Partington, to not tell the city council or public about the Police Department’s difficulties.
Council member Dana Dawson made a motion to Mayor Mike Allison to hear Couch speak in front of an animated crowd to receive the facts of what is going on at the Police Department.
Dana Dawson, Mayor Mike Allison, and Crowd Audio
Through a planned PowerPoint presentation, Couch informed the city council of the low level of police officer coverage the city is operating at right now. The Police Department is a 30-member staff, including the chief, and is currently running at 25. The shortage is forcing officers to work overtime, and in turn get burned out.
Cliff Couch Audio
Great Bend Police Chief Cliff Couch presents before the Great Bend City Council Monday, June 5, 2017.
When Couch was hired in the spring of 2015, the Police Department had four officers in the academy (recently hired officers) going through training, meaning the department was short four officers at the time. In 2003, an officer was hired by Great Bend as part of a six-member vacancy. Fast forward to 2017, where the Department is looking for five new officers. Couch pointed out that there is a historical cycle of police officer shortages.
The chief referenced a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) study that showed the average officer per 1,000 citizens is 2.6 in the Midwest. Great Bend’s average is 1.8 officers per 1,000 citizens. Great Bend would need to hire 13 more officers to reach the average.
Despite one case of an officer that quit at the Police Department that mentioned two years ago displeasure in working with certain supervisors, Couch did not believe the problem is a harassing workplace. The chief, formerly from the Goodland Police Department, thought the recruitment issue is due to low compensation and the retention issue is due to inadequate manpower.
Couch noted he has brought up the employee turnover problem multiple times but has been denied a chance to have the issue considered. Couch later went on to say that Partington has tried to filter his concerns and keep him from telling the council or public about the officer shortages and compensation discrepancies among similar-sized departments in the area.
Council member Brock McPherson said the council was informed that Couch’s attitude changed since he was first hired and did not care about the advancement of the Police Department, something Couch disagreed with.
Brock McPherson and Cliff Couch Audio
(Left to right): Great Bend City Council member Joel Jackson, Mayor Mike Allison, and council member Vicki Berryman listen to Great Bend Police Chief Cliff Couch’s presentation Monday, June 5, 2017.
The GBPD held two tryout days in January and February. After all the people who did not meet the requirements were weeded out, the department could not hire anyone.
After the last resignation, Partington attended an emergency Department Supervisors meeting. During the meeting, Partington noticed that the City’s starting pay rates were not adjusted on the pay scale for two years as they were supposed to by four percent each year. Couch says the Police Department has noticed an increase in applications received since the starting pay was bumped up between $1 and $1.50. Couch believes there are currently two candidates the City of Great Bend can hire. Even if all the jobs were filled right away to get the Police Department fully staffed, it takes an estimated nine months to a year in training before the officer is ready for patrol.
Couch ended by saying he believes a compensation study needs to be done and the governing body needs to determine immediately what they want to do about the current officer shortage.
Coming out of an executive session towards the end of the meeting, the city council passed a motion to retain the services of McDonald Tinker Attorneys at Law, based out of Wichita, to assist the governing body through the employment issues currently confronted by the City of Great Bend.