Naperville Police Department officials hope bringing back a community service officer position cut during the 2018 budget process will free up time for beat officers to respond to more critical calls.
The police department currently has nine community service officers, or CSOs, who generally respond to calls for parking enforcement, private property crash reports, traffic direction, lock outs, motorist assists, and transports. This frees up patrol beat officers to focus on preventative patrol, addressing criminal calls for service and self-initiated enforcement efforts, according to city documents.
Four of the department’s CSOs are funded through the Burlington Fund or the city’s Downtown SSA and are assigned to parking enforcement. The other five CSOs are funded through the city’s general fund, according to city documents.
The proposed additional position would cost $69,000 annually. “Due to the high vacancy level within the police department, the cost of the CSO position will be managed within the 2018 police department budget,” according to city documents. It is unclear which fund would be tapped to pay for the 10th position.
So far in 2018, CSOs have handled 2,757 calls for service, city documents said.
The four CSOs funded through the Burlington Fund and Downtown SSA are assigned to work either downtown or at the train stations, and primarily deal with parking and traffic enforcement.
Two of the remaining CSOs are assigned to the 5:30 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. night shift. Another works 3 to 11 p.m. Monday through Friday, with the first two hours daily focused on Washington Street parking enforcement. One CSO is responsible for transmitting court documents, bail bonds, warrants and other documents to Will and DuPage Counties daily, and is only available for CSO duties during a portion of his or her shift.
The fifth CSO works days from 5:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., supporting the police officers on that shift.
The position police department officials want to bring back was originally eliminated during the 2018 budget process, according to city documents. It is unclear whether that position was vacant or filled when it was cut.
“The reinstatement of this position will allow officers to be more efficient with the use of their time handling emergency calls, proactive enforcement, increasing visibility in neighborhoods and crime prevention,” city documents said. “This position will help achieve our objective to continue our high level of service to the public in the most cost-effective manner.”
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