Chicopee Police Department to hire 13 new officers to address significant staff shortage
Posted May 11, 2021
CHICOPEE – Faced with multiple retirements and vacancies on the Police Department, the city is working to hire 13 new police officers.
The department is significantly short personnel. There are currently 90 patrol officers on staff and city regulations allow up to 120 on the force, Police Lt. Holly Davis said.
“The shortage is not causing any safety issues,” she said. “We are filling all of our beats and units.”
The fact that the police department is allowed 120 officers makes the shortage looks worse than it is, since the force is rarely expected to be that large. The complement of patrol officers was increased several years ago to allow candidates to be hired in anticipation of senior officers retiring so the two can overlap while the new officers are in training.
‘Perfect storm’ leaves Chicopee Fire Department shorthanded: Council approves money for overtime
Updated 9:00 AM;
CHICOPEE Facing a “perfect storm” of problems that have left the Fire Department severely short-staffed, the City Council agreed to beef up the overtime budget while officials work to hire more people.
With a new Civil Service list posted, Fire Chief Daniel Stamborski is starting to interview candidates to fill a dozen vacancies in the department.
Meanwhile, the City Council agreed recently to add $350,000 to the overtime budget after the department has already gone through its fiscal year 2021 allotment of $750,000 in the first nine months of the year. The money came from the city’s free cash account.