Due to the Fraternal Order of Police’s current request for $1 million in EDIT revenue to temporarily fund an additional 10 officers and 2 crime scene investigators, there have been a lot of figures thrown around concerning proper police officer staffing levels.
Here’s a look at some comparative numbers, taken from the FBI’s 2007 Crime in the United States:
Officer staffing levels are most often shown as a ratio, the number of officers per 1,000 inhabitants.
New Albany: 1.8 officers per 1,000.
National (for cities with populations between 25,000 and 49,999): 1.8 officers per 1,000.
There are 806 cities reported in this category nationally. The largest group, 283 cities (35.1%), have staffing ranges between 1.5 and 2.0 officers per 1,000 inhabitants. The second largest group, 231 cities (28.7%), have staffing ranges between 1.1 and 1.5 officers per 1,000.
Midwest (for cities with populations between 25,000 and 49,999): 1.7 officers per 1,000.
Nine Indiana cities with populations between 30,000 and 40,000 were reported. They show a broad range of 49 to 114 officers employed. New Albany was reported as having 66 officers for 36,840 inhabitants. The two closest cities in population reported, Portage (36,701) and Richmond (37,129), show 58 and 77 officers employed, respectively.
Jeffersonville: 1.9 officers per 1,000.
Clarksville: 1.6 officers per 1,000.
Have at it.
