By Amanda Estes
Staff Writer
Crime in South Portland may be on the rise, but the city’s police department is still operating with the same number of patrol cars that were on the streets in the 1970s. Now residents and officers alike are saying more competitive salaries and benefits are essential in boosting the department’s numbers.
“I believe [the officers] do a very good job, but they’re very limited with resources and manpower,” said resident John Hanlon. “These are our first responders. They need our support and if that is through raising taxes than that is what has to be done.”
Resident Marsha Barash said she has seen an increase in crime in the western part of the city. Barash said she has witnessed assaults with weapons, burglaries and vandalism from her home.  
“When I call the police, I always have to call them two or three times more – ‘Are you coming?’” she said.
Hanlon and Barash were among the nine residents who said they were disturbed by the committee’s report during a Nov. 14 city council workshop that drew a significant turnout to what are normally sparsely attended meetings.
Nearly a year has passed since Mayor Claude Morgan established a Police Department Staffing and Retention Committee to evaluate the department and make recommendations for hiring and retaining qualified officers.
According to the report, there are currently four patrol officers who respond to emergency calls in the city at any given time. Ten officers, or 20 percent of the force, is currently eligible for retirement and that number is expected to increase to 75 percent by 2012.
The committee’s recommendations include hiring three new officers by 2010, offering more competitive salaries and benefits, streamlining the hiring process, changing ordinances to allow “lateral entry” or the ability for officers to transfer their skills to a position comparable to their level of experience, the ability to start officers at higher pay levels and allowing for more flexible scheduling options.
According to the report, starting pay for a South Portland officer is roughly $31,740 a year, compared to the national average of $36,048. Neighboring communities Cape Elizabeth and Scarborough pay their new officers roughly $38,478 a year and $38,577 a year, respectively. Both agencies also offer lateral entry.
South Portland is currently one of the few agencies in Maine to not offer lateral entry for officers, but that may be changing. The South Portland Police Patrolmen’s Association (SPPPA), the patrol officers’ union, has signed a tentative agreement with the city to offer officers the ability to start at up to the five-year pay level.  Committee member Robert Schwartz, who is a retired police officer and chairman of the city’s civil service commission, which oversees the hiring process, said the agency has also reduced testing time for new applicants.
Police Chief Edward Googins said the department is not facing a “looming crisis,” but is already in the midst of a crisis.
Officer Edward Knutson said 2010 is too long to wait to put more officers on the streets.
“We don’t have time to basically run traffic anymore,” he said.
According to the report, officer-initiated activities such as traffic stops decreased last year by more than 2,000 incidents since 2000. Increases in responsibilities and changes in procedure have had an effect on officers’ availability, the committee found.
Knutson said when officers encounter domestic calls they often can’t afford to wait for backup to arrive on the scene so they go in alone, elevating the danger to themselves and residents.
Councilor Kay Loring called for more officers on the street by next year.
“People have said this to me –‘I call the police and I got a Scarborough police officer. Why?’” she said.
According to the report, the police department can respond to “one major incident or two priority calls” before it must call in assistance from neighboring communities. In 2005, neighboring agencies responded to 189 requests for assistance in the city.
Resident Bill Laidley, who said the discussion was “fueled by fear,” questioned whether merging the local departments into one agency might be more effective.
“Maybe we need better procedures in the department,” Laidley said. “Maybe too many of them are writing grants to get more money from homeland security.”
Following the meeting, councilor-elect Tom Blake said in order to offer more competitive salaries, the city needs to seek alternate sources of revenue rather than raise taxes.
“South Portland is a service center for all of southern Maine,” he said. “We are a center for transportation and historically we have gone the route alone and the taxpayers have bore the burden.”
Blake, who will succeed Ralph Baxter, Sr. following a Dec. 3 inauguration, said city officials must actively seek state and federal dollars.
“It’s unfortunate we let it get to this point,” he said. “We cannot let things like this deteriorate in the future.”