Hunter
03/30/23
An Iowa City counselor says she will not support increased police funding in the 2024 fiscal year budget, while the police chief says additional staffing is critical to handle the workload.
Counselor At-Large Laura Bergus told the Press-Citizen she wants to hold the department’s budget steady or make some staffing cuts instead of a proposed increase of almost $1 million. She would achieve her goal by shifting funds meant for five open patrol positions to other departments.
Bergus published an essay last month on her website that discusses how she thinks policing needs to change in the city. Instead of increasing police funding, Bergus says the city needs to, quote, “invest in preventing harm and supporting the work of organizations who know how to empower people.”
Police Chief Dustin Liston told the newspaper that the city can do both, and cutting the budget would cause officers to have less time for community policing and have to focus on just emergency calls. He cited the need to relieve the workload on the sole officer investigating sexual assaults. Liston says the officer is working on 19 cases at a time, and last year averaged 12 ½ hours of overtime per week.
Overall, the department paid over 18,000 hours of overtime in 2022.
Liston said Iowa City runs a lean department compared to other college towns with similar populations. The national average is 1.4 officers per 1000 residents, while Iowa City has one per 1000.
The Press Citizen adds Counselor Bergus says she doesn’t think the city is living up to the 2020 plan to restructure the department, particularly when it comes to the goal of reducing interactions with armed officers.
The City Council is set to meet this Tuesday. The meeting will include time for public comment on the proposed budget.