Lang, councilors and union all rebuke Mitchell on proposed police and fire cuts

Jul. 28--NEW BEDFORD -- A former mayor, several city councilors and union leadership have all charged that Mayor Jon Mitchell's proposed cuts to the police and fire departments jeopardize public safety.

Mitchell presented the fiscal year 2021 to the City Council on July 15 and, noting the difficult financial situation caused by the coronavirus pandemic, announced that the city would be closing the downtown police station, eliminating desk officers at police stations, eliminating nine vacant police officer positions, and decommissioning Fire Engine 8.

Former Mayor Scott Lang, Mitchell's predecessor, told The Standard-Times Friday that cuts to police and fire should be the last resort, not the first.

"You can't let your guard down and let your foot off the accelerator when it comes to protecting the people of the city," Lang said, "I think it's premature to make these types of cuts."

Lang said if he was still mayor he would not make any fundamental changes to the budget until he knew what the city was definitely going to be getting in terms of state and federal aid, using the rainy day fund to cover any expenses that come up.

Health and safety are areas you can't compromise on, Lang said, "People won't come to New Bedford unless you're absolutely geared up to make sure they're protected."

Lang said one of the reasons he was elected mayor was because the previous mayor had closed all of the police stations expect one, which "produced a tsunami of people saying 'my neighborhood no longer feels safe.'" Lang served as mayor of New Bedford from 2006 to 2012 and defeated former Mayor Frederick M. Kalisz Jr. with the support of the police and fire unions.

Police Union President Hank Turgeon said he thinks the majority of residents and businesses downtown will be greatly impacted by the closure of the downtown police station.

During his budget presentation, Mitchell pointed out that New Bedford is the only city aside from Boston with full time district stations in the state and even with merging the downtown station into police headquarters the city will still have more police stations than any other city or town aside from Boston.

Turgeon also said Mitchell was "misleading the general public" in his presentation when he said that the desk officers were going to be reassigned to patrol duty, because the union has been notified that the city plans to cut the minimum staffing requirement by three officers at every shift.

Turgeon explained that the minimum staffing requirement is the number of officers the city and police department have agreed is necessary to keep the city safe.

The union was notified that the minimum staffing requirement for the A shift would be reduced from 22 to 19, the B shift would be reduced from 17 to 14, and the C shift would be reduced from 24 to 21.

The city's Public Information Officer Jonathan Caravalho said Monday the change to minimum staffing requirements is the result of the desk officer positions being eliminated.

Carvalho said the amount of officers the public sees out on patrol is not going to change, meaning that on A shift there are currently at least 19 officers out on patrol and there will still be at least 19 officers out on patrol when the changes to the minimum staffing requirement goes into effect.

Desk officers will be reassigned to patrol duty, but Turgeon said changing the minimum staff requirement will ultimately result in fewer police officers working every shift every day.

Turgeon also emphasized what he said is the importance of desk officers.

"The guys that are assigned to desk duty, they know the regular callers, people with emotional problems that call on a daily basis...they get to know their voices, get to know the people, how to work with them and how to deal with them," Turgeon said, "That's all going to be lost."

The calls that would go to the desk officer will now be going to Communications, according to Turgeon who says Communications is already understaffed and dispatchers already work double shifts all the time.

Turgeon said some people come into the stations because they feel comforted by it and feel safe sitting in an air conditioned room and by doing away with desk officers all that would be lost.

Mitchell at his budget presentation said that these days people tend not to report crimes by walking into a police station, they pick up the phone and call the police.

"You don't eliminate car insurance because you haven't had an accident in two years," Turgeon said, "He's cutting the insurance policy for the city by [reducing minimum staffing]"

Councilor-at-large Brian Gomes, who has chaired the council's committee on public safety and neighborhoods for many years, said Monday that he is not happy with the cuts Mitchell proposed to fire and police. Gomes ran against Mitchell in the 2019 preliminary mayoral election.

"We're leaving downtown open for decay," he said of the decision to close the downtown police station.

Gomes said he was around when the downtown station closed originally and when that happened a lot of downtown businesses were broken into.

The councilor called the decision to close the station as well as decommission fire Engine 8 detrimental to the areas they served.

Gomes also added that the apparatus that will remain operational at Station 8 does not move as quickly as the engine because it's a very big piece of machinery, indicating it will not respond to fires as quickly as Engine 8.

When Mitchell announced the decommission of Engine 8 he said "The rationale for this selection is that at the same station there is a hybrid engine and ladder, which can continue to serve effectively the same area of responsibility."

At the same time Mitchell said the number of calls the fire department responds to has decreased because of a change in protocol made by his administration.

The city's emergency dispatch protocol was adjusted so that the fire department would no longer join ambulances on medical calls unless it's a real emergency, according to Mitchell.

In a statement posted to the firefighters union Facebook page, Ward 2 Councilor Maria Giesta said, "Let me just say, that as a resident and the Ward 2 city councilor, I am both disappointed and shocked that [Mitchell] would put the lives of New Bedford's residents and businesses in jeopardy. Mayor Mitchell must make public safety a priority."

Giesta ran for mayor against Mitchell in 2015.

Giesta went on to highlight the fires Engine 8 has responded to in the last six months, including the fire at Sid Wainer & Son, the fire that damaged three buildings at the former location of The Pub on North Front Street, and a fire from which a woman was rescued on Ashley Boulevard.

In its own statement to its Facebook page, the firefighters union said, "Closing Engine 8 puts citizens as well as our own firefighters at a disadvantage and increases our safety risks. Having a single apparatus cover the North End from Coggeshall Street to Freetown, and in between Faihaven and Dartmouth, while also covering the immediate area around Station 8 is reckless and irresponsible."

The statement then references the decommissioning of Engine 11 earlier this year and equates what the fire department is experiencing to "death by a thousand cuts."

The latest closure unnecessarily increases the among of time to get the proper number of firefighters to the scene of a fire, according to the statement.

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