ADRIAN — A plan to add an officer to the Adrian Police Department, made possible by an increase in state funding, was presented to the Adrian City Commission at its July 6 meeting.

According to police chief Vince Emrick, the police department was notified a few months ago of $118,000 in additional funding, and the recently passed state budget indicates the funding availability will continue. 

Deputy chief Laurence VanAlstine gave a presentation to the commission that included information about how the Adrian Police Department makes decisions about how to deploy resources.

“We continually — daily — analyze crime, our officers’ workload, and how we deploy officers in the field,” he said. “We like to make our operational decisions based on objective data rather than on our guesses. I’ve been doing this for 36 years, I can guess pretty good, nbut I’d rather see the numbers.”

VanAlstine said more officers in the field can help the police department prevent crime, not just repond to it.

“If we can have more people on the street, more people in patrol cars, they can prevent crime just from their presence,” he said.

“Our overall belief is that personnel provide the greatest long-term operational return, because people, not equipment, prevent crime. People investigate offenses. People assist victims. Things don’t do that. We’ve got a nice shiny fleet of cars — they get us there but they don’t help people.”

The cost of adding an officer, after benefits and payroll taxes are added in, is about $90,000.

Commissioners asked questions and made comments after VanAlstine’s presentation.

Commissioner Chip Moore asked about installing cameras in problem areas, adding that he just got back from a trip to France and saw cameras everywhere.

“Europe seems to have a lot of cameras in high-tourist areas or downtown, and I’m just wondering … when you think of all the crime areas in this community, would it make sense to put cameras in those crime areas?” he asked.

VanAlstine replied that although technically there’s no legal right to privacy when a person is out in public, “it’s still the government — us — watching what you’re doing, and a lot of people are sensitive to that and so are we.”

He also mentioned the cost of monitoring and maintaining camera systems. Moore asked if artificial intelligence could monitor cameras, and VanAlstine replied, “going forward in the future it’s certainly something that could be looked at.”

VanAlstine also answered questions about recruiting. He said the department is currently three officers short of its full budgeted complement. One new hire who is already a sworn officer is scheduled to start July 27, and another will attend the police academy in October. The department is looking for one more to fill the roster as it stands now, and this new position would add another to that list.

“If I told you I knew how to do it perfectly, that wouldn’t be true,” VanAlstine said about recruitment. 

“Frankly, the best recruiting we’ve done is word of mouth,” he added — hiring a good candidate and then asking them for referrals.

Commissioner Aaron Chesher said the community would benefit from social work experience being mixed into the police department’s personnel plan. He also mentioned the Jebbee app, a social media platform launched by Adrian native Stephanie Hickman Boyse that aims to help young people explore potential careers.