choicebutts OP t1_ja2ipar wrote on February 26, 2023 at 10:21 AM

Reply to comment by okcknight in Richmonders concerned about slow police response, long 911 wait times; safety departments understaffed by choicebutts

You need more guys to man a fire truck than a police car. You have to have X number of people available at all times to man these vehicles. You have to have X number of vehicles available, manned, every day.

Police don't have to have X number of people available every single day.

okcknight t1_ja3kdm0 wrote on February 26, 2023 at 4:16 PM

That explanation still doesn’t make sense to me but whatever haha.

Also, the police department does have minimum staffing requirements per precinct per shift who need to be available to run the 911 calls. That is where all their OT comes from.

choicebutts OP t1_ja3mpst wrote on February 26, 2023 at 4:32 PM

Okay, so your computations should include that variable, as well as the minimum staffing requirements for the fire department to get a more accurate picture of why there is more overtime in one department over the other.

Another thing to consider is that there are several law enforcement agencies in Richmond and only one fire department.

VCU Police man special events in the VCU area, for example. If VCU Police weren't there, manning that event would end up as overtime for Richmond Police. VCU Police, the Sheriff's Department, State Police, and Capitol Police all have arrest powers in Richmond.

okcknight t1_ja3utv4 wrote on February 26, 2023 at 5:26 PM

I get it, but aren’t those needs reflected in the 400 staffing number? If six vacancies is resulting in this much overtime, maybe they need to raise that number. But I think the article is giving us a 2022 overtime number with 2023 vacancies, which are currently much lower than they were from what I understand.