Chief Berkow on Staffing

“No great thing is created suddenly”
-- Epictetus, AD 100

It’s interesting that a quote from 100 AD rings as true today, as it did when uttered by this Greek philosopher 1,908 years ago.

As we come to the close of the year, and I reflect on our successes and challenges of the past, I am proud of the work the men and women of this department have done to make Metro Police the envy of the south-east and this community safer for all who live, work and play here. At the same time, I feel very strongly that there is still much to do.

The work we have done in the past two years is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. You don’t pick up each piece and instantly put it into place. You build it piece-by-piece, putting together an edge here and a cluster of pieces there. The Metro Police puzzle has come a long way in two years.

We solved a good portion of the puzzle when we pushed our resources to the streets. We civilianized positions; we balanced our precincts and flattened the organization to optimize supervision and management.

We put together the recruiting part of the puzzle. We are hiring top-quality candidates and our turnover rate has dropped dramatically. We connected the training part of the puzzle and are working smarter fiscally to bring highly reputable trainers to us, and sharing our educational opportunities with other agencies across the south-eastern U.S.

We linked together a large part of the intelligence portion of the puzzle. The Savannah Area Regional Intelligence Center (SARIC) is providing valuable information, leads and information to law enforcement both locally and with state and federal partners.

We have upgraded some of our equipment –adding laptops to our cars and new crime scene forensic equipment – so that corner of the puzzle is coming together.

Now, two years into this project, my Command Staff and I realize that while we are close to being finished optimizing the department, we are missing an importance chunk of the puzzle – and they are the pieces that are going to allow us to fight and win our war on guns, drugs, robberies and burglaries.

We realize that all the technology and reorganization in the world isn’t going to finish this puzzle. Every study of the Metro Police – conducted before I got here and since – clearly show the same thing – SCMPD is understaffed.

As a regional hub for commerce, industry, and tourism, our daytime population increases dramatically over our resident population. And that continues to grow too, as SCAD and the military draw more people to live in our community. While the population has grown, the department has not kept up.

We recognize and respect the current economic issues facing our city, county, state and country. These are tough times. We do not expect an immediate large jump in our staffing or budgets. What we do need is a plan for strategic growth. Policing – quality policing – is an investment in our community and our future.

I want to assure you, that the Savannah-Chatham Metro Police Department is about as lean and efficient as we are going to get. However, without additional resources – namely officers – our effort to curb crime in our community is severely restricted.

“No great thing is created suddenly”. We are a work in progress – one that, without additional officers, will not be as efficient and effective as it could be.

As we head into the holiday season, I pledge to you that SCMPD will continue to work diligently, with all the resources we have, to keep our area safe.

On behalf of the entire SCMPD family, a very happy and safe holiday season, and please, don’t drink and drive.
Chief Michael Berkow