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A spirit that is not afraid

City plans to hire more officers to strengthen APD's presence

<p>An Auburn Police Department car sits parked outside of the public safety department building on Friday, Feb. 9, 2018, in Auburn, Ala.</p>

An Auburn Police Department car sits parked outside of the public safety department building on Friday, Feb. 9, 2018, in Auburn, Ala.

Council members unanimously approved a resolution to add 12 officers to the Auburn Police Division Tuesday night. This will bring the total count of Auburn police officers from 135 officers to 147.

“Police officers will be in your neighborhood more often, in the shopping center more often and just more visible,” said Police Chief Paul Register after the Council meeting. “It’s just the police presence that is a deterrent for crime.”

This increase will allow APD to have at least one officer covering each of the City’s 14 beats at all times. APD designates patrol areas, or beats, for police officers. Some officers have had to cover more than one beat on their own.

This will increase police presence in currently underserved neighborhoods, Register said.

“We have all of the [Auburn University] campus beats covered with somebody in every beat,” Register told The Plainsman. “Some of the ones in the City, we’ve had to have one unit covering two beats. That’s been going on for 20 years.”

Officer training will take 8 to 9 months through the police academy, but that timeframe can be reduced if the newly hired officers are already certified police officers. The City already has multiple applicants for currently vacant positions and can pull from that applicant pool to fill the positions created Tuesday night.

“We have been wanting to do this for some time,” Register said. “We’re just at a point now, staffing-wise, where we think we can recruit and hire enough people to fill the slots. Certainly, we’ve had some events that wouldn’t have made that any different.”

The Auburn Police Division uses citizen feedback through the City Council, the biennial citizen survey and special requests to improve the department, Register said. He plans to have increased police presence in shopping centers and neighborhoods.

“It is our job to do everything we can to protect the citizens of Auburn,” said Mayor Ron Anders. “When our public safety staff and our police chief bring to us a plan of adding officers, for me, it’s a no-brainer. It needs to be done.”

Anders said city staff has tweaked the City’s finances to ensure new officers’ salaries, benefits packages, equipment and vehicles.

“What is an expense related to providing more safety to the community?” Anders said. “These are just determinations and decisions we will have to evaluate and make as a city as we continue to grow. The more people that are here, the more we have to invest in our public safety to protect them.”


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