Mayor Reinstates Laid-Off Police Recruits
Alternative content
Recruits Reinstated
City officials reinstate 27 police recruits who were previously laid off as the result of ongoing budget cuts.
City officials reinstate 27 police recruits who were previously laid off as the result of ongoing budget cuts.
COLUMBUS, Ohio —City officials reinstated 27 police recruits Wednesday who were previously laid off as the result of ongoing budget cuts.
After a meeting with the recruits, Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman made the announcement, citing President Barack Obama’s stimulus package as the only reason the recruits will hit the streets, NBC 4‘s Lauren Diedrich reported.
The 27-member recruit class was initially laid off on Jan. 27. They were scheduled to graduate the same week.
The U.S. Department of Justice is giving the city of Columbus $1.25 million to fund salaries for the police recruits.
The money will last through the year, but Coleman said the city faces much larger issues if more revenue doesn’t come into the city.
The Columbus Fraternal Order of Police President Jim Gilbert was in Washington this week, where he and other FOP presidents met with congressional leaders to push for public safety funds from the stimulus bill.
The FOP released the following statement Wednesday “The Fraternal Order of Police is thrilled to learn of the reinstatement of the 27 recruits to the Columbus Police Academy. We appreciate the recognition by President Obama and his administration of the priority these recruits (soon to be police officers) have to the Division of Police and the safety of our community.
“The Fraternal Order of Police looks forward to their service to the citizens and welcomes them to our ranks, serving and protecting our fine city.“
The police recruit president said they received the phone call last night to arrive at the academy Wednesday morning, but that they weren’t told until 11 a.m. that they would continue the recruitment process.
“They called us last night, told us to report to training here today, but they didn’t tell us why,“ said recruit William Scott.
Scott soon found out he and his classmates would become police officers.
“This is where I want to work—in Columbus. It’s a great department, great people, great community,“ Scott said.
The mayor’s office is faced with making $13 million in cuts before passing a balanced budget, and city officials said they expected to save $1.2 million with the recruiting cuts.
For additional information, stay with nbc4i.com and NBC 4 and refresh nbc4i.com—Where Accuracy Matters.
To submit a story idea or news tip, e-mail us at
.
NBC 4 POLITICS: Headlines, Interactives & Video
MORE: NBC 4 Local News | Local Crime News
NBC 4 SPORTS: Sports News, Video
Advertisement
Reader Reactions
Hey everyone quick go to this link Barney Fife i mean the mayor is about to speak on the state of downtown i mean the city lord help us
http://www.nbc4i.com/cmh/news/local/article/live_video_colemans_state_of_the_city/13269/
yo come on now our mayor is trying help the city of columbus dont get all mad just cause he made one mistake by laying off the police officers before getting the job the economy is bad right now yall so give our mayor some slack he will make things right
yeah we are suckers for believing in his bullcrap. That is ok we will clean up after his rear when he is gone and we have a new mayor.Hey wait a minute do,nt we have an election in 3 months
Can’t anyone see what a hack political move this was? Coleman showed that he has absolutly no class and is willing to use these men and women, not to mention their families, as pawns in his political game. This was a ploy to pass a income tax raise and everyone is buying it. Look at the facts, he has nearly emptied the “rainy day” fund in 3 years. He lays them off 3 days before they graduate and then comes in on a white horse 3 days before they actually stop getting a paycheck. That’s right, they were still being paid. Columbus is full of suckers.
Yeah we should help everyone regardless of city limits,race, rich or poor it would be like the zoo saying we can.t come to the zoo because we live in columbus and that would be stupid plus i love the zoo. We need to forget about who lives where or who pays what and help each other regardless of what our politicians do. we all have to be there for each other because our families are overseas fighting for us to be free and so we can live in peace and safety here in america so we should,nt make things worse here. They are doing their part for us so we have to do our part here and forget about politics and city limits and taxes and just try to help each other because sometimes that is all we have
Bronscodan - I am not complaining about any park - just commenting. I am concerned that Columbus taxpayers are paying to aleviate the problems of the poor in our area, open our facilities to all*, and also it appears our tax dollars pay for the swat team for that Bexley problem.
*I remember reading a newspaper article where a Whitehall resident was comlaining about Columbus closing a rec center that he used.
well i guess after what happened in bexley earlier today i am sure someone should complain about some park. thank god swat showed up to help get a man out of his house who barricaded him self in side his house and who could have done who knows what. No one complained about columbus or bexley limits. Thank god for the columbus police which is what this blog started out about not racism or city limits. just the safety of the citizens of Columbus Ohio as it should be.
Maurey Portman, a democrat and perhaps one of Columbus’ finest city council members, often said that city government is not partisan like the state or federal government. The city does not address issues like gay marriage. However on other social issues the makeup of city government does have a liberal slant. One example, you do not see the suburbs spending money on health clinics to serve the poor. That burden at the city level is almost exclusively left to Columbus, where most of the people needing that assistance reside. That said, I don’t see any signs at our city parks or pools that say “Columbus Residents Only”. Compare that to Bexley’s facilities for example. Off topic but of interest is that Bexley park on Columbus property at Main Street and Alum Creek drive. It looks nice but I never see anyone there - and you can’t drive and park your car there as there is a chain over the entrance. If I were a Bexley taxpayer I would be livid about that expenditure of Bexley city money.
so are ignorant people but hey thank god we have BARACK OBAMA
This city is minority driven case and point. There is nothing the republicans can change about that.
Advertisement