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Written by APB Staff
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In yet another round of budget cuts designed to help a police department meet its spending requirements, the Michigan State Police recently announced “position eliminations,” a well known euphemism for firings.
“There is no doubt this is going to negatively impact our operation,” said Captain Myles McCormack. “It’s going to make it much more difficult for us to provide the same level of public safety and service as we have in the past.”
In addition to the trooper and sergeant positions to be eliminated, the state police laboratory in Marquette will also lose a polygraph operator position.
“At this point in time, there’s no telling how long these troopers are going to be laid off or if they will ever come back to the department,” McCormack said. “We are going to continue to do the best we can in providing safety and service.”
As many as 112 employees will have their job responsibilities change or be reassigned statewide as a result of the department’s spending reduction plan, designed to address the $13.6 million deficit the department is projecting for the current fiscal year. Another 46 employees are going to have their jobs eliminated before the process is completed.
According to a press release, 22 command officers, four sergeants and 14 civilian employees were reassigned March 12 from their current positions into “non-general fund” vacancies throughout the department in an attempt to save general fund monies and reduce the need for additional layoffs.
Deciding to make the cuts and telling cops they’re out of a job hasn’t been easy, said Col. Peter C. Munoz, director of the Michigan State Police.
“After several years of belt-tightening, there were no easy areas left to cut,” Munoz said. “We made every effort to minimize the affect on public safety and to our employees, but with such a large deficit and approximately 80 percent of our General Fund monies used for payroll, tough decisions had to be made.”
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