Proposed budget provides full-year funding for 1,260 officers, Serpas tells City Council
Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas emphasized the need for full-year funding for his department during a review of the NOPD's proposed 2013 budget by the City Council Wednesday.
Serpas says the proposed budget provides full-year funding for 1,260 police officers and 246 professional staff.
"It is dramatically important that we have full-year funding so that we can make better decisions about hiring a potential recruit class sometime in 2013," Serpas said.
Council Vice-President Jackie Clarkson expressed concerns about using up all of the $4.5 million budgeted for police overtime by March 1, because of all the special events scheduled early in the year.
"By the time we go through Sugar Bowl, BCS, a divided Mardi Gras and Super Bowl, your overtime is gone," Clarkson said.
Serpas replied, "We are not going to have a Super Bowl that is covered poorly, so we're gonna spend."
