AURORA | Five years ago, the Aurora police officers union and city leaders hammered out a police staffing deal that appeared to put the ever-present debate about Aurora’s 2-per-1,000 police staffing ratio to rest.
But now half a decade into that deal, the union and city management are again at odds over just how many officers Aurora should have.
Aurora police Sgt. Bob Wesner, president of the Aurora Police Association, said the union has been negotiating for weeks with city management about adding more officers and eventually bringing Aurora back to two police officers for every 1,000 residents. An agreement could be in place this week, he said.
But, Wesner said, the union hasn’t ruled out taking the city to court if an agreement isn’t reached soon.
“We are kind of coming to our end whether we are going to file a motion in court,” Wesner said.
Kim Stuart, a spokeswoman for the city, confirmed the talks were ongoing, but declined to comment further until an agreement is reached.
“Police staffing in our community is important to our team and to Aurora residents. We continue to work on the issue with the police union. Beyond that we have all agreed to not comment on any details until the discussions are final,” she said in an email.
Since shortly after voters approved the 2-per-1,000 requirement more than 20 years ago, the police union has been at odds with city management over whether the city was abiding by the ratio.
In 2011, the two sides agreed to a compromise that set the police staffing floor at 658 officers — the total of commissioned officers when the deal was reached. From then until 2021, the deal called for adding officers at a rate of 1.6 per every 1,000 residents.
Today, Aurora has 661 police officers, according to APD’s official stats, with 18 recruits in the academy.
Wesner said that figure — just three additional police officers in five years — shows the city again hasn’t held up its end of the deal.
Aurora should have a minimum of 677 commissioned officers, per that 2011 agreement, Wesner said.
When the current crop of recruits graduates from the academy, Wesner said the numbers will be close to what they should be, but that all depends on how many officers retire between now and that graduation at the end of the year.
Wesner said the union is looking for a deal that adds officers but also mandates a staffing ratio of at least 2 per 1,000 by 2021.
City officials have been cool to that idea, he said, because of concerns about the city facing a pricey hiring surge five years from now to reach that ration.
From the APA’s perspective, that’s easily avoidable if the city hires at an accelerated clip over the next five years so they have officers already on the streets before the ratio kicks back in.
“In order to get there we just need to be vigilant about hiring officers and training them to be professionals,” he said.
The deal could also call for the city to research the staffing ratios of similar-sized cities, Wesner said, something he said the APA welcomes because they expect it will show Aurora should have close to 2.6 officers per 1,000 residents.
“I think they are gonna find out they are way under where we really should be,” he said.
Aurora City Councilwoman Barb Cleland, who chairs city council’s public safety committee, said council has not been part of the staffing negotiations as of now, but she said future staffing should start with 2-per-1,000 at least.
“We have come to the conclusion that a minimum is 2-per-1,000,” she said. “We may find in the future it may be 2.5-per-1,000.”
Beyond that, Cleland said she prefers to let the department decide how many more officers they need based on specific needs, including the need for specialized policing units.