'Doing more with less is not an option anymore': Palm Bay police chief on staffing shortages
Palm Bay residents who call 911 seeking help during emergencies — think active shooters, sexual assaults, even drowning swimmers — are waiting an average of 2 minutes longer for police officers to respond than they did in 2020.
The thinly spread Palm Bay Police Department ranks 241st out of Florida’s 246 municipal police departments in number of sworn officers (1.31) per 1,000 residents, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement reports. That's 161 officers serving a city of 122,765 people, according to 2021 statistics.
And out of 40 dispatch positions in the growing city's police communications center, only 21 positions are filled. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, dispatchers have been forced to work mandatory 16-hour double-shifts, amplifying stress, burnout and job turnover.
Palm Bay's population grew 18% during the last decade. But City Hall investment in infrastructure and personnel, including police, hasn't kept up.
“We’re at a point to where doing more with less is not an option anymore. And I know past administrations, with the police department, took pride in that — I don’t," Police Chief Mario Augello said during the July 7 Palm Bay City Council meeting.
"Because it’s putting our men and women, and our community, at risk," Augello said.
Read more: Palm Bay Police Chief Nelson Moya to retire, take new job on Long Island
Also: Palm Bay police investigating weekend shooting that left man wounded near major roadway
As the City Council works through its annual budget-planning process, Augello publicly warned that since the COVID-19 pandemic began, his department has failed to meet response-time performance measures for critical "in-progress" emergency calls.
In 2020, the police department's average response times clocked in at 5 minutes, 34 seconds, City Manager Suzanne Sherman said during a July 14 budget workshop. But average response times this year have climbed to 7 minutes, 29 seconds.
That's an increase of 34%, Sherman said.
“That is truly a critical need. You can save several lives in two minutes," Mayor Rob Medina said during the budget workshop.
"When every second counts, I cannot — I cannot — be responsible to the citizens of this city and not think of their lives when the rubber hits the road," Medina said.
Response times on the rise
Police emergency response times remain on the rise in Palm Bay's four geographic quadrants. In some instances, Augello said officers are forced to drive long distances across Brevard's biggest city, spanning more than 88 square miles:
Northeast: 5 minutes, 55 seconds in 2020 to 8 minutes, 34 seconds this year.
Northwest: 4 minutes, 42 seconds in 2020 to 6 minutes, 47 seconds this year.
Southeast: 5 minutes, 52 seconds in 2020 to 7 minutes, 47 seconds this year.
Southwest: 5 minutes, 48 seconds in 2020 to 6 minutes, 48 seconds this year.
Palm Bay's 2022-23 municipal budget remains in the discussion stage among City Council and the Citizens' Budget Advisory Board, and no final decisions have been made.
But council members have signaled support for a proposed $2.2 million police-budget boost that would add six officers with new vehicles and new mobile and desktop radios to phase out today’s outdated system, Budget Administrator Angelica Collins said.
Today, about 60 police vehicles need to be replaced, ranging from patrol cruisers to unmarked vehicles to crime scene investigation vans, said Christina Born, city spokesperson. Proposed capital funding would add another eight new police vehicles, bringing the total to 14.
Historically, City Hall officials have pointed to the 1990 bankruptcy of General Development Corp. as the root of Palm Bay's widespread infrastructure woes. Worsening matters, City Hall finances plummeted 57% from 2008-13 in the wake of the Great Recession, setting the stage for personnel shortcomings.
Palm Bay’s population grew about 18% the past decade, from about 103,000 residents in 2012 to more than 122,000 residents in 2021. During that decade, city employment in departments financed by Palm Bay's general fund — including police — only increased 6%, Sherman said.
By November 2018, city voters overwhelmingly approved up to $150 million in long-neglected road repaving across at least 357 miles of streets requiring reconstruction and 167 miles of streets needing repair — including weather-beaten roadways that had devolved into "grassphalt."
In the near future, administrators are eyeing possible construction of a new police facility in the southern portion of Palm Bay, helping reduce emergency response times. This project could be a major factor in the city's 2027 budget, Collins said.
“If the city grows, so must the public safety grow. And this council has been neglecting that concept for the past 20 years," Council Member Peter Filiberto, a former Surfside police dispatcher, said during Augello's July 7 presentation.
"And I feel like council now feels, ‘We have to catch up now.’ So we’re all full-steam ahead. We want to work with you and get you everything you need," Filiberto said.
And: Vero Beach man, Palm Bay woman charged with human trafficking of underaged girls
Read more: Palm Bay police investigating apartment shootout that left one man dead
Palm Bay ranks 241st in Florida
Palm Bay's staffing level of 1.38 sworn officers per 1,000 residents ranks as the lowest in Brevard County, FDLE reported.
By comparison, neighboring Melbourne staffed 153 officers for its population of 85,800, FDLE reported. That ratio equals 1.78 officers per 1,000 residents. What's more, Augello pointed out that Melbourne measures about 51 square miles, while Palm Bay encompasses more than 88 square miles.
Cocoa staffs 3.51 officers per 1,000 residents, while Rockledge staffs 2.01, the FDLE report shows. Augello said FDLE's state average is 2.33 officers per 1,000 residents.
Midway, a tiny community outside Tallahassee with 3,617 residents and four police officers, had FDLE's lowest per-capita ratio at 1.11. The highest ratio among cities with at least 100,000 residents was the Miami Police Department, which staffs 3.04 officers per 1,000 people.
Worsening matters, Augello told the City Council his department has vacancies in uniform and community services (23), criminal investigations (six) and the records unit (three), in addition to the 19 communications center job openings. This shortfall is exacerbated by vacations, injuries, sick time and training sessions.
What's more, during his State of the City Address, Medina said Palm Bay's population has now surpassed 126,000 residents — but the city remains only 40% built-out.
An International Association of Chiefs of Police survey in 2019 showed 78% of law enforcement agencies had difficulties recruiting qualified candidates. Since then, COVID-19 and historically low unemployment have exacerbated staffing shortages nationwide, not just in Palm Bay.
Melbourne Police Cmdr. Mark Renkens retired as Palm Bay's police chief in 2017 after working more than 27 years with the department. Wednesday, he said Melbourne's police communications center has 32 positions, and nine are vacant.
Renkens also said Melbourne's staff of 170-odd sworn officers is down 27 positions.
"We like to be proactive. The problem is, when you don't have enough people, you tend to be reactive," Renkens said.
"Because you don't have the luxury of people being out there doing proactive things: traffic enforcement, targeting locations that are having crime issues, stuff like that," he said.
'It's a compounding stress'
On the second floor of the police station, Palm Bay's communications center features 10 dispatch stations. Each has up to seven monitors, multiple keyboards and an array of paperwork and charts.
Employees answer calls from residents around the clock: "Palm Bay police. May I help you?"
"With any critical incident, these are our eyes and ears on the telephone for our first responders heading to the house," Palm Bay Police Lt. Mike Roberts said, standing in the communications center.
"With the initial 911 blast, and relaying information from phones through the radio to our officers, and then answering any officers' questions — while all of this is going on at the same time — it's just a whole lot coming at one individual," Roberts said.
"And then you compound that with the minimum staffing, the no lunch breaks. It's a compounding stress," he said.
Ideally, Roberts said eight or nine dispatchers would work at once. Shifts last from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.; 4 p.m. to midnight; and midnight to 8 a.m.
But at today's 52% staffing capacity, only six dispatchers are working during the first two shifts. And supervisors have reduced third-shift staffing from five dispatchers to four because of lack of personnel.
During his July 7 presentation, Augello said if a dispatcher finishes a shift and the next shift has an unfilled position, that dispatcher is mandated to work a second consecutive 8-hour shift. This could stretch from 8 a.m. to midnight, for example.
"So I'm working a total of 16 hours. And that’s happening every day of every week to our folks," Augello told council members.
"So it’s concerning," he said.
$10K bonuses offered on Facebook
Palm Bay's police shortfall comes amid similar staffing shortages at Brevard Public Schools, Brevard County government and other agencies. Brevard's unemployment rate sank to a new record low of 2.2% in April — compared with 4.2% in April 2021.
Nationwide, police departments have faced "severe shortages of qualified job seekers" in recent years, the IACP reported.
Example: The Fort Lauderdale Police Department spent $60,000 to post a wintertime recruitment billboard facing Chicago's Kennedy Expressway — showing palm trees and a sunny beach — in December, January and February, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
This month on Facebook, Palm Bay police has promoted $10,000 signing bonuses and up to $2,500 in relocation expenses for certified officers.
The department is advertising starting salaries of $42,500, climbing to $50,577 by October 2023. Police union contract negotiations are underway.
Augello is a 22-year departmental veteran who was appointed police chief in March. He replaced Nelson Moya, who retired to take a job as Suffolk County deputy executive for probation and juvenile intervention on Long Island, New York.
Augello had worked as deputy chief since 2019 after serving in an array of capacities across the Palm Bay Police Department, ranging from neighborhood policing unit coordinator to patrol watch commander to SWAT team commander.
Council Member Randy Foster previously worked as a narcotics officer with the Fayetteville Police Department in North Carolina. During the July 7 meeting, he said he was concerned about vacancies in Augello's department.
"I don't want to be ranked — what, 241? I want to be ranked No. 1," Foster said.
"I don't want crime in Palm Bay to be like crime in Orlando," he said.
"Because that's not only the police department's responsibility. That's everyone who's elected on this dais' responsibility," he said.
Rick Neale is the South Brevard Watchdog Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY (for more of his stories, click here.) Contact Neale at 321-242-3638 or rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @RickNeale1
Support local journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Palm Bay police emergency response times soar amid staffing woes
