The Newburgh Heights Police Department will soon be down to five patrol officers — a staffing level Chief John Majoy described to Village Council as a “catastrophic low” — as the Cuyahoga County village struggles to attract candidates and leans on overtime to keep two officers on each shift, cleveland.com reported.
Majoy told council that one officer submitted a two-week notice that day, meaning the department drops from six patrol officers to five on Nov. 17, cleveland.com reported. The department also has three sergeants, one of whom is on medical leave until at least Jan. 1, and Majoy said staffing is at its lowest level in his 13 years as chief.
“To put it candidly, we are at a catastrophic low,” Majoy told council, according to cleveland.com. “We have no candidates in the pool. We have no applications pending. We have no one going through the background investigation. We’re at a really bad impasse.”…