COLUMBUS, Ga. ( WRBL ) — Columbus Police Department (CPD) Chief Stoney Mathis is asking the city to unfreeze 10 positions. He set his proposal before councilors at the Oct. 9 city council meeting.
Mathis said 372 officer positions and additional 911 dispatch staff roles are 100% filled. This follows a January decision to give those employees $5,000 pay raises by freezing 44 department positions in addition to a number of already-frozen slots.
To make budget space for the 10 positions he is requesting, Mathis plans to reorganize his ranks by dropping a deputy chief’s position to a captain and raising two lieutenants to the rank of captain.
“It’s going to be budget neutral. It’s not going to cost the city any more money,” Mathis said. “It’s going to give me the opportunity to have more middle management opposed to having senior management.”
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If approved, the 10 positions would bring Columbus ranks closer to what Mathis thinks will be the city’s “magic number” of 400 officers.