TO THE EDITORS:

The Lancaster City Police Officers Association feels compelled to correct a couple of facts in the Oct. 22 article, "Gray, Smithgall talk numbers at forum."

It was reported that Mayor Rick Gray started off his term with 171 police officers. Regardless of whether any of our officers were on light duty at that time is irrelevant. If there were officers on light duty, they were injured as a result of either an on-the-job, or an off-duty injury. Those officers are still counted as sworn police officers.

The correct number of sworn Lancaster City Police officers was 177 at the time the mayor took office.

As it stands now, the budget calls for 160 sworn officers under the mayor's watch. However, current staffing levels are at 158 &tstr; 177 minus 158 equals 19.

Make no mistake about it, public safety has been cut, and not at our request but by the decision of the mayor.

That being said, the failure of the mayor and his administration to negotiate a contract with Lancaster Township will short police staffing by up to another 10 officers, potentially bringing a shortage of up to 27 police officers.

While positions and salaries at City Hall have increased since the mayor has taken office, staffing levels at the police bureau have decreased to nearly an entire platoon of patrol officers.

I am not certain how many of those officers have a family health insurance plan, but I do know that it is not 100 percent of them.

The health insurance premium for family policies is slightly under $18,000, not $19,000. The cost of married officers with no dependents is approximately $12,000, and single-officer costs are slightly under $8,000 for health insurance premiums. This is a far cry form the $19,000 cost per member reported in your article.

I would also disagree with the reporting of the mayor not being a "micro-manager" of department heads or bureau chiefs.

One of many examples of this was when multiple city residents were victimized by a repeated, ongoing "major investigation" relative to property crimes.

Despite a longterm and intensive investigation conducted by many officers and detectives, the mayor ordered all investigative reports (totaling in the hundreds) be copied and sent to his office for his review.

In my 20 years of being employed as a police officer with the City of Lancaster, I have never once experienced such an order from any mayor.

Also, I have never experienced having four police chiefs in as many years. I don't believe that it was by happenstance that this occurred.

Christopher M. Erb
President

Lancaster City

Police Officers Association