In a city struggling with violent crime, the Philadelphia City Controller’s Office has found that there are fewer police officers now than in recent years.
"In total, we have over 640 fewer officers available for duty than we had 5 years ago," City Controller Rebecca Rhynhart explained in an interview with FOX 29’s Jeff Cole.
Broken down of 21 police districts, the controller’s office found that number left just 11 to 22 cops on the beat at any one time - per district - in a department budgeted at more than 750 million dollars at the time of the review."That amount of money, when it comes down to it, there’s only 11 to 22 officers at any given time per district," Rhyhart said.
She says the Pennsylvania Heart and Lung Act, which allows officers hurt on duty to be paid tax-free while off the job, needs aggressive oversight. "There is likely abuse in this program. The numbers have increased so dramatically - so much higher than other cities it does indicate abuse," she replied.
Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw responded to the report’s findings in a statement Tuesday afternoon. She cited the report’s findings as presenting an ‘opportunity’ to look deeper into ‘staffing and resource allocation.’
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