Public Safety Center to shut down on weekends

In a move to get more uniformed police officers on the streets, the Columbus Police Department will close the Public Safety Center on weekends for the first time since the building opened more than 20 years ago.

“It’s just not a practical use of manpower when you’re trying to hire officers and put them on the streets,” said Police Maj. Stan Swiney of the Bureau of Support Services. “We figure that we could bring two more to the streets.”

Beginning April 1, Swiney said the building at 510 10th St. will be closed to the public, including staffing of the desk services office from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. The new schedule for desk services will be weekdays only, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday-Friday.

The Columbus Police Department is the largest agency in the building but it also houses the 911 Emergency Center, administrative offices of the Columbus Department of Fire & Emergency Medical Services and Muscogee County Coroner’s Office.

With about 70 police officer positions open, the department with 388 sworn officers hopes to transfer two officers from desk services to work on the streets. “There is no business at all on the weekends,” Swiney said of the desk services office.

Desk services is the central office near the front of the building where residents stop daily to get copies of accident and offense reports, apply for ABC cards, get background checks for employment or wanted suspects surrender for a crime. The building also has a community room where non-profit groups are allowed to meets for a variety of events.

The news wasn’t welcomed by some line officers who work in desk services.

Robert Leonard, an Army veteran and 28-year career officer at the department, said he loves his current job meeting people and helping them with information at desk services. “I thought I had found my niche here,” he said.

Because he didn’t want to switch to a different position at this stage of his career, Leonard promptly started the paperwork to retire from the department at age 53 instead of taking a position on the streets.

Any officer who has served the department deserves to retire if they can, Swiney said.

“Everybody has got a reason for doing what they do,” he said. “ The department is looking to get the most efficient work that we can get. We have officers looking at an empty lobby for 12 hours a day.”

A second officer who was selected for patrol duty is weighing his options as he considers some health issues.

Swiney said the department is prepared if both officers retire. “We figure that those two officers if they retire, the two we hire to replace them can do a lot more work on the streets,” he said.

“It’s going to be that way for weekends going forward,” he said. “That’s our new hours.”

This story was originally published March 24, 2017 at 9:40 PM with the headline "Public Safety Center to shut down on weekends."