With every allotted spot filled, DeKalb Police Department would appear to be at full force. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case.

According to Lt. Carl Leoni of the DeKalb police, all 57 spots for staff members that the city council allows are filled, but not all officers are able to be used.

Officers retiring and resigning last year put the patrol shift running without 20 to 25 percent of the normal personnel. This does not mean that fewer officers patrolled each shift, but that more officers had to work more hours at overtime rates.

The patrols ran on minimum shift strength of five officers, which could be helped by the detective and administrative divisions during the day. But these divisions were unable to be on patrol since they also have other duties.

The department has hired all necessary officers to replace any vacancies left by retirees or resignations, Leoni said. But there are other factors that keep the department from running at full strength.

Leoni said there are officers who were hired last fall who are still training, either in a 12-week academy program or 12-week field training. Even those in the field training cannot be left alone yet, so these officers aren’t as useful as they someday will be, Leoni said.

Another factor that plays a role in police work is injuries. On-the-job injuries are an ongoing problem that every police department has to deal with, and may require officers to be off work completely or restricted to light-duty.

The last factor has increased in the past two years in the department and is most likely being felt elsewhere. After the Sept. 11 attacks, increasing military action has required reserve units to be activated. At the end of November 2001, DeKalb had an officer activated while still at the training academy. He returned in December 2002 but had to begin anew at the academy after being away for a year.

Within the past few weeks, DeKalb lost another officer to the military. These officers, while serving our country, are also considered to be a part of the 57 sworn officers of the DeKalb Police Department, leaving the department short-staffed.

Officers who have felt the effects have had mixed feelings about the staffing situation in the department. Officer Paul Mott, hired in September 2002, is still fairly new to the force and has felt less of the effects as compared to Officer Jeff Winters, who has been with the department for over eight years. Although both of these officers had been working overtime hours, Officer Winters also noted that because of shortages he has been working a regular shift instead of the overlap shift he had done in the past.

Despite these ongoing occurrences that leave the department short-handed, Leoni is glad that they are considered to have a full roster.

“It’s a lot better having everybody hired,” Leoni said.” But I don’t know if we’ll ever be 100 percent.”