Chester Safe Streets Initiative gets creative this summer to do more with critically understaffed Police Department

CHESTER, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — Police officials are getting creative in their attempts to get more officers out in the community this summer in the midst of a Police Department staffing shortage.

“We’re darn near 30 officers below what we’re budgeted for,” said Chester Mayor Stefan Roots. "And that’s a lot for a town like ours."

Roots says, at times of the day when city officials expect to have the most patrol coverage, they actually have the least amount of coverage. So, in response, the Summer 2024 Safe Streets Initiative , launched on July 15, is designed to help the 65% staffed Chester Police Department respond to the increase in crime that typically happens this time of year.

The initiative will last for seven weeks this summer, in all — “but you know that’s the hot time here in the city,” said Roots.

“If a bad guy wants to catch his target, he’s more likely to find it when it’s 80 degrees than 8 degrees.”

In this way, the mayor says, the initiative is a crucial part of the city’s mission to combat violent crime and keep Chester residents safe. It frees up more police officers for patrol duties in two primary ways.

First, those officers’ work schedules are converted from three 8-hour shifts to two 12-hour shifts.

“And what this will do, in a nutshell, is give us more coverage throughout the day of numbers of police officers on the street,” Roots said.

He says that may look like a small increase, but it will go a long way.

Second, placing certain county employees, such as EMS and park police, in non-patrol desk duties also frees up uniformed Chester police officers for patrol duties.

“Delaware County Park Police and Delaware County Emergency Services stepped up, and their officers are doing office jobs that used to be done by uniformed Chester police officers,” said Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer.

The seven-week initiative is just a temporary measure to do more with less through the end of the summer. In the meantime, the Police Department will press on with recruitment efforts, with the ongoing goal of keeping more officers consistently on patrol, said Stollsteimer.

“We’re going to get rid of the residency requirement that you have to be a resident of the city to be hired as a police officer. We want to make sure the pay is scalable to other communities,” the D.A. added.