Evanston Police Staffing Shortage Prompt Policy Shifts

EVANSTON, IL — Sustained staffing shortages at the Evanston Police Department have resulted in reductions of services and investigations, officials said.

As this week, there are 32 vacant positions at the department, including 26 sworn officer positions, an Evanston police spokesperson announced.

There are also seven sworn and two civilian members of the department that are "not available for full duty assignments for health or reasons, according to police.

On Thursday, the department reassigned five members of the eight-person Community Policing Unit to patrol for at least the next 60 days in what the spokesperson described as a "drastic step." Those officers will maintain their community contacts while on patrol duties.

The three remaining officers in the unit will focus on outreach to the Hispanic community and addressing panhandling and other quality of life issues downtown and on Main Street.

Police posting on social media will decrease, and the Citizen's Police Academy community engagement program will be postponed, according to police.

The cuts to the Community Policing Unit follow earlier reductions to services offered by the department's detectives, who no longer offer regular weekend coverage.

According to a department spokesperson, detectives are also no longer routinely assigned to reports of the following crimes,

-Misdemeanor thefts and retail thefts where the suspect is not identifiable.
-Misdemeanor criminal damage to property where the suspect is not identifiable.
-Trespassing and burglaries, including vehicle, garage, residential, and commercial, where no comparable physical evidence is recovered and the suspect is not identifiable.
-Stolen vehicles where no comparable physical evidence is recovered and the suspect is not identifiable.
-Financial crimes where the victim has not incurred a monetary loss and the suspect is not identifiable.
-Crimes with victims that decline forensic services.
-Crimes with victims who do not wish to sign a criminal complaint.

In the past, a detective would review such cases "more often than not," but the detective bureau has been reduced by about 25 percent, according to Cmdr. Ryan Glew. Those positions cannot be filled because staffing in the patrol division is so thin, he said.

Following the elimination of 11 positions in last year's budget, the department has 154 budgeted positions, but only 126 current employees. That has led to an increase in the amount of overtime per employee, which has been negative for the wellbeing of department personnel, Glew said.

"It's the actual human tax on the people that are here that is right now more on our mind than the expense of overtime," Glew said.

Glew said the department is working as "expeditiously and cautiously as possible," with a mix of experienced and entry-level officers. An application window for new recruits closed last month with more applicants than openings, while the window for lateral transfers — anyone who has worked as a certified police officers in the last six months — opens on a monthly basis.

"With filling this many vacancies, there's a lot of opportunities," Glew said. "At least in the near term, anyone who applies as a lateral, anybody who applies as an entry-level officer, if they are interested and they're qualified, they're going to have opportunities to get hired in this department that have not been seen before — [and] may not be seen again in the future after this staffing crisis passes."

Evanston has budgeted $26.7 million for police salaries and benefits in its most recent budget, an increase of more than $1 million compared to last year.

As of 2020, its ratio of 269 police department employees per 100,000 residents is significantly higher than the statewide average among towns with between 50,000 and 100,000 people — and the fourth highest in the state outside of Chicago.

The city has not had a permanent police chief since June 2021, when then-Chief Demitrous Cook appeared to have been encouraged to resign following the election of a new mayor and new councilmembers.

Cook — who last month appealed a federal judge's rejection of his request for qualified immunity in a federal civil rights case relating to his use of social media — was succeeded on an interim basis by Aretha Barnes, who retired in November 2021. Retired Chief Richard Eddington returned and served on an interim basis since then.