WINNEMUCCA — Chief of Police Eric Silva was recently before the Winnemucca City Council to outline his plans for keeping the department staffed, and the staff in working vehicles.

When he took over the top spot in September, Silva’s department was short four officers: one was on administrative leave, two were on long-term sick leave, and there was one position open.

Silva told the council if he loses even one more person the police department will incur overtime every single day on both shifts.

There are additional issues as a result of the staff shortage.  There are currently two officers assigned to detectives, and they’re challenged to keep up with the cases.  He noted there are 29 open cases being pursued by the two men who represent detectives.

Silva said, “Every day they get a new priority case.  They are never caught up.  Sometimes really serious cases get put on the back burner for some new serious case.”

The police chief presented a multi-prong strategy for addressing the personnel issues.  The first prong would be to get the department fully staffed and address the workload in detectives.

As the Winnemucca City Council previously budgeted for an additional officer, Silva asked for and received the go-ahead to pursue hiring a 19^th officer – giving him the ability to hire a total of two new officers.

The long-term goal, he explained, would be to have an officer who patrolled when necessary and assisted with detectives whenever possible.

The second prong was a plan to change the way the department structured the reserve police officer’s program.

Additional reserve officers could shoulder some of the lesser tasks currently assigned to patrol officers, such as directing traffic after Fourth of July, which would help the department cut down on the overtime accrued by patrol.

Currently, to be a reserve officer with the WPD a person had to be a category 1 P.O.S.T. (Police Officer Standards and Training) certified officer. There is one exception, Silva noted, and that’s for the SWAT team’s medic – who’s a category 4 P.O.S.T. certified officer.

Under the plan proposed by Silva, the reserve officer’s program would be made up of a variety of certifications.

Just as an example, a level 3 reserve officer (at minimum wage) and a level 4 reserve officer (at no salary – just a volunteer) could be used during Fourth of July to help direct traffic and can function as security at the park during the day.

Silva said similar program in other places have been successful because people are looking for ways to serve their community in a volunteer capacity.

A category 2 reserve officer would make $10/hr and could  assist with a variety of duties to include animal control, take walk-in reports, ride along and act as a partner to a full-time patrol officer, follow up on cold cases, serve civil papers, and respond as cover units to patrol officers.

Level 1 reserve officer requires category 1 POST certification (at $20/hour) and works as a regular patrol officer to fill in on different shifts as needed.

Each category has a level of training required, a field training period, and are certified in police officer basics such as defensive tactics and firearms – as required for the P.O.S.T. certificate.

No matter what level they’re at, they have to pass the state P.O.S.T. exam.

Silva said he would like to eventually have 15 reserve officers in a number of different capacities.

The specifics for the reserve officer’s program are still in the works. However, Silva did say the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office will be conducting a reserve officer’s academy in the near future, and the two departments plan to coordinate their efforts.

In addition to the personnel issues, Silva also addressed the vehicle shortage.

As two police department vehicles were recently totaled, Silva used the line item in the budget to request $68,000 for two new Dodge Chargers.

Additionally, he intended to use the money from an insurance pay-out to buy an SUV to be used by the street patrol sergeant.

He explained the SUV is being sold by the BLM. It has less than 60,000 miles on it, is in good shape, and was never used by law enforcement.

The SUV will replace a police department vehicle that no longer runs.