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From the KCBD News Channel 11 website:

2/27/07
City Council Freezes Hiring
Red Light Camera Delay Forces Hiring Freeze

The goal to have two police officers for every 1,000 Lubbockite's could be in jeopardy. That's because, Lubbock's City Manager has issued a hiring freeze.

The decision comes after the proposed red light camera system was put on hold. After a NewsChannel 11 investigation into the timing of the yellow lights in Lubbock, the city council voted to halt the installation and go back and check yellow light times. That decision will apparently delay the installation of those cameras and the projected revenue of $1.5 million dollars.

City Council can anticipate revenue and that's exactly what they did in the most recent budget. Back in September, they approved the budget, anticipating that $1.5 million dollars in revenue from red light camera tickets. That money was expected to be made within six months of the cameras going up.

Lubbock Councilman John Leonard says that may have been a bad decision. He said, "I hope that we don't do things like this in the future. Think it's bad management practice to be honest with you."

However, it was the city manager's decision to issue the freeze which is in compliance with section six of the budget ordinance. In this case, city hiring has been frozen for department's from police and fire to public works and parks and recreation. Councilman Leonard says that a freeze can be a good thing but not when it comes to public safety.

"I'm not against a hiring freeze. That probably is needed at city hall to be honest with you we've been hiring like crazy with the number of people at city hall compared to where it was a year ago. But when we start talking about public safety, that's a whole other issue," Leonard said.

There are exceptions to the freeze and hiring could be done on a case by case basis. However, Leonard tells us this does push back the goal of having two police officers for every 1000 Lubbockite's.

"We worked hard trying to get to our 2 per 1000 count on policemen and we're almost there. We're a recruiting class or two away from being at that goal," Leonard said.

We did learn that despite the need for more officers and with the freeze in place, the Lubbock Police Department is using other staffing arraignments like offering overtime to keep a safe number of officers on the street at all times. We will continue to follow this story and let you know how this freeze will effect hiring in the future.