A large portion of the V.I. Police Department will become eligible to retire in the next several years and retirement incentives in the Economic Stability Act of 2011 are exacerbating matters, Assistant Commissioner Raymond Hyndman said during Senate budget hearings Tuesday.
"Our five-year retirement projections indicate that between 2011 and 2015, 200 sworn employees will be eligible to retire, along with 15 of our more seasoned civilians," Hyndman said. "What is more alarming is the fact that with the passing of (the ESA) we are experiencing an exodus of our supervisory and command personnel."
This is of especially great concern because an ongoing five-year federal consent decree with the VIPD over use of force policies mandates some functions that are rank specific and need action by supervisors, he said.
Despite fiscal and personnel woes, there is good news, he said. The crime rate has fallen from last year, with murders decreasing 27 percent from 42 to 33 from last fiscal year. Looking just at the calendar year to date, the drop is an even more dramatic 60 percent over January to July of last year, he said.
"Most of these murders are gang and/or turf related and retaliatory in nature," Hyndman said.
St. Thomas saw the biggest drop by far, he said.
"It’s eight months into the year and we don’t have 10 murders in St. Thomas; that’s unheard of," Hyndman said.
St. Croix is virtually unchanged, with 19 murders so far this calendar year, versus 20 murders by the same date last year.
Felony crimes have decreased by 6.4 percent over last fiscal year and the VIPD recovered 159 guns off the street over the past year, he said.
Hyndman presented budget request of $55.9 million from the General Fund, a nine-percent decrease over last year. They are also proposing $850,000 from the Tourism Revolving Fund and $2.3 million from miscellaneous appropriations for a total proposed budget of $58.2 million.
Personnel costs amount to 86.6 percent of the budget total. Medical expenses cost $304,000 for annual physicals, drug tests and independent medical exams. Training is allotted to receive $101,000.
VIPD received $2.6 million in federal American Reinvestment and Recovery Act stimulus funds with $2.5 million in Justice Assistance Grant funds and $148,000 in Violence Against Women Act funds. The JAG award is a three year award currently at the end of the second year.
No votes were taken at the information gathering budget oversight hearing.
