Can Virginia Afford to Cut Police More?

Every state agency will have to share the pain of cuts throughout the revenue-starved state budget. One agency, however, is considering cuts in the wake of a study that says it needs more personnel.

And these are not just everyday personnel. They are trained law enforcement officers.

A department manpower study has found that the Virginia State Police needs 600 more troopers, investigators and supervisors to meet the expanding demands of its mission.

As reported by Media General News Service, the study says there are “critical issues in public safety that the department must have adequate staffing to address.” The Richmond Times-Dispatch obtained a copy of the internal report under a Freedom of Information Act request.

Among those public safety issues, according to the report, are “highway safety, terrorism, Internet crimes against children, illegal firearms purchases, identity theft and sex offenders.”

The state police are Virginia’s primary law enforcement agency, responsible for patrolling some 64,000 miles of state highways and supplementing the efforts of many smaller local law enforcement agencies.

But tough economic choices are facing the state, with all agencies being asked to submit three sets of revised budgets for their operations to Gov. Timothy M. Kaine. Those revisions would reflect projected spending cuts of 5, 10 and 15 percent.

A slipping state economy has sharply reduced revenue projections in the $77 billion state budget for 2009-2010.

The state police force have not grown nearly as much as local sheriff’s offices and police departments in recent years. The manpower study showed that between 1996 and 2006, local law enforcement agencies have expanded the size of their forces about 31 percent. During the same period, the state police has only increased 16 percent.

Corinne Geller, a spokeswoman for the department, said the agency has never had all the people it would like to have. But, she added, “We’ve done everything we can up to this point so we don’t have to cut our services.”

Even the current $305 million budget did not provide the money for 108 sworn positions the department said it needed. The agency is authorized to have 2,004 sworn positions out of a total work force of 2,805. The others are civilian employees.

While the manpower study recommended additional personnel in a number of areas, those recommendations will undoubtedly have to wait. Among the additions were adding special agents to the Joint Terrorism Task forces, creating a Homeland Security Division and dedicating more troopers to investigate illegal firearms purchases at gun shows.

Law enforcement is a basic core service providing police protection that Virginians have come to expect over the years. Is the state lagging in delivering that basic service? The manpower study would surely indicate that it is.

In the end, only the General Assembly and the governor can answer that question. They are the ones who will have to come up with the money to pay for police protection. Any further cuts to the state police budget may exact more pain than the public is willing to suffer.