El Paso Police Chief Says He Needs More Officers
El Paso Police Chief Greg Allen will hold monthly meetings with the media, but it wasn’t his idea.
Allen said it was something that was forced upon him by El Paso City Manager Joyce Wilson.
“I think I might be trivializing your time and mine in some of these instances, because I think, on a timely basis, you get enough from our PIO’s (Public Information Officers) on what we do on a daily basis,” Allen said.
“There were a lot of stories sort of gurgling over the last month or two,” Wilson said of why she’s having Allen meet with the media.
At his first meeting on Tuesday morning, Allen put the city on the spot, saying he’s not getting the help he needs.
Allen said he needs 300 to 400 more officers on patrol. He pointed to higher response times and warns that without reinforcements it’s only a matter of time before the violence in Juarez becomes a problem here.
With that in mind, Allen used his time on Tuesday to share his feelings on El Paso’s recent “safest city rating,” describing it as a blessing and a curse.
Despite the ranking, the chief said he feels compelled to share his “reality.”
“We need more officers and these pats on the back in my opinion are burdensome to some degree because they’re not going to be guaranteed for the future,” said Allen.
But city officials said the chief’s request of adding hundreds of more officers, at a cost of about $40 million, just isn’t part of their “reality.”
“I don’t believe the department’s overly short-changed. Could they use a few more officers? Sure, but we’ve been pretty generous with that department given our financial constraints,” said Wilson.
Allen disagreed.
“We’re past that role of no return. We’re down that road, until the city comes up and starts supporting us in a manner I think is more efficient, things are going to start getting bad,” Allen said.
Allen said consolidating resources with the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office isn’t out of the question. He plans to submit a proposal by the end of this month.
