La Crosse getting creative adding police to streets

Shootings in last month showing need to increase force

The La Crosse Police Dept. is getting a little creative in adding officers to the streets. The need for the new police, possibly evidenced by the number of shootings in the last month.

By juggling some jobs, switching some positions and changing shift times, the city should wind up with more policing on the street, without having to add cops to the payroll.

Through some reassignments and retirements, the plan is to add the two neighborhood police but only have to fund one of them.

It’s a complicated process to add the two officers, especially since police have just recently learned that state and federal grants for three positions in the department are going away, in part because the city has experienced less crime overall.

But, with the juggling act, the department hopes to add a couple more Neighborhood Response Officers. It’s hoping the two new neighborhood cops can duplicate the success of the first four that have been assigned to work solely in a couple of key areas of the city.

Meanwhile, city hall is still negotiating with the police union to increase shifts to 12 hours in an effort to have more patrol officers on the street at any given time.