(Atlantic, Iowa) – Citing issues related to Police staffing, especially on the day shift, Atlantic City Administrator John Lund is expected to request the City Council, Wednesday afternoon, pass a Resolution “Adjusting Overtime Pay for Sergeants and Assistant Police Chief for the Period of Feb. 16, 2023 through March 17, 2023. Lund says “The Atlantic Police Department has undergone an extended period of staffing difficulties, with the day shift having been particularly impacted.”

“Our Police Chief, Assistant Police Chief, Sergeants and Officers,” Lund says, “have had to cancel vacations, cut short scheduled vacations, and add 12-hours shifts on scheduled days off, after having worked three 12-hour shifts in a row, in order to maintain our minimum level of coverage of two officers on the streets, per shift.” John Lund says normally, the City offers traditional compensation time at 1 1/2 times the regular hourly rate for all hours worked outside their scheduled hours or on a scheduled day off, or all hours in excess of 104 in a seventeen day period. “However,” he said, “This compensatory time is functionally useless, as officers are not even getting their scheduled days off, or pre-planned vacactions.” He says “Taking random days off using compensatory time is off the table.”

Lund says along with the Mayor, he and Police Chief Devin Hogue have moved to address the issue, decisively mitigate the situation and bolster morale, and to prevent the further erosion of staffing levels, by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Union for the officers (AFSCME). “The MOU” he says, “allows for a period of double pay to replace the traditional time and a half Overtime in the form of compensatory time, for the period of Feb. 16, 2023 through March 17, 2023, for those officers working the day shift of 6-a.m. to 6-p.m.” And, while the MOU addresses the day shift union officers, it does not address the Sergeants and Assistant Police Chief that work outside of the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

“The resolution will see to it our non-union supervisors are offered the same benefits that the unionized officers receive,” Lund said. He noted also, that Chief Hogue has been taking on a lot of the shifts, “including a 15-day work marathon with zero financial benefit and no compensatory time.” Lund adds, “I will continue to work with [the] Mayor on how we can rectify this situation.” And, while traditionally, resolutions such as the one proposed would typically go through the Personnel and Finance Committee, Lund says “There are legal and personnel issues involved that are inappropriate for discussion in a public meeting.”

The issue, he said, needs to be addressed immediately.

(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office, along with other law enforcement agencies in the Omaha/Council Bluffs metro area, including those in Douglas and Sarpy Counties, moved to full digital radio encryption. The Pott. County Sheriff’s Office, Monday, said law enforcement radio channels were moved to full encryption on February 27, 2023 at/about 2:00pm. The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office, including their dispatch center and the agencies they serve, made the switch for several reasons. Officials say “We’re doing so in conjunction with other area agencies to increase safety for our deputies, officers, and citizens involved in incidents to which we respond.”

Encrypted communications prevent criminal elements from knowing when and where first-responders are dispatched. They also help to ensure that the personal information of persons contacted by deputies and officers is protected from public disclosure. Authorities say “We understand that our radio traffic is used for lawful purposes both by members of the media and by private citizens. In order to maintain transparency while balancing the needs of public safety, radio traffic on primary dispatch channels is now available via a Broadcastify audio stream after a 30-minute delay.

The unedited audio feed can be found in the link below. It should begin appearing in “police scanner” apps as soon as those apps update their lists.

https://www.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/39895

In order to protect personally-identifiable information, radio channels designated for informational use, e.g., checking warrants, missing persons, and driver’s license information, will not be made available.

(Radio Iowa) – The University of Northern Iowa is renovating a portion of its technology center to accommodate its new nursing program. U-N-I’s Michael Hager says the majority of the work is on classrooms in the third floor where they are building simulation labs that he says are an integral component to the curriculum. The budget for the first phase of the Innovative Teaching and Technology Center for Nursing is five million dollars and he says an unusually large percentage of that budget is dealing with the furniture and equipment — because of the cost lab equipment is a higher compared to most academic programs. U-N-I hopes to help with the shortage of nurses in the state with the new nursing program anticipated to start in Fall 2024. The Board of Regents gave approval for U-N-I to move ahead at its meeting last week.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak report two drug-related took place Monday evening. Officers arrested 22-year-old Jacob Christopher Cashatt, of Red Oak, for Possession with the Intent to Deliver/Methamphetamine – a Class B Felony, Possession of a Controlled Substance/Cocaine – 1st offense, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Cashatt was being held without bond in the Montgomery County Jail. And, 46-year-old Michael Lee LaFollette, of Red Oak, was arrested for Possession of a Controlled Substance – 1st offense. His bond was set at $1,000.

The Red Oak Police Department was assisted during the arrests by the Montgomery County K9 Unit.