MORGANTOWN — Morgantown City Council will take up a request from the city’s police civil service commission to loosen residency restrictions for police officers from 15 nautical miles to a one hour drive time.
The same request is expected from the Morgantown Firefighters Civil Service Commission.
Both Jerry Summers, chairman of the Morgantown Police Civil Service Commission, and Shane Mardis, chairman of the city’s fire civil service commission, told council that the move is badly needed as it becomes increasingly difficult to recruit quality candidates and retain personnel.
By moving away from nautical miles, or linear distance, the area from which the city can draw police and fire personnel would be expanded dramatically, particularly along major arteries, which allow for faster, more consistent travel.
A map generated using travel time software based on GIS imaging shows the new area would stretch from just beyond Washington, Pa. nearly to Weston on I-79 — with Waynesburg and Clarksburg in between. Along US-119, the area would run north past Uniontown, to Connelsville; and south past Grafton. Along I-68 east, the map stretches to Grantsville.
Summers said there was a time when it was common to receive hundreds of applications for two officer openings. Now, he said, the city is lucky to receive 60 applications, only a fraction of which will get through background checks, agility tests and polygraph examination.
“We vet these people extremely well. We do not hire any police officer unless they are the best we can find. The problem is we need more officers to apply,” he said, explaining that expanding the residency zone will not only increase the number of new recruits, but also the number of trained, certified, experienced officers and firefighters who may want to come to work in Morgantown.
He said it takes months and thousands of dollars to get a new police officer trained and on the street.
“We’ve got certified officers who’ve gone through the state police academy who could come here. It would save the city thousands of dollars right off the top,” Summers said. “We know of three, between Clarksburg and Fairmont, who would love to come here right now, but they can’t because they’re out of the 15-mile zone.”
Morgantown Police Chief Ed Preston said the one hour standard is considered best practice by departments nationwide, with many stretching beyond that mark.
Council could take up the police residency request as soon as its Feb. 4 regular meeting, with the firefighter residency request to follow.
