Galesburg City Council approved an addendum to the Collective Bargaining Agreement with the city’s police union on Monday night that will shift police employees to a new schedule.
Officers would work 12-hour shifts instead of 8 hours, have more days off, including an opportunity for younger officers to have weekends off.
The change isn’t immediate. Jan. 1 of 2023 is when it goes into effect.
The City has described this as an effort to both recruit officers and support current officers.
Police Chief Russ Idle says right now GPD is 8 officers short of what’s budgeted for, and 2 of those are in training and not working yet.
Interim City Manager Wayne Carl says the city already has seen interest in lateral officer transfers due to some of the incentive programs already approved before Monday.
Mayor Peter Schwartzman called the vote a “big deal”.
He says the vote was an attempt to listen to officers’ concerns and he was encouraged it was a unanimous vote.
You can read more details about Galesburg’s Police move to 12-hour shifts here.
