As city leaders rolled out plans addressing parking issues Monday, Grand Rapids Police Lieutenant Jeff Dionne noted the department can cover events in May.
“Moving forward we’re going to have significantly more events in July and August and our staffing issues could pop up then. I think there’s 15 or 16 events at the amphitheater in July and that’s going to be a heavy task for our people, so we may have to reevaluate at that point.”
Early estimates for amphitheater events will require 24 officers for traffic control and crowd security.
“Some of the intersections might have two officers the first night and after a few weeks, we’ll realize we need one or zero. We are overstaffing the first night and will definitely be able to shrink that down moving forward in some capacity.”
There are concerns about staffing simultaneous downtown events this year. It intensifies in 2027 when the new soccer stadium opens. How will the city cover the anticipated increase in overtime pay?
“That overtime is funded by three entities. Legends Global pays 36%, Mobile GR pays 36% and as it sits now the GRPD and the city have absorbed the remaining 28%. We’re currently in negotiations to redistribute who’s paying that 28%.”
The funding issue is expected to be addressed in the budget at the city commission meeting April 28.
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