Police chief says department is short eight officers; mental‑health committals strain patrol time

Spearfish Police Department official Colin told the council the department is short eight officers — "We're down, 8, soon to be 9, coming up for the patrol division" — and described the department's strict hiring standards and rigorous background screening. He said recruiting has produced applicants who fail background checks and that two candidates are currently in process (one in background, one scheduled for a polygraph).

Colin also described an operational strain from emergency mental‑health committals: "We have seen 11 emergency mental committals in the last 4 weeks here in Spearfish, one of which took 329 hours for us to accomplish," he said, and estimated the personnel cost of that case at roughly $12,000–$15,000 based on average pay. Council members asked about overtime levels and whether overtime contributed to departures; Colin said overtime is significant but that exit interviews have not identified overtime as the primary reason for separations this year.