Police chief warns vacancies will slow investigations as public-safety fee covers station debt

The St. Helens police department will not fill several vacant positions and expects operational impacts if current budget assumptions hold, Chief Hugh Smith told residents at a city forum.

Chief Smith said the department has left a detective-sergeant position and an open police officer post unfilled and will not hire a records/property-evidence specialist. “Not filling a police officer position, that's gonna affect your minimum staffing levels in the city,” Smith said. He added the department is redistributing duties and working overtime to cover shifts.

Smith warned that reductions in records and evidence processing will slow discovery production — the files and body-camera footage prosecutors and defense attorneys rely on — and said delays could compromise criminal prosecutions if discovery is not delivered in a timely manner. “All that takes time… We've reduced that by 50%,” he said of redaction and processing capacity.

Officials told the forum that debt for the new police station is funded from separate sources, including an urban-renewal component and a public-safety fee collected on utility bills; the mayor and staff said there is funding for upcoming debt-service payments. The public-safety fee (about $10–$10.30 as discussed at the forum) is collected in a separate fund and was described as distinct from the general-services fee that will go to voters in May.

City leaders said they will continue to prioritize sworn public-safety staffing but that some cuts, unfilled positions and furloughs in other areas are possible depending on the May vote and final budget decisions. Residents urged clearer reporting on the number of positions affected and on how different funds (general fund, urban renewal, public-safety fund) are used to repay borrowing.