PEACHTREE CITY, GA (CBS ATLANTA) -
Three of the four Peachtree City police captains are gone starting Sept. 30.
The captains didn't do anything wrong, but were the victims of restructuring.
According to Police Chief H. C. "Skip" Clark, the reduction in workforce was necessary to, "minimize support personnel and maximize those positions that deliver a direct service to the public," Clark said in his memorandum to the city.
The move adds two more patrol officers to the department. The officers, according to the chief, will be hired no sooner than three months from now. The department also created a new assistant police chief position.
One of the Tough questions concerned resident James "Cuff" Kelso had was, "Why trade in three captains, for one assistant police chief?"
"To me cutting out these positions takes out a lot of experience from the department that has been there for a lot of years," Cuff said. "I thought the major position, acting as the assistant, worked just fine."
The department hired a new assistant chief earlier this month, an outsider from the same county in Florida that Clark once worked in.
"I think it was political," Kelso said.
One of the captains who is losing his job tonight said the new assistant chief's hiring didn't sit well with a lot of officers in the department.
"When it came time to hire a new assistant chief, all of us were disappointed," Capt. Terry Ernst said. "We had at least seven officers - out of those officers there were four captains and three lieutenants who were highly qualified for that job. And, for whatever reason, Chief Clark decided to go outside the department to bring in someone else."
Ernst is the only captain that qualifies for retirement.
The other two police captains will have to find other jobs.
Members of city council asked that the city look into some sort of compensation for the officers losing their jobs, but no type of compensation was discussed.
With the three captain positions cut, there is now currently only one captain in the entire department.
The mayor and the city council approved the measure unanimously.
Ernst said he disagrees with his position being terminated.
"I don't agree with all the decisions that have been made. Council has had some rough things to do, and I am not ruling out that I won't run for city council in the next election."
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