The frustration was audible in Bucyrus Police Chief Neil Assenheimer's voice as he spoke to city council members on Jan. 19.
"Currently, Bucyrus police officers and our dispatchers are working excessive amounts of overtime just to provide the bare minimum of coverage of two officers on the road and one person on the desk, whether it's a dispatcher or an officer," he said. "I will say they're extremely exhausted; they're walking around like zombies down there. I have sincere safety concerns for our employees due to the excessive amount of fatigue and overtime that they're working. ... We're doing our best, but these working conditions simply cannot continue, and we need to make some changes in how we operate."
Officially, the police chief was addressing Bucyrus City Council's finance committee, more than two hours into a regularly scheduled combined committee session. But all seven council members were in the room as Assenheimer spoke.
"I've told you guys before, the simple fact of the situation is that the cost of law enforcement has gone up along with everything else, and this city has not adjusted to meet the demand for increased revenue that we need to pay for our safety forces," Assenheimer said. "If we want our police officers to continue to work here, we need to pay them competitively and staff them appropriately, which is happening in Crawford County with Galion and other places that are out...
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