Police Chief Velez: Eight officers on patrol at times in Pueblo

Financial troubles continue to rock the city of Pueblo, as City Council recently learned it faces a projected $2.8 million deficit.

Police Chief Luis Velez made it clear to City Council during a retreat on Saturday that his department cannot take any more cuts, or safety on the streets will be compromised.

Velez said there have been cases where as few as eight officers are on patrol during a shift. It equates to two officers patrolling the north, south, east and west sides of the city.

“We are dealing with more and more violent crime and therefore the safety of our officers in the field is very, very important to me,” Velez said.

Adding insult to injury, Velez said there are between 10-12 officers out recovering from injuries they received on patrol.

“My worst-case scenario is an officer getting hurt far beyond the kinds of injuries we’re seeing today,” he said.

Velez said he could use at least another 15 officers in the department, but the city doesn’t have the money for it.

“Adding say another 10 police officers would add roughly a million dollars to the budget.”

Council has started talking about the possibility of asking voters to approve a half-cent sales tax that would be divided among the police, fire and public works departments. Last year, voters rejected a similar tax that would have been evenly divided between the police and fire departments.

“Should that happen on down the road, I think it would look very different from what you saw that was put before the public back in November,” Velez said.

Six recruits graduated from the police academy last week but need more training before they can patrol on their own. Velez said he wants to have another academy later this year.