Youngstown's mayor has plan to make all city workers more accountable to taxpayers
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - By mid to late July every city-owned vehicle in Youngstown will have a GPS tracking system and every city employee will have to clock in and out each day.
Mayor Charles Sammarone says it's all about accountability and consistency. "I always emphasize accountability and whatever is going to make government more accountable to the taxpayer. That's what I'm looking to do. In this case, make government more consistent, not only to the taxpayers but other employees. If one group of employees is punching in, I feel they should all be punching in," Sammarone said.
GPS tracking systems are already installed in Youngstown police cruisers. Sam Mosca, the President of the Youngstown Police Association representing patrol officers, says initially officers were apprehensive about the GPS tracking system fearing they may be micromanaged, but they've learned it can also be a life-saver when false claims are made against them.
In fact, Mosca says, "It did actually help an officer in a situation when he was in a high-speed pursuit. And there actually was a fatality involved in that pursuit and the investigation was able to determine that the officer was not acting reckless."
The tracking device not only logged that officer's speed during the pursuit, but it showed he acted in the best interest of public safety by consistently stopping or slowing down for stop signs and lights during the police chase.
Lieutenant Brian Butler, the head of YPD's Internal Affairs Division, was able to show 21 News one of the GPS tracking screens. He explained that because the device is very, very detailed it's a tool that can be used by police dispatchers in an emergency. For example, if an officer is in trouble or needs assistance in a pursuit, the dispatcher can look on the screen and determine immediately what other units are close enough to respond.
Lieutenant Butler says the tracking system is also beneficial to police in mapping out new strategies for the department. " I was talking about patrol patterns, that's a good resource for Lieutenant Simon in planning and training. If he can see a part of the beat being neglected, not for discipline, but to say let's concentrate on this area because we've got robberies there," Butler said.
Along with the GPS systems in the cars, Mayor Sammarone plans to purchase hand scanning devices or time clocks so that all departments will be required to punch in and out every day. The only exception would likely be the police department where officers have to report on-time to a supervisor for roll call at the start of each shift.
"I've been hearing it over the years, really with time clocks, why do some of us punch in and some of us don't? It really takes that away. So that everybody's being treated the same," Sammarone said.
The mayor and his staff are looking in to the cost of the GPS tracking systems and will likely put that purchase up for bid. The time clocks will cost approximately $20,000, but the mayor says in the long run the city will be saving money by making sure employees are accountable from the minute they clock in every day.