There are restructuring changes coming the Phoenix Police Department that will start on February 20th.
The big takeaway during this restructuring is 170 specialty officers who are doing "behind the scenes" detective work" and "connecting the dots on cases" are moving back out to patrol.
The goal out of this is to improve response times to life and death calls to 911. Phoenix police say it takes an average of six minutes for an officer to respond to those types of calls. The hope is that the restructure will get the response times down to five minutes.
The chief has pulled from many different departments. But some of the biggest changes are coming to the Fugitive Apprehension Investigative Detail (FAID). These are the investigators that go after some of the most dangerous wanted criminals. They also handle all the internet child porn arrests.
The Neighborhood Enforcement Team (NET) also took a hit, losing 38 investigators. These teams target strings of crimes happening in your neighborhood while also making major arrests.
The Target Enforcement Squad will not longer exist. The group patrol neighborhoods, keeping on eye on teen parties.
Plus, the Meth Lab Task Force and the Drug Interdiction Squad is also gone.
Other officers will be taking on the extra workload these groups used to manage.
Because many of these investigators haven't patrolled in years, officers are concerned about safety.
The department says they will be offering refresher training courses to make sure all officers are safe and prepared for the changes.
For a breakdown of the details, click here.
