After seven hours of contract talks with county officials yesterday, representatives from the Howard County police union say they are no closer to being able to give residents the improved service they've demanded.
Though a staffing shortage that has bothered the department for years won't be a formal topic in the negotiations, improvements in salaries could stabilize the force's numbers, union members said.
"When you have happy police officers, you have productive police officers, and the citizens get even better service," said James Fitzgerald, president of the Howard County Police Officers Association.
He said the union wants pay increases and revised benefit plans to match those of surrounding counties that draw Howard County officers away from the Police Department each year.
For example, annual pay for the rank of corporal -- the position just below the rank of sergeant -- is significantly lower in Howard County than in Montgomery and Prince George's counties. The upper end of the pay range is $45,710 in Howard County, $52,904 in Prince George's County and $52,746 in Montgomery County.
Union officials said yesterday's contract talks have shown little willingness on the county's part to close that gap.
"We're not happy about their initial proposals," said union Vice President Dan Besseck, who attended the talks, which county officials said could last a month or more. "We made reasonable proposals. The county's were opposite. We're trying to improve working conditions."
Deputy county administrator Cecil Bray, a county government representative at the negotiations, could not be reached for comment. County Executive Charles I. Ecker said he was confident both sides could reach a compromise.
"We want to be competitive in salaries," Mr. Ecker said. "We want to retain the officers we have and get new ones."
The contract for the next fiscal year -- July 1, 1995, through June 30, 1996 -- affects all 297 sworn members of the police force. The union represents about 230 of those officers ranked below sergeant.
The county's growing population and increasing demands from residents are factors in the contract talks. Each year, police respond to about 86,000 calls from the county's 212,000 residents.
"Residents want to feel secure," said William Bennett, chairman of the police department's Citizens Advisory Board. The board is made up of 30 county residents who meet with police Chief James N. Robey monthly to discuss community concerns.
"They need to improve the 911 system," Mr. Bennett said. "The [police] response time is not satisfactory to most citizens."
Mr. Bennett said residents "want more police on the streets" and quicker response to burglar alarms.
Among recent complaints about police service, Howard residents have told The Sun:
* In December, a Laurel man waited a half-hour before police reponded to bullets fired through his bedroom and into the side of his house.
* One shopping center owner in Columbia's Kings Contrivance village said that he's stopped chasing shoplifters because he wouldn't know what to do if he caught them. "That would be foolish," the man said. "I hardly see a police officer. Things have changed since the 33 years I've been on this corner."
* Tim Barnes of Laurel said he met with police administrators two weeks ago to discuss why he saw no one for more than 15 minutes when he stopped in the Southern District station in Scaggsville at 5 a.m. one day to ask about police reports. A note -- "Officer will be back soon. Call 911 for an emergency" -- was taped to the window.
He was told that the night duty officer stationed at a front desk was probably in the back checking on a prisoner or pulling a file at the time. "That's absurd," Mr. Barnes said. "You mean to tell me if I'm driving down [U.S. Route] 29 and somebody was chasing me, I'm . . . dead? That the public safety is going to be jeopardized because of money?"
Mr. Fitzgerald said union representatives have proposed plans in the past to help alleviate staffing problems. This time, he said, they will push for the county to allow uniformed, off-duty officers to take jobs as security guards -- in effect, resulting in a higher presence of trained officers around the county.
Chief Robey is considering forming a Police Auxiliary of ordinary citizens trained by police and allowed to work "nonenforcement duties," such as directing traffic, taking telephone crime reports and assisting officers at the county fair, Sgt. Steve Keller, a police spokesman, said.
Sergeant Keller said a class of 23 recruits to graduate this summer and another class planned for the fall will help with staffing problems.
Mr. Besseck, the union official, said: "We're looking at long-range goals. We're trying to be visionaries of the future. Right now, officers are providing the best service they can with the resources they have."