Virginia Port authority to shrink police force to cut costs

The Virginia Port Authority plans to trim its 71-person police force by 45 officers, a reduction of nearly two-thirds, after its Board of Commissioners last month approved offering early-retirement packages to the authority's employees.

The number of sworn officers in the Virginia Port Authority Police Department would drop to the "mid-20s" through a mix of early retirements and layoffs, said Joe Harris, a Port Authority spokesman.

The Port Authority would add unarmed contract security guards to handle routine tasks such as manning terminal gates, while the port police would continue enforcing laws within its terminals in Norfolk, Portsmouth, Newport News and Front Royal.

"There are very successful hybrid security structures/forces at work at major ports and industries throughout the nation," the Port Authority said in a statement. "Other high-profile examples include the U.S. military, nuclear and government facilities.... We would not have agreed to this plan had we thought the security of the terminals would be jeopardized."

The force reductions will be announced Feb. 1 and completed by May 31.

A separate early-retirement package is in the works for the authority's non-police employees, although no additional information was available Friday.

As of last month, the Port Authority had 126 employees - 84 law-enforcement, including support staff, and 42 non-law enforcement.

The Port Authority is looking for ways to reduce expenses to become more competitive, as directed by the authority board, said Michael Quillen, chairman of that board.

"It's tough; you're talking about people's full-time jobs," he said Friday. "So we recognize how emotional and how serious, you know, this is. But it's a fact of life a lot of businesses are having to deal with in today's environment."

A total of 32 officers are eligible for early retirement, but even if every officer who could took the offer, there still would be a reduction of 13 officers, Harris said.

The remaining officers will be teamed with about 40 full-time security contractors, along with a number of dispatchers and non-sworn administrative staff.

The average pay for port police officers is $40,587 a year. The estimated savings from the police staff reductions is between $1 million and $2 million annually, starting in fiscal year 2013, according to the Port Authority.

Andrew H. Engemann Jr., chief of the Virginia Port Authority Police Department since January 2006, said Friday that if he's asked to lay off officers, he will step down.

"If it comes down to laying off officers, then I'm going to leave," he said. "They've offered me an early-retirement package, because I'm eligible.... And I'll just accept their package; I'll just leave."

He declined to comment further.

Robert McCabe, (757) 446-2327, robert.mccabe@pilotonline.com