By: Rachel Hawkins, NDG Staff Writer
The Irving Police Chief is concerned the job is killing his staff.
“You look at statistics across the United States every year, the National Loss of Law Enforcement Officer Down Memorial produces statistics that get from the Federal Bureau of Investigations of line-of-duty deaths,” Jeff Spivey, Irving Police Chief said. “As you examined those statistics, what you find are police officers dying of heart attacks at or near the same rate from which they die from felonious attacks. If we can by doing some extensive testing identify those heart attacks before they occur, then we can help our police employees either get the heart treatment they need through either surgery or by diet and exercise and in the long run save their life.”
At the Irving City Council meeting on April 4, item 6 on the agenda was spiritedly debated. The resolution read:
Approving a Consulting Agreement Between the City of Irving and Sigma Tactical Wellness, LLC in the Total Not-To-Exceed Amount of $100,000.00 for Cardiac/Metabolic Screening of Law Enforcement Officers with the Irving Police Department.
The item passed 8 to 1, but it was not without council members expressing concerns. Councilmen David Palmer did request to have the remove the item from the agenda.
“It’s not that I disagreed with the concept of having some additional cardiac testing done, not only for police officers but other members of our city employees who go under a lot of physical stress on a daily basis,” Palmer said. For example, the firefighters, sanitation, road workers, and others frequently find themselves in stressful situations.
“I’m not convinced that spending $100,000 through the consulting agreement is the best way to do this,” Palmer said.
Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Oscar Ward also shared concerns.
“I know a lot about law enforcement and what they go through in their careers so I will be supporting this,” Ward said. “My son is in law enforcement, but I would have to agree with some my colleague’s thoughts (Palmer) about employees and heart testing because we have this clinic that we go to. To get this started I am going to be voting for this, but with some conditions.”
Ward requested the City Manager, the assistant city manager, and the HR department to get together and develop a more comprehensive plan.
In support of this item, Irving Councilmen Al Zapanta invited Chief Spivey to approach the podium to answer questions.
“If I remember correctly during our work session yesterday we had a pretty good discussion, especially now with the environment our police officers and firefighters are encountering,” Zapanta said. “In a lot of ways, like the military, we get the traumatic stress that impacts all of us under these kinds of conditions.”
“The vendor we have entered into the program with has especially targeted first responders, mainly police officers, in a clinical study, as they try to determine causes and cures for heart disease in police officers,” Spivey said.
Spivey stated this group is only targeting police officers at this point. But in the area, they have done some others with fire department personnel.
“What they are looking for, is because of the stress police officers are under, because of the shift work that they work, because of the number of overtime hours that they work, there are a number of factors that figure into the number of heart disease,” Spivey said.
Spivey assured the council the expenditures will not exceed the $100,000 price tag on the agenda. So far, the number of employees currently enrolled leaves the forecasted city’s costs under budget. By comparison, the price of this initiative is much less than paying the benefits or for treatment of just one of the police officers who suffer a heart attack on duty or fatality.
The money which is being paid will not come out of the general fund budget, funding is from a separate source the police has access to, which is an allowable expense for officer safety and wellness.
“I think this is a proactive step to take as the Chief of Police to help my employees stay healthy and serve the residents of this community,” Spivey said.
