Funding for new Cheney officer could jeopardize ability to pay training costs

By JOHN McCALLUM

Editor

A $56,000 budget adjustment implemented last month to fund a new patrol officer for the Cheney Police Department may end up negatively impacting the department's ability to provide ongoing training for its officers.

City officials used $16,000 in department money scraped from five accounts in order to help fund Police Chief Jeff Sale's request to hire one new officer in time to fill a training academy slot. That officer, Shawn Hobbs, joined the department on March 1, but will spend six months at the academy before beginning patrol duties.

To fund the position, the city...