By JOSEPH FITZGERALD

NORTH SMITHFIELD — There will be more police patroling the streets of North Smithfield.

Town Administrator Robert B. Lowe, who is also the town’s public safety director, announced yesterday that he and Police Chief Steven E. Reynolds have spent the better part of the past six months working on a police department reorganization plan, which they say will result in more police presence on town streets when the plan goes into effect next month.
The plan essentially downsizes the detectives division from three detectives to one and takes those two detective positions and turns them into patrolman positions. The plan goes into effect on Sept. 15 when two new graduates from the Rhode Island Police Academy join the North Smithfield police force.
The new officers graduated from the police academy on July 1.
“It is noteworthy to point out that the two new recruits added to the force will bring us back to our full force (22 officers),” Lowe said. “One recruit will fill a vacancy in the detectives division and the other will fill the vacancy left by the retirement of Melissa Costa Titov, who retired effective Aug. 31 after serving us admirably for 20 years.”
In crafting the reorganization plan, Lowe and Reynolds looked at the number of detectives in neighboring towns.
“In Burrillville, they have one detective, and in Glocester and Scituate, which are both the same size as North Smithfield, there are no detectives,” Lowe said.
In Glocester and Scituate, the department’s patrol officers take detective work and that will be the case in North Smithfield under the department’s new staffing plan.
As a result of the two new recruits coming on board Sept. 15, there will be two new patrol shifts added, including an extra shift Thursday through Sunday from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. “This also will save on overtime to cover our minimum staffing provision in the contract,’ Lowe said.
In addition, the department will add a patrol officer to the streets on first shift. That officer will be responsible for traffic infractions and all court appearances, again eliminating unnecessary overtime while having more patrol on the road, said Lowe.