Goodyear is shifting much of its non-emergency traffic workload to unarmed police assistants, a move city officials say will free up sworn officers for emergencies, criminal investigations and proactive patrol.
The change allows police assistants, or PAs, to handle parking enforcement and non-injury crash investigations, responsibilities the department says they were originally intended to perform.
“The whole premise of this change is to allow police assistants to do the job they were hired to do,” Police Chief Brian Issitt told the council. “This keeps our officers available for higher-priority issues that truly require a sworn response.”
