The Columbus Division of Police has increased the number of officers patrolling the Ohio State area from evening until early morning, a move that has earned both praise and criticism.

Starting Wednesday, 16 officers were added from 7 p.m.-3 a.m. and two were added from 9 a.m.-7 p.m. in Columbus’ 4th district, which includes the off-campus area that attracted national attention in November when riots occurred following OSU’s victory over Michigan.

To accommodate the increase in day and evening shifts, 18 positions will be cut from the 11 p.m.-7 a.m. watch.

“We’re trying to put officers in places where they’re needed most,” said Deputy Chief Stephen Gammill, pointing to a two-year-old public administration study indicating Columbus police were understaffed in the evening but “vastly overstaffed” in the early morning, when it handles just 8 percent of its daily workload.

However, not everyone puts stock in those findings.

“If it doesn’t look like anybody’s getting hurt. Do you send nurses home from the hospital?” said Bill Capretta, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, who also wrote a letter to Mayor Michael B. Coleman criticizing the redistribution of police personnel.

The public administration study doesn’t consider many factors, Capretta said. He admits there may be fewer disturbances between 3 a.m. and 7 a.m., the period in which staff cuts have been made. However, since the shift commences just after campus bars close, those incidents are more likely to involve drunkenness and may require greater number of officers per call, he said.

“It can be quiet at times, but it only takes one incident to tie-up every officer we have,” he said.

Gammill said he knows of no statistic which supports Capretta’s claim that the nature of the calls made during the early morning hours may necessitate a greater number of officers per incident.

The redistribution came not as a response to the controversy which erupted following the riots, but because police generally witness an increased number of campus disturbances in spring, Gammill said.

The FOP does not necessarily object to cuts in the 11 p.m.-7 a.m. shift — it is the number of positions cut that the organization finds excessive, Capretta said. Reducing the shift by nine officers instead of 18 would have been more reasonable, he said.

The changes made in the OSU-area merely reflect an attempt by the Columbus Division of Police to make the best of a desperate situation, Gammill said.

“We absolutely need more officers,” he said. “A request for 120 more officers was made two or three years ago. Since then, our force has actually been reduced by one or two positions”

University police were not informed of the shift changes, said University Police chief Ron Michalec.