Huntington Officers Rehired After Budget Cuts

Five former West Virginia police officers will return to their department after a city’s projected $5 million budget deficit laid them off. The City of Huntington says the five probationary officers will return to their posts starting July 3, and that police will also bring on a new officer from the department’s civil service hiring list who will enter the state police academy in late August. City communications director Bryan Chambers told the Herald Dispatch that the sixth officer’s hiring depleted the list, so Huntington police are accepting applications. Huntington police have already paid to train the five officers who were laid off in January because of the city’s budget. The department laid off 17 employees that month: a temporary police officer, 10 probationary officers and six civilians.