YOUNGSTOWN - Youngstown Chief of Police Carl Davis is expected to announce that Youngstown Police Department will resume the city's Impact Initiative, a saturation campaign by the city police department, in conjunction with the Ohio State Highway Patrol, the Mahoning Co. Sheriff's Department, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation in high crime areas in the city.

The city has a planned press conference to discuss the upcoming plan scheduled for Friday at 12:30 p.m. in the police department.

Last year, saturation patrols were started in September after the city recorded 31 homicides. The idea for the saturation patrol is to improve the quality of life in high-violence areas throughout the city.

However, the Youngstown Police Association feels this decision to pull seven patrol officers and move officers to a community policing unit will impact response times and may put officers in danger.

According to Youngstown Police Association union president James Rowley, the actions by the city are 'unreasonable and dangerous,' Rowley wrote in a press release over the concern about the officer mandates to fill open shifts and police working 16-hour shifts.

Rowley stated that the police department staffing issues are at the lowest levels in the city's history, with 91 police officers on the police roster, but noted that one officer is deployed and several are in field training officer program, so the actual number of officers are in the upper 80s.

Rowley said, "It's not safe for the citizens, it's not safe for us."

"We are not upset because we have a community policing unit, we're upset because we don't have the staffing to adequately handle the basic function of the patrol unit," Rowley added.

Rowley said he is concerned about the potential of daily shortages the patrol unit may face, forcing officers into mandated double shifts.

Under the collective bargaining agreement, the union has filed a grievance with the city over removing seven officers from patrol and shifting their duties to community policing, however, any decision will take months to be reached.

21 News has reached out to the city for comment, and the city's law director said in a statement to 21 News "There is now a grievance filed by the police union, therefore it would be inappropriate for the law department to comment on the substance or the merits of the grievance.  We will handle the grievance as we handle all grievances filed by unions in the city.  It is important to point out that Community police officers are still police officers," Limbian wrote.