PHILADELPHIA - The head of Temple University's police union says the department's morale is at "an all-time low" due to staffing issues that have left officer feeling burned out.
The union says it has 63 active officers on the street when it should have closer to 100. The shortage comes at a time when the North Philadelphia community that includes and surrounds Temple University is embattled by gun violence.
The union took to Twitter last weekend to call out Temple President Jason Wingard for his lack of help in developing a safety plan that includes adequate staffing.
Just two weeks ago, Temple police responded to a crime scene near campus where roughly 70 shots were fired. "Put something in place, some sort of plan of action to start trying to tackle the violent crime we are seeing day-in and day-out in our patrol zone and unfortunately no communication back," Alec Shaffer told FOX 29.MORE HEADLINESTemple university Senior Vice President Ken Kaiser says that the department was slightly short-staffed over the weekend because a few officers were completing annual training.