Budget reductions could cause Durham to lose 3 percent of its police force.

On Tuesday afternoon, leaders of the Durham Police Department met with city leaders to discuss the state of DPD's budget for the next fiscal year.

"All departments in the city were required to do an exercise where they reduced their budgets by 10 percent," said Durham Deputy Police Chief Ron Hodge.

Hodge said the results of that proposed reduction would come up during the afternoon meeting.

"In order for us to do that [10 percent budget reduction], that means we have to let vacant positions remain unfilled for some period of time," he said.

Hodge said right now, there are about 15 openings for officers within the department. There are also about 12 open staff positions. Leaving those officer positions open reduces the force by about three percent, Hodge said.

"Certainly our first focus is to make sure we have enough people out there to handle the calls that come into 911," he said. "Then, we will have to make some really hard decisions about what programs we're doing now that we'll have to cut back or eliminate."

Tuesday's discussion is part of a set of regularly scheduled meetings between the city manager and city department heads.

While no final decisions were made at Tuesday's meeting, Durham's city manager did ask DPD officails to report back on how the reduction would affect daily law enforcement efforts.

Public meetings are scheduled in June for Durham residents to share their thoughts and concerns about the budget.

"Ultimately, that comes down to a decision by city council," Hodge said.