I firmly believe that to maintain the level of city services we have all come to expect, it is imperative that we maintain our own city police department. We all understand that there is probably a way to reduce the cost of police services. Two of the most talked about ways to accomplish this are to reduce our current level of staffing or to contract our police services with another agency. I don’t think either of these options is viable. Here are my views on these two issues:

Reduce Police Staffing Levels - Opposed

The current staffing level at the police department provides very good levels of coverage. There isn’t much fat in the staffing budget, not if we wish to maintain adequate patrol coverage in the face of a five year trend of rising crime. Fortunately, we have a group of dedicated line officers who are willing to do a great job with very little support from the city administration. As the city administration evolves and offers the police department more support, I think we can all plan on seeing even greater service from those who we pay to protect ourselves and our families.To reduce staffing levels or to continue to frustrate the police department in other ways is penny wise and pound foolish, in my opinion.

Contract Police Services - Opposed

In the fall of 2006 City Manager Ken Johnson led a movement to dissolve the Rochester Police Department and contract for police services with the Oakland County Sheriff Department. Without having access to all of the details, I suspect there could be some degree of monetary savings by outsourcing police services. This is probably true if we outsourced any city departments: Fire, DPW or Administration.

But at what cost? It just makes sense that a local city police department, controlled by local police administrators, can offer a custom level of personal police services that contracted employees from all reaches of the county cannot offer. This decision to contract police services also ignores a most unfortunate, yet inescapable law - the Law of Unintended Consequences. Nobody can possibly predict all of the ramifications of a decision or an action. Once again, this decision would also be penny wise and pound foolish.

My Position

I am opposed to reducing police staffing levels or contracting police services to an outside agency. Based on the recent report issued by a consultant hired to study the Rochester Police Department, I am in favor of new leadership. I think that both Chief Ted Glynn and City Manager Ken Johnson need to be held accountable for the lack of planning, leadership and implementation that was addressed in the consultant’s report. What I am in favor of is new police leadership that can work effectively and efficiently with the police officers to whom we owe so much. I am also in favor of the city administration taking a less adversarial approach to police management. Common sense tells me that if everyone works together there’s a far greater chance of success than when they work apart.

This entry was posted Tuesday, May 1st, 2007 at 7:47 am and is filed under Police Dept. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.