THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 7, 1994 TAG: 9410060226
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 42 lines
Would you be safer if you had a police officer living in your neighborhood, using his official vehicle during office hours and parking it in front of his house? The subject came up in the May election. It came up again in a briefing before City Council this week. It needs to come up at least once more - but as part of a more comprehensive look at crime prevention in Virginia Beach.
The city's Office of Management and Budget, Director Dean Block reported Tuesday, found that allowing police officers personal use of their vehicles has little beneficial impact on crime, but provides a great (fringe) benefit to the officers themselves. OMB did find how much it would cost the city to let police officers take their patrol cars home and use them for personal business: an initial $5.56 million for new vehicles, plus $455,000 a year in replacement and maintenance costs.
It's hard, however, to measure what crime doesn't happen because the presence of a police vehicle deters or interrupts a potential criminal. It's even harder to measure how much safer people might feel with a heightened police presence in their neighborhoods. And it is safe to say that City Councilman Bill Harrison, elected last May, got much positive response from citizens, some fellow candidates and some future colleagues when he made ``cops around the clock'' a campaign theme.
City Council briefings, as helpful as they are, are not City Council votes. The subject ought not end with staff. How much are city residents as a whole - some 90 percent of whom, Mr. Block pointed out, already feel safe in their neighborhoods - willing to pay to feel safer? How much to be safer?
For less than half a million, the city could give take-home police vehicles a limited try. For less than half a million, Council could give patrol officers a straight raise, and skip the liability and other risks associated with take-home vehicle programs. For $5 million or so (Found where?), it might also find better ways to increase police presence where it's most needed than sending police cars home with police officers. by CNB