Are there too many police officers in St. Augustine, Florida? There are 59 St. Augustine policemen for 13,000 people. As United States Army Mayors, Jarett Broemmel, Terry L. Clark and, Shannon Nielsen write:
"Proper Ratio of Police to People to maintain security in peaceful countries, the proper ratio of policemen to population is somewhere between 1 and 4 officers per 1,000 citizens, with cities needing higher levels than other areas. (The U.S. has approximately 2.3 police officers per 1,000 residents."
http://usacac.army.mil/CAC/milreview/English/JulAug07/ClarkINSIGHTS.pdf
Why so many police department managers and not enough actual patrol officers in St. Augustine? Are the people that bad? Are the tourists ill-mannered? Or, as former Baltimore Sun Editor Dora Lovell writes (see below), is our community a "police state"?
Are there too many managers in SAPD and not enough patrolmen? At any one time, there are four officers on duty in St. Augustine, with fewer at night. They work in automobiles (SUVS), rarely on foot or on bicycles.
Why aren't there foot patrolmen downtown, instead of officers rolling around in energy hogging SUVs? Why are entry level officers paid only $35,000/year?
Attend the City of St. Augustine's September 6 & 20 TRIM budget hearings, where there's no time limit on speakers, so we can ask the questions we've been waiting to hear answers to for years!
No comments:
Post a Comment