Chief wants police in cruiser, not on bike

Garrison Hillia

Monday, June 14, 2004 Chief wants police in cruiser,
not on bike

------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------

The Associated Press

COLUMBUS - The police chief wants to get rid of foot,
bicycle and mounted patrols to put more officers in
cruisers.

Police Chief James Jackson, who also wants to take officers
out of high schools, outlined the proposal last month in a
memo to Safety Director Mitchell Brown.

He said he has tried repeatedly to put more officers in
patrol cars but has been overruled by Brown and Mayor
Michael Coleman.

"A walking officer is good within about 50 feet of where
he's walking or standing," Jackson said.

Brown said his office is evaluating whether certain units
can be eliminated, adding that the city eliminated the DARE
program last year and an anti-crime rock band in 2001 at
Jackson's urging.

City Councilman Michael Mentel, chairman of the council's
safety committee, said the mounted, bicycle, high-school and
foot patrols should be retained. Mentel said they encourage
more direct contact between police and citizens.

But an expert on community policing said it's more important
that police be available promptly.

"The highest priority for any police department is adequate
response to calls for public service," said Hubert Williams,
president of the Police Foundation, a nonprofit research
organization in Washington, D.C. "If you don't have adequate
resources to do that, you have to make decisions about
cutting back in other areas."

Jackson cites a consultant's 2001 recommendation that
the city deploy 420 cruisers a day. The city has 337,
Jackson said.

Jackson announced last month that he won't allow nonpatrol
positions to be filled because of the need for more officers
in cruisers.

"We have shortages out there, no doubt about it," said
Bill Capretta, president of the Fraternal Order of Police
Lodge No. 9. "But not everybody can be in a cruiser. You
need support people, you need people investigating
homicides and rapes."

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--------------------

Grl

Hmmm. If I had put a call in for help and the nearest cop
was a mile away I'd want him in a squad car and not on a
bike, too. I think anyone would.

--

- GRL

"It's good to want things."

Steve Barr (philosopher, poet,
humorist, chemist, Visual Basic
programmer) "Garrison Hilliard"
<garrison@efn.org> wrote in message
news:Pine.SUN.4.56.0406141039530.1130-
1@garcia.efn.org...
> Monday, June 14, 2004 Chief wants police in cruiser,
> not on bike
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------
> ----------------
------
>
>
> The Associated Press
>
>
> COLUMBUS - The police chief wants to get rid of foot,
> bicycle and mounted patrols to put more officers in
> cruisers.
>
> Police Chief James Jackson, who also wants to take
> officers out of high schools, outlined the proposal last
> month in a memo to Safety Director Mitchell Brown.
>
> He said he has tried repeatedly to put more officers in
> patrol cars but has been overruled by Brown and Mayor
> Michael Coleman.
>
> "A walking officer is good within about 50 feet of where
> he's walking or standing," Jackson said.
>
> Brown said his office is evaluating whether certain units
> can be eliminated, adding that the city eliminated the
> DARE program last year and an anti-crime rock band in 2001
> at Jackson's urging.
>
> City Councilman Michael Mentel, chairman of the council's
> safety committee, said the mounted, bicycle, high-school
> and foot patrols should be retained. Mentel said they
> encourage more direct contact between police and citizens.
>
> But an expert on community policing said it's more
> important that police be available promptly.
>
> "The highest priority for any police department is
> adequate response to calls for public service," said
> Hubert Williams, president of the Police Foundation, a
> nonprofit research organization in Washington, D.C. "If
> you don't have adequate resources to do that, you have to
> make decisions about cutting back in other areas."
>
> Jackson cites a consultant's 2001 recommendation that
> the city deploy 420 cruisers a day. The city has 337,
> Jackson said.
>
> Jackson announced last month that he won't allow nonpatrol
> positions to be filled because of the need for more
> officers in cruisers.
>
> "We have shortages out there, no doubt about it," said
> Bill Capretta, president of the Fraternal Order of Police
> Lodge No. 9. "But not everybody can be in a cruiser. You
> need support people, you need people investigating
> homicides and rapes."
>
>
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------
> ----------------
------

William H. O'Ha

"GRL" <GLitwinski@CHARTERMI.COM> wrote in
news:10csfkrg6okq50d@corp.supernews.com:

> Hmmm. If I had put a call in for help and the nearest cop
> was a mile away I'd want him in a squad car and not on a
> bike, too. I think anyone would.
>

Which was the argument of the Monson, MA police officers. I
really can't blame them. Additional patrols by bicyle and
foot are really great when you have enough man power in
cruisers already.

--
William H. O'Hara KB1LEH

Pete

"GRL" <GLitwinski@CHARTERMI.COM> wrote in message
news:10csfkrg6okq50d@corp.supernews.com...
> Hmmm. If I had put a call in for help and the nearest cop
> was a mile away I'd want him in a squad car and not on a
> bike, too. I think anyone would.

True, but I'd also want an officer who can silently
sneak up on a situation, pursue the suspect down an
alleyway and through the park, and outrun him while
toting 25 lbs of gear.

Bike mounted cops are also more personable. More
neighborhood friendly. In a car, they're more isolated from
the environment and the citizens.

Some situations cars are better, some bikes are better.
Sometimes horses are better.

Pete

Pete

"Hunrobe" <hunrobe@aol.com> wrote

>
> All of that is true but it seems that the city in question
> (Columbus
where?) is
> faced with an either/or proposition- keep the foot beats,
> bike patrol, and mounted patrol and suffer slower response
> times because of a shortage of
beat
> cars or eliminate them to maintain adequate staffing in
> motor patrol.
Reading
> between the lines, I'd guess there's a political element
> to the proposed
cuts
> as well. It sounds like the chief is painting the public
> safety director
and
> mayor into a corner to force them to hire more officers.
> That may or may
not be
> a bad thing. It depends on the accuracy and reasonableness
> of their
proposed
> minimum staffing goals.

Right. Overall response times shouldn't suffer so a city can
have bike or foot patrols, but they do have their place.

Pete

Garrison Hillia

hunrobe@aol.com (Hunrobe) wrote:
>All of that is true but it seems that the city in question
>>>>(Columbus where?)

Columbus, Ohio

Dennis P. Harri

On 15 Jun 2004 03:24:56 GMT in rec.bicycles.misc, hunrobe@aol.com
(Hunrobe) wrote:

> All of that is true but it seems that the city in question
> (Columbus where?) is faced with an either/or proposition-
> keep the foot beats, bike patrol, and mounted patrol and
> suffer slower response times because of a shortage of beat
> cars or eliminate them to maintain adequate staffing in
> motor patrol. Reading between the lines, I'd guess there's
> a political element to the proposed cuts as well. It
> sounds like the chief is painting the public safety
> director and mayor into a corner to force them to hire
> more officers. That may or may not be a bad thing. It
> depends on the accuracy and reasonableness of their
> proposed minimum staffing goals.
>
if the goal is *preventing* crimes, then it's far better to
keep officers on foot and on bikes, where they get to know
the neighborhood and aren't isolated in cages.

if the goal is responding to crimes because the community
doesn't practice good crime prevention policing (including
providing an adequate budget for officers in schools and in
neighborhoods), it won't make much difference how many cars
of cops are out riding around, if they don't get out and
talk to the folks they supposedly work for at times other
than when responding to a crime.

this is yet another area where the cheap guy spends more ---
prevention is almost always cheaper than spending more later
to catch the criminals and keep them locked up.

Luigi De Guzman

On 15 Jun 2004 03:48:30 GMT, jsprine@aol.comnothanks (James S. Prine)
wrote:

>>True, but I'd also want an officer who can silently sneak
>>up on a situation, pursue the suspect down an alleyway
>>and through the park, and outrun him while toting 25 lbs
>>of gear.
>
>That's why they're called 'foot patrols' <g>.
>
>>Some situations cars are better, some bikes are better.
>>Sometimes horses are better.
>
>Indeed. Check out how the New Orleans Police Department
>uses its Mounted Division during Mardi Gras. Ironically,
>the Bike Division is worthless in the French Quarter at
>that time, because of pedestrian density.
>
>
>James S. Prine http://hometown.aol.com/jsprine/
>

I got used to seeing mounted policemen in Central London.
They'd clop away, two abreast in the bus lane, and everyone
had to yield to the horses. The horses themselves were
remarkably well-behaved and well-disciplined animals: they
would stop obediently at the stoplights, and were not
alarmed when overtaken by even the loudest, clattering
London doubledecker bus.

I also got to know them in their crowd-control capacities,
at large demonstrations and occasionally breaking up
potential fights between football supporters at pubs.
They're quite imposing.

From a cyclist's point of view, they really compel you to
use mudguards on your bicycle . Having to ride at speed over
a fresh horseapple will convince you quickly of the value of
mudguards.

=-Luigi

Resound

For the most part, I can see the point about wanting cops to be in cars as far as response times go. One place where that's unlikely to apply, however, is in the centre on the city. In Melbourne, which is neither a particularly large, nor particularly congested city, I can move about a great deal faster and more effectively by bike than I could in a car. Still, while it lacks some of the social aspects, in environments like that I'd probably be tempted to start looking at using more motorcycle cops. hard to say without looking at where the specific trouble areas are in the city. Response time may not even be an issue. If problem areas are things like assaults involving homeless people or car theft or vandalism, faster cops aren't going to help. More observant ones are. So...do you need your cops to be faster or more aware or what? There ain't no one single cure for ever't'ang.

__________________
This is a test reality. Please do not adjust your paradigm.

James S. Prine

>More observant ones are. So...do you need your cops to be
>faster or more aware or what? There ain't no one single
>cure for ever't'ang.

So true. For instance, a Bike Officer can get to a scene and
take appropriate action very swiftly, but if that action
involves a physical arrest, the Bike unit still has to wait
for a motor transport vehicle to take the prisoner to
Central Lockup. That can be a lengthy wait sometimes....

James S. Prine http://hometown.aol.com/jsprine/

Fritz M

"GRL" <GLitwinski@CHARTERMI.COM> wrote:

> Hmmm. If I had put a call in for help and the nearest cop
> was a mile away I'd want him in a squad car and not on a
> bike, too. I think anyone would.

"Dial 911 and Die" is true whether response time is 2
minutes or 20. The TV scenario of cops getting a call,
pulling a bootlegger turn in the middle of traffic and
arriving just in the nick of time to save the day is
mostly fantasy.

A couple of weeks ago late at night somebody drove by and
threw a rock through my neighbor's car window. The police
response was something like four minutes. The perps were
probably in the next county by the time the cops arrived to
fill out paperwork.

RFM

Resound

I was really thinking of proactive vs. reactive police work. The best police work is the stuff that prevents crimes rather than trying to apprehend someone once the crime has already been committed.

__________________
This is a test reality. Please do not adjust your paradigm.

Karen M.

Garrison wrote:

> Monday, June 14, 2004 Chief wants police in cruiser, not
> on bike...
>
> COLUMBUS (Ohio)- The police chief wants to get rid of
> foot, bicycle and mounted patrols to put more officers in
> cruisers...
...
> (Police chief) Jackson cites a consultant's 2001
> recommendation that the city > deploy 420 cruisers a day.
> The city has 337, Jackson said...

So where does he intend to find the funds to acquire
another 83 police cars? And the fuel for them?? (What do
you call the person who graduated last in his class from
the police academy? "Officer.") IPMBA stats indicate that
you can mount up 10 bicycle officers for the price of one
Crown Vic. Columbus is a typical midwestern capital city
with state offices, downtown, neighborhoods, and I hear
there's a college there as well. I've heard many
stories about the first responder on-scene being on a
bicycle. More support related herein: http://home.earthl-
ink.net/~kmssavage/writing.htm#Police%20Cyclist

HTH

--Karen M.

Chalo

"GRL" <GLitwinski@CHARTERMI.COM> wrote:

> Hmmm. If I had put a call in for help and the nearest cop
> was a mile away I'd want him in a squad car and not on a
> bike, too. I think anyone would.

I think cops should all be on foot, armed only with balloon
weapons, and naked except for some kind of humiliating hat.

If they go a whole year without killing anybody we can
consider letting them have pants, and perhaps wiffle bats.

Chalo Colina