Annapolis Capital Punishment

…or I’ll whistle up a horse or a Segway…or maybe, just maybe I’ll hire another officer…

Mayor Moyer wasted no time in getting right back to work upon her return from Europe where she was surprised to learn that we have issues with crime. Now she is catching up by issuing news releases.
Here is the first news release headline:
Mayor Ellen Moyer proposes a five point plan to address concerns being raised about public safety in the City of Annapolis.
Wow--"concerns being raised about public safety”??? Is that different than her being concerned about public safety?
Then came:
Mayor Moyer asks the Annapolis Police Department to partner with State and Federal Agencies to Combat Drugs and Guns.
Wow! CP specifically addressed this issue when he campaigned for City Council at a public debate attended by Mayor Moyer back in December!!! Maybe with federal help, the police will get the right address when they conduct a raid. Well, maybe…
Then comes this news release:
Mayor Ellen Moyer calls for a new committee to expand police recruiting efforts.
At least this has some substance, but it only came after many people raised this issue, including CP and local blogger Annapolis Politics. Amazing! The Mayor who is so concerned with giving jobs to her friends and creating new departments for them to get even bigger salaries is finally understanding that yes, we need to fill the empty personnel slots at our Police Department. Or is she?

BLAME IT ON THE PUBLIC AND THE MEDIA….
The Mayor’s Human Resources Director Kimla Milburn was much surprised to learn, “it is evident that we are all facing a tremendous challenge in recruiting police officers," CP and others have known this for a long time simply by discussing it with our officers. In keeping step with her thin-skinned boss who loves the blame and finger-pointing game, Ms. Milburn had to add the following, “Negative articles and Letters to the Editor bashing the Department simply do not help. We need to work together to increase the level of interest in working for the Annapolis Police Department."
Oh--so it’s the public’s fault? Well, Madam Mayor and Mr. Milburn, where does the buck stop? Who will provide the leadership to do this? If this open sore had not been leaking pus for so long because you and Chief Johnson ignored this situation, there might not have been negativity expressed. Had you and the Chief not been saying for so long that we don’t really have a problem, blaming everything on HACA and not being too concerned about the shortage of officers, maybe you could have controlled the situation.
Of course the Mayor could not leave it at that. She had to add this quip at the end of her news release, “The Annapolis Police Department currently maintains a ratio of 3 officers per 1000 residents. The national average is 1 officer per 1000 residents."

WHAT DO WE MEAN BY ONE PER THOUSAND RESIDENTS??? THE RAND CORPORATION AND INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF POLICE CHIEFS SAY DIFFERENTLY THAN DOES THE MAYOR…but what do they know???
Well, Mark Twain said it best. There are three kinds of lies. There are lies, damn lies and statistics. Where does this one fit in?
IF, and I mean IF, one officer per thousand is acceptable, and we don’t need more officers, what are we doing wrong? The Mayor seems to be sending the message that we’re going to recruit more officers, but we are really okay and don’t really need them. We just have bad publicity from citizens, but what do they know? Now, look at the Mayor’s news release again:
"The Annapolis Police Department currently maintains a ratio of 3 officers per 1000 residents. The national average is 1 officer per 1000 residents."
If we use the figure of 36,000 residents, that means we now have 36 x 3 or 108 officers. However, how many of them are really patrol officers on the streets? CP estimates that there are a dozen Lieutenants and Captains working in the station. And if we believe the Mayor’s quote (which we have just proved to be misleading at best) we should be happy having 36 officers. You be the judge. Is crime up or down? Do you feel safer or less safe than before? Do you trust Mayor Moyer and Chief Johnson? Do you want more officers? AND FINALLY….are you willing to pay for them? But if she and the chief really believe that the current number is okay, why did we ever come up with an appropriate staffing level before?

ONE PER THOUSAND.....

This one per thousand is a misleading statistic for a variety of reasons, and if Ellen wants to bolster her argument, she can go to College Park where a nationally recognized criminology program could supply a professor or two to comment. For example, are these patrol officers or administrators in the headquarters? And why should we even trust her numbers?
According to James Quinlivan of the Rand Corporation, writing in 2003, “The United States as a whole has about 2.3 sworn police officers per thousand residents. Larger cities tend to have higher ratios of police to population.” In Florida, in 2004, the ratio was between 1.67 and about 2.5, based on statewide studies.
Most telling of all is a study from the International Association of Chiefs of Police Research Center Directorate (from data in 2003) categorically states:
Ratios, such as officers per thousand, are totally inappropriate as a basis for staffing positions. Accordingly, they have no place in the IACP methodology. Defining patrol staffing and deployment requirements is a complex endeavor which requires consideration of an extensive series of factors, and a sizable body of reliable, current data.
This report, which is so straightforward and to the point that it takes up only one page and even looks at national averages for all US cities which is 2.5 officers per thousand, while cities ranging from 25,000 to 49,999 average 1.8 per thousand residents. This information is instantly available on the web. Apparently the Mayor and staff did not have time to review it. http://www.theiacp.org/documents/pdfs/RCD/OfficerToPopulationRatios.pdf Perhaps the Mayor and Chief are busy looking at horses for sale.

Here is CP’s take on it.
1. Regardless of how many officers we have or don’t have, we still need a new chief to shake things up and bring new energy and ideas. That is up to Ellen.
2. It is patently obvious that the dedicated men and women on the streets are overworked and unable to handle the rapidly rising number of calls. Of this, there can be no rational disagreement. They need more officers and so do we.
3. There is a national challenge in recruiting and retaining officers. Bill Clinton put cops on the street. George Bush sent them to Iraq and Afghanistan and Andrews Air Force Base supposedly to keep us safe. Did it?
4. We are a complex and very busy city with big city problems due to the major governmental and other institutions in our midst, the heavy tourism, late night restaurants and bars, special events, economic activity, proximity to two major cities and big highways, density, inequality of wealth and NOT TO MENTION, hulloah--the huge numbers of people living in public housing (the same place the Mayor has ignored until recently…or so we shall see).
5. Finally, one officer per thousand does not translate to one officer per thousand on the street. We have a chief, many captains and a host of lieutenants focusing on fulfilling numerous complex paperwork, planning, administrative and bureaucratic tasks. CP does not know enough about this to comment responsibly, but surely, this is part of the situation--and these officers are not usually on the street.
CP can only imagine why the Mayor seems so reluctant to hire new officers. What could that be????? Hmmm…I’m thinking….hmmm….Gee, the only thing CP can come up with is that it’s going to cost money.