Monday, August 27, 2007

Another Crime Proclamation From the Mayor

In yet another press release concerning the mayor's strategy towards crime, we learn that the mayor is instructing the police department to step up recruitment efforts:

Mayor Ellen Moyer is asking Annapolis Police Chief Joseph Johnson to expand his Department's recruiting efforts. She is requesting that he augment current department-based recruiting efforts with a committee that will act as ambassadors and positive advocates for the police department.

The committee shall consist of:

-Kimla Milburn: Human Resources Director
-Ray Weaver: Public Information Officer
-Dave Cordle, Alderman Ward 5, Public Safety Committee
-Ross Arnett, Alderman Ward 8, Public Safety Committee
-Sheila Finlayson, Alderman Ward 4, Public Safety Committee
-A Partridge In a Pear Tree

The mayor took some time to hit on her two favorite police quotes:

"In speaking with my colleagues from around the country, it is evident that we are all facing a tremendous challenge in recruiting police officers," she (Ms. Milburn) said.

and

The Annapolis Police Department currently maintains a ratio of 3 officers per 1000 residents. The national average is 1 officer per 1000 residents.

Now I will take time for my two favorite standard responses:

We are not facing a recruiting shortage.

and

The ratio does not matter because we have a lot of public housing, we are a maritime city, and we are a Capital city.

The mayor thinks that word-of-mouth 'advertising' is the best way to recruit, and she admonished the media and letter-to-the-editor writers for saying negative things about the department.

Umm, madam mayor, remember when you said this:

The first thing I get hit with when I get back in town after meeting with our sister cities is "We've got a crime problem. We've got a crime problem. We've got a crime problem."

It is only because we wrote letters to the editor that you even knew we had a problem....you were too busy on sister city business.

More importantly, does this press release mean the mayor is committed to filling the 23 vacancies on the police department? Tough to tell. If so, this will be the first time she has pledged to do so. But somehow, I doubt it.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

AP:
In reading the mayor's press release yesterday, I was left with more questions than answers.

1. Do department heads (Chief of Police, Director of Human Resources) need the Mayor to issue a press release in order for them to know what they should be doing in their jobs? It seems to me that the Chief of Police in a city where violent crime is escalating wouild make it one of his top priorities to fill the vacant positions within his department, which I may note, are funded in the budget as well ... is that to much to ask? As for the Director of Human Resources, isn't one of her department's primary responsibilities to fill vacancies within the City? What am I missing here???

2. We need a committe to act as ambassadors and positive advocates for the Police Department? OK, this is yet another example of this administration taking feel good actions instead of addressing the real problem ... The Committee is made up of the Chief of Police (who should be recruiting and already an ambassador and advocate of the department he supposedly runs), the Director of Human Resources (I have already given my opinion on this), the City's Public Information Officer (are we running the City via press releases as it appears over the last few weeks?), oh, and yes, three of our esteemed Alderman (Cordle who is running for Mayor, Finlayson who is running for Mayor, and Arnett who at this point seems to be only interested in being an Alderman)

Concluding thoughts --

Do we really need this committee to do what we pay the Chief of Police and the Director of Human Resources over $200,000 a year collectivly to do?

The escalating crime rate in our City is a serious issue, do we really need politicians, 2 of whom are running for Mayor to get involved in recruiting efforts. I would rather the City Council actually spend their time developing and implementing a solid plan on how to not only deal with our current crime crisis, but how to adress this issue in the future and keep Annapolis a safe city for all who live, visit, and work here.

Lastly, could someone help the Mayor or the Public Information officer spell Alderman Finlayson's name correctly. This is the 2nd time it has been mispelled ... just for the record, it is Finlayson, not Findlayson (as in this press release) or Finelaysen (as in another press release). She is an elected official for god's sake, shouldn't the city she serves know how to correctly spell her name.

Ok, I am done for now

Paul Foer said...

Scott... as for spelling names right, it is "for GOD's sake, not "for god's sake." PUhlleeze! And how come you have not sent me any comments lately???